edit

Thanks Trevor, had a think and cracked out the grinder, several roloc discs and 20 minutes later:

Loads better, looks more pro!!

Oily stuff

Got back on the T100 recently, fabbed up a bracket which ties the oil filter in with the engine mount:

Some months back I brought a DIY oil tank kit from Lowbrow Customs, got round to building it up today. I saved a few quid putting it together myself, but it took me almost 6 hours to complete! However, its a tremendous sense of  satisfaction doing something like this, I'm really pleased with how its turned out.
Still got to weld the neck in, just waiting till  get my new Lathe, so I can spin it up and clean up the weld around the join, also need to decide on mountings.
Not completely decided what to do with the welds at each end yet - don't know whether to grind and smooth them or just leave as is? Might be more trouble than its worth smoothing them off, plus, I like the look of a Tig bead, but not sure if mine are up to scratch!

Mountain Cub

The latest acquisition:

Been in storage for the last 10 years, so I'm giving everything the once over before firing it up. Got some bits on order, including a carb rebuild kit, Boyer power box and a few odds and ends. Really looking forward to pootling round on this.
Engine is mint externally, and speedo reads 290 miles, must have been rebuilt at some stage.
Thats it for now, I'm spent out and have all the bikes I need.

New sideline

Picked up this CB160 cheap on e-bay, its a fresh import, sold with a seized engine:

Saw some lovelly examples of these in LA, they're raced in the states and I'll be going for the pint sized racer look - this is a nice one:

It got delivered today, so while I'm waiting for parts for the triumph I made a start. Had the engine out in no time and got the top end stripped. Pistons are rusted in the bores, but the bottom end looks clean and appears to turn freely, cam and valve gear looks ok although there is some rust in the combustion chambers which should clean up ok. Fingers crossed I can get the pistons out easily and it will just need pistons, rings and a rebore.

Triumph update

Since the original fuel tank was kind of integral to the frame, containing a brace internally, I spent today fabbing up a new bolt on top tube so i could mount an aftermarket tank:

Not posted a pic of the bike with the hardtail on, so here it is - bars aren't going to stay, also speedo is moving, but I think I'll keep the Lucas headlight

Triumph tank

Started off today wanting to fab a new top tube for my 5TA frame so I could fit an aftermarket tank - the existing top brace is integral to the tank in the earlier t100's
Anyway, I had numerous attempts at making something, all of which turned out pretty amateur, so I temporarily gave up on that idea and decided to strip the original tank to see what I had.
Initially it was pretty encouraging, nice clean metal:

Then I moved onto the other side and found some filler:

Bugger.

Long Beach swap meet

What can I say - A Harley nut from the UK would probably need to wear a nappy walking round this place, not as big as something like Newark, but, there was probably only 5% of the stalls selling crap, the rest was pure bike parts, nothing really rusty and shite either - fair enough the vast majority of it is evo / chopper type stuff, but there were Shovel engines, Pan cyl heads, various engine cases, probably about 30 sets of transmissions. Also a few Jap and Triumph bits, but not many - saw a 5T engine, box and frame go for about £550. A few full bikes too including this 1200 Flattie:

Asking price was $18,000

My bargain of the day was a  Triumph 19" wheel, complete with flanged hub and 7" TLS brake plate - all for the princely sum of £30 - No span it yet, but it looks pretty straight and true, spokes are good - just what I was after.

Also picked up a couple of 'bobber' seats on the cheap - will probably stick these on e-bay and put the money to a really good repro seat.

Well, sadly the holiday is over, got back home a couple of hours ago, knackered and wanting to go back sooner rather than later.

At least I've got work to look forward to tomorrow morning