1960 Wide Ratio Gearbox Restored 1961 TR6C

Last weekend I finally got the 1959 cast date 1960 model wide ratio gearbox restored. All new bearings, bushings, seals, springs etc. I had to swap out a handfull of gear cluster parts with better parts I had in the stash, but I'm real happy with the end result. 

The forks need to come back apart for some further fine tuning. I'm using 1970 tubes with the shuttle valve dampners with the rest of it being earlier 60's parts. There will be some minor  custom mods done with this experimental design I am working on that I will cover in a future post.

MOON Motorcycle Trailer

About a month ago I pulled this bad boy home from Solvang, CA. A few weeks previous I got a message from JORDAN letting me know that him and his Dad were gonna sell the Moon trailer and they wanted to give me first crack at it. COOL! A couple weeks of selling parts to come up with the money and I was down there drinking a beer and shooting the shit while Jordan's Dad got me all lined out with the tail light wiring. A couple of true gearheads and all-round great guys. It was getting kinda late when I left so I decided to sleep in the back of the truck when I got to Kettleman City. After a couple hours of trying to fall a sleep in 90 degree weather and truckers bugging me out, I got back in the truck and drove all night to get it home.

Build pics of my 1960-1961 Triumph TR6C project coming soon. It's going to fit real nice on this rig with the back of the truck full of beer, food and gear for cycle camping trips.

Don Cates Built 1967 Triumph T120

"Here's an old picture of my 1967 T120 Bonneville Don Cates put together for me in West Riverside in 1971. Total bill was $328.00 for the work done in those days . Bates head light and tail light , TT pipes , pull back bars made by Cates , MCM Fork covers , fork extensions, Bates front and rear fender. I was Drafted shortly after this picture was taken the bike was sold while I was gone."  Dennis

Don Cates is the Builder of MORT!

Wanted Side Stand for '54 Triumph Rigid

Hey, I'm Dennis from Barcelona and I'm looking for a side stand for my 54 triumph... I had a superior before but I lost it on the highway while riding... Any help will be apreciated!! Keep the good work on! Thanks!

If anyone can help Dennis out, leave a comment. 

Born Free 4 2012

All pictures by Jon Rispante from his trip to Born Free 4. No particular order mostly due to the new blogspot format being a pain in my ass, just like everything that gets changed supposedly for the better these days. I'll let my choices in pictures speak for themselves for the same reason.

1954 JOMO Factory Rigid Frame T110

Got this email from Peter in Australia that was news to me. Posting it looking for more info. If anyone has anything to add to this please comment or email! These probably would have just been 1954 Thunderbird's with the T110 engine plugged in, but it does make the imagination wonder as to what parts they were actually fitted with...


Gday Paul My name is Peter Gallagher and I live in Sydney Australia. I have a collection of around 15 or 16 pre unit Triumphs from running bikes to boxes of bits. I have been looking through your blogs and was very interested in the old magazine articles and adverts from the day. As you are in California I wonder if you can help me with some information? In 1954 Triumph released the T110 model with a swing arm frame. What most people don't know is in that year they made 153 rigid frame Tiger 110. Out of these 153 bikes most went to JoMo who got 115. Only 15 went to TriCor and the rest were scattered across the world with 5 to Australia and the balance to Europe ( mostly to Sweden). It seams like Bill Johnson may have been behind a request for these rigid frame bikes. The interesting facts are ALL of the US bikes had rigid rear wheels and only 9 of the total had sprung hub wheels and these went only to Australia and Sweden. None were sold in the UK. ALL 153 were solo gearing so they were not for sidecar use. It is logical to assume that because flat track racing in the US was 500cc that these bikes were not "race specials" or they would have been documented in books like the T100R,T100RR and T100RS etc. If you know any "old guys" from that time period or ex dealer employees or JoMo staff that might have any info on these bikes I would love to hear what they have to say. Better still if you know anyone who has one or owned one. I am trying to find out what their specifications where. Did they have the same running gear as the swing arm bike with simply the rigid frame. i.e. nacelle, 8 inch scooped front brake with wavy drum, standard 6 pint oil tank etc etc. Any info you can supply would be of help. Peter

Al Rieske's 1955 Triumph Showbike

Al Rieske's Michigan Showbike found at the 2012 San Jose Clubman's Show. Some not so cool modifications, but still showing a lot of the key original elements and it is a solid looking rebuild. With all the chrome and detailing done it wouldn't be hard to bring it back to 1960's spec if the missing pieces didn't get tossed in a dumpster. Going by memory I think the show card said that it was from Nevada. If anyone knows the current owner get him schooled on the history and let's hope the original parts are still sitting on a shelf somewhere!

Sneak Peak of the MORT Restoration

I had been getting some new comments on the old Don Cates Mort post and since it had been about a year and a half since any updates, I decided to contact Big D and see if there was anything new. He got right back to me and sent me some pics of the progress. Noticing that there was a little less chrome than the original build I asked him what the plan was. He sent the reply included below the photos. It's great that Don is involved in this rebuild and I love the family pride and memories the people involved have for this one of a kind machine.

During its time being shown it sported three different paint schemes, my plan is to have Don actually take part in the new paint job. I have actually changed the wheels and have gone with black wheels with custom stainless steal spokes and have gone to adjure black dot headlights.Don was very pleased with the progress this far. We actually made a ride together last September to big pine, he can still roll with the best of them. I will stay in touch and will forward additional photos.This bike will never be for sale it will stay In the family. Long Beach swap meet tomorrow looking for additional parts. Thank you for your continued interest and support.


 Big D