Greetings from PA. My name is Tom, and live in the Philly area. My everyday bike is a 75/6 BMW, and my not-so-everyday bike is a '75 T160 Trident. I've had it for 30 years, with my brother-in-law being the original owner. It's currently got 2,400 miles on it, and other than a Tri-Spark Classic ignition and a T150 air filter it's completely original, including the tires and paint. It's been in museums, a concours d'elegance, and a ton of shows but I think it's time to just start riding it. I know "it's only original once", but it's too good of a motorcycle to just sit there 99.9% of the time. Over the winter I'm thinking about putting on new tires, brake pads and shocks, and start using it like Triumph intended. We'll see. Glad to be here at The Triumph Forum!
Thank you all for the warm welcome. Question- Does anyone know what this number is? It's 534, and has been on since day 1. It's also on the underside of the engine. I've asked a lot of people and no one knows.
Welcome neighbor, from right across the river in South Jersey. Nice bike! Yeah...ride the snot outta' that thing. No garage queens here! Got my first Triumph last November at Quaker City Motorsports in Manayunk.
C.M.C.E Welcome to the family. Great intro and fantastic pictures. You will make a lot of people envious with that piece of British history. Your number there is the engine number and should correspond with the frame number. Shows the engine and frame are matched and original. Under the engine is you cases numbers showing they came from the same batch and were built for the bike you have. And i agree it should be ridden and enjoyed. Make sure you change all the oils and fluids beforehand. Thanks for sharing a fantastic picture of the steed. I am envious already. Joe
Joe, So the 534 in marker is a batch #? I've asked a lot of people over the years, and this is the first answer I've ever gotten (besides shrugged shoulders and scratched heads). Another thing I'm going to do before putting it on the road is put the original-paint tank in safe storage and paint the spare big tank I have and use that. It's amazing how vibrant the original paint is, and how quickly it fades to pink/purple when exposed to UV. I don't want that happening to my tank. Thanks for your response Joe!
I've been asked in a PM if I could post additional photos so here they are. If anyone needs a photo of a specific part (perhaps for reference), I'd be happy to do that. I included a photo of the speedo cable stand-off that I made and installed. I believe they came from the factory with it but mine did not. Being a fairly early (AK01011) build date, maybe it was a running production change? You can see where the cable was up against the exhaust. I also included a photo of the original tires. They look pretty good for almost 47 years old, but I still don't trust them. Your thoughts?
Looks beautiful Tom. Glad you could get pics posted here. Nice to see another Trident out and about. There are very few here in my neck of the woods. Take care,
C.M.C.E. Forget the pictures. Just send the 160 over here. But really it is stunning and true British history. Thanks for sharing the pictures it has really made me smile with pride. Joe.
Joe, If I'm going to send you the bike....I'll need your address! A bit more back-story to this bike - my brother-in-law bought it new from Dan's Triumph/Norton (Staten Island, NY) in '75, and had a tough time deciding between the 850 Commando and this bike. The dealership was in such a bad neighborhood that when he took delivery he insisted they meet at a diner in a nice neighborhood to do the cash deal. He soon met and married my sister, who is the most un-motorcycle person on the planet, hence the low mileage. Although seldom used, it was always maintained and cared for. I had often mentioned to my wife that this bike was my dream bike, and if Steve ever wanted to sell, I'd be interested. I never said anything to Steve though. In the beginning of '92, my sister mentioned to my wife that they were selling the bike among other things to make ends meet, and my wife said SOLD, I'll buy it, just don't tell Tom! My wife gave me the bill of sale to the bike in a Valentines Day card that year. I was stunned and shocked, and I still am really after all this time. The bike is a keeper and so is my wife!! The kids were still small and we got moved around quite a bit, but in 2016 I got it out of mothballs and got it going again. Of course I had to rebuild the forks/brakes/carbs, clean the tank and replace the fluids, but after 20 years of not running I tickled the carbs, turned on the ignition, hit the starter and off it went like I had just run it yesterday! I did put a Tri-Spark classic in it, and what a difference that made. As mentioned in my intro post, it's time to start using it and break out of the 'original-low-mileage jail' I've been in. Thank you all for the kind words. Tom