Triumph pre unit advice

[winchboy]

Hi, wondering if anyone has any experience with Triumph T110's or T120's? Looking at treating myself but struggling to justify the cost of them, are they likely to retain value for years to come?
Pre unit vs unit construction, prefer the look of pre unit however are there any pitfalls between the two mechanically ie iron head or alloy head, duplex frame etc?
T110 is much closer to my price range but do have a friend with a T120r project that may be for sale so could it be the better buy if its the right money?
Any advice would be great as I've no experience with 1960's triumphs, currently restoring a 1934 Royal Enfield Model A (may have to sell to fund triumph).
Thanks
Winchboy

 

[duncans]

they have shot up in price my mate bought a triumph trident T160 it cost him in 1976 the some of £999.99p as he said to me it's so easy to remember how much it cost back then they are fetching about £8.000 at to days prices they will only go up in price i would have thought

 

[Ali]

All original or chopped etc?

They’ve been silly money for a long time, I see no reason things would change relative to the value of other bikes, only that if you splurge a lot of cash and the economy suddenly dives you might be waiting a long time before getting your money back. But if you really want one there are no cooler bikes if that’s your thing. I looked a few years back and £3-4K would just about get you a pile of parts.

I know I’d do it if I had the money and the right bike came up.

Keep an eye out and be quick (bear in mind everyone wants one), you might see bikes delusional sellers have been hanging on to dropping in price at the moment.

Edit: if you want your pick just import one from the US, have a look at Chopperswapper on instagram. It’s not too much hassle, though a bit of a scary wait while your life savings are a container.

 

[Rannsachair]

Depends if you want an investment or something to ride: regular transport or the odd blast, a restoration project, a clean unrestored bike or a restored bike.....

Though I have a 1969 T120, a bike i always wanted, at times I wish I had gone for a single carb TR6 or Thunderbird - the single carb is easier to keep in tune and rides nicely, only losing out on the top end, while buying prices are quite a bit lower.

Earlier single downtube frame bikes do not handle as well as the later duplex, also the later tls brakes are better.

I think spares are readily available for all, though later bikes are easier to get parts for.

It will cost about the same to restore any of them and a T110 or a T120 will usually value at premium over the single carb bikes, so can be better buy to restore.

I paid £3600 for my T120 about 15 years ago and probably spent £1500 on a rebuild and repaint, so it has likely been a better investment than the building society, which helps justify all my bikes to the wife, though means little to me as I buy them for the fun of riding and working on them.

 

[winchboy]

All original or chopped etc?

They’ve been silly money for a long time, I see no reason things would change relative to the value of other bikes, only that if you splurge a lot of cash and the economy suddenly dives you might be waiting a long time before getting your money back. But if you really want one there are no cooler bikes if that’s your thing. I looked a few years back and £3-4K would just about get you a pile of parts.

I know I’d do it if I had the money and the right bike came up.

Keep an eye out and be quick (bear in mind everyone wants one), you might see bikes delusional sellers have been hanging on to dropping in price at the moment.

Edit: if you want your pick just import one from the US, have a look at Chopperswapper on instagram. It’s not too much hassle, though a bit of a scary wait while your life savings are a container.

I'm not a rivet counter but wouldn't want a bag of bits either, would prefer a running project or oily rag condition, I've got enough on with the series 2a land rover and 1934 enfield to keep me busy, like always it comes down to price, have sold a lot of my snap on as its just a luxury, a friend of my dads built a replica lotus 7 from scratch, no kit, and he doesn't even have a full set of screwdrivers but the thing is immaculate, goes to show you don't "need" the most tools. Have watched chopper swapper for a while on instagram, just wouldn't be comfortable relying on someone to actually send me all my savings worth in a bike via container for weeks on end. Hope you've still got that Honda ATC in your profile pic it'll be worth a mint!

 

[winchboy]

Depends if you want an investment or something to ride: regular transport or the odd blast, a restoration project, a clean unrestored bike or a restored bike.....

Though I have a 1969 T120, a bike i always wanted, at times I wish I had gone for a single carb TR6 or Thunderbird - the single carb is easier to keep in tune and rides nicely, only losing out on the top end, while buying prices are quite a bit lower.

Earlier single downtube frame bikes do not handle as well as the later duplex, also the later tls brakes are better.

I think spares are readily available for all, though later bikes are easier to get parts for.

It will cost about the same to restore any of them and a T110 or a T120 will usually value at premium over the single carb bikes, so can be better buy to restore.

I paid £3600 for my T120 about 15 years ago and probably spent £1500 on a rebuild and repaint, so it has likely been a better investment than the building society, which helps justify all my bikes to the wife, though means little to me as I buy them for the fun of riding and working on them.

Lovely bike, condition like that is far out of my price range, would ideally use it for the odd work commute in good weather and generally pottering about on, currently ride a 1985 Honda xl125r which has been relatively trouble free apart from an oil leak and sheared off brake nipple. Was 1961 the only year T120's were pre-unit? Think they look much better than unit construction. Dual carb seems a bit off a pest to set up, anything I should look out for in particular if I go and view one?

 

[brightspark]

Lovely bike, condition like that is far out of my price range, would ideally use it for the odd work commute in good weather and generally pottering about on, currently ride a 1985 Honda xl125r which has been relatively trouble free apart from an oil leak and sheared off brake nipple. Was 1961 the only year T120's were pre-unit? Think they look much better than unit construction. Dual carb seems a bit off a pest to set up, anything I should look out for in particular if I go and view one?

dual carbs are easy to set up
u only need a couple of vacuum gauges and a bit of tweaking and use a colour tune to get the mixture right

 

[Sean]

I Had one years ago, getting spares was a bit of a mare as it was pre internet so you had to rely on people who knew someone who knew....etc. you had to rely on Old stock and second hand
Pre unit had big single castings for the primary drive which were easily damaged and tricky to repair. Mine was a T100 all alloy 500cc lovely wee engine had to sell it when twins of another sort (children) came along.

 

[Rannsachair]

Lovely bike, condition like that is far out of my price range, would ideally use it for the odd work commute in good weather and generally pottering about on, currently ride a 1985 Honda xl125r which has been relatively trouble free apart from an oil leak and sheared off brake nipple. Was 1961 the only year T120's were pre-unit? Think they look much better than unit construction. Dual carb seems a bit off a pest to set up, anything I should look out for in particular if I go and view one?

Thanks, its a tough call, most are only as good as their last rebuild. I usually ask lots of questions and look at receipts for parts if they have them.

Other than that it is the usual start up, check for smoke and rattles, signs of damage or ham fisted work, unoriginal parts also devalue the bike, so do a bit of research on any bike you go to see.

Duplex frame came out on the 1960 T120 though for pottering the older frames are fine.

I like the preunits too, 6T Thunderbirds as well as T110's, also for unit;s looks at TR6 Trophy's.

I have run twin and single carb Triumph's: single carbs are easier to set up and once set stay in tune much longer, twin carbs need more maintenance and balancing for little improvement in performance. With modern fuels I often end up stripping and cleaning carbs - half the time wasted with a single carb.

500 Triumph's are nice too and tend to be quite a bit less cash.

A few at not too bad prices on FB:
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/397259297790305/
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2628299917267523/

 

[Tinbasherdan]

I’d finish one project before moving on to others. I doubt that s2a is going to go without causing you some hassle for starters. You’re just going to end up with loads of knackered wrecks hanging around that you can’t devote your time to

edit to add- if it’s for bumbling about and looking old, get a royal Enfield. At least there’s a fair chance you’ll finish the journey that you started

 

[Rannsachair]

I’d finish one project before moving on to others. I doubt that s2a is going to go without causing you some hassle for starters. You’re just going to end up with loads of knackered wrecks hanging around that you can’t devote your time to

edit to add- if it’s for bumbling about and looking old, get a royal Enfield. At least there’s a fair chance you’ll finish the journey that you started

Though bikes are easier to work on than a S2a, you can bring them into the house in the winter

From some of the Enfield India horror stories, I would be looking at a Redditch made one before a Chennai build, though these new Interceptors do look nice and are not a lot of cash. I have done tens of thousands of trouble free miles on old Triumph's, you do need to check fasteners regularly due to vibration.

 

[Matchless]

I have a feeling that classic car and bike values will be dropping a lot very soon, no one will have any spare cash left in their pension pot, maybe the best of the best will hold up but the more common examples ………………………… keep an eye on auctions, there is a classic bike auction coming up next month,

 

[nickk]

only triumph twin I’ve had was a 3ta,when I was 17,sweet and smooth engine and oiltight!
But the frame flexed,dropped it on one corner ,it rotated on its footrest hit the Armco,barely a mark on man and machine,but then the school bus went past,kids on the back seat all laughed and pointing,rode back home as if nothing happened,lucky anyway.

 

[Matchless]

when I was 16 I was riding along on my Tiger cub and my mate was in front on his RE 250GT, actually in Markhouse rd, he looked left at a yummy mummy bending over a pushchair (mini skirt) and rode straight into a car that had stopped at the lights, broke the rear window with his helmet, she was sooooo impressed, not!

 

[Tinbasherdan]

Though bikes are easier to work on than a S2a, you can bring them into the house in the winter

From some of the Enfield India horror stories, I would be looking at a Redditch made one before a Chennai build, though these new Interceptors do look nice and are not a lot of cash. I have done tens of thousands of trouble free miles on old Triumph's, you do need to check fasteners regularly due to vibration.

Anything at his budget is going to be a mountain of issues loosely forming a bike. Without wanting to sound harsh, everything ever posted by winchman is how to do everything without spending any money, and that’s not the way to run anything vintage

 

[winchboy]

I’d finish one project before moving on to others. I doubt that s2a is going to go without causing you some hassle for starters. You’re just going to end up with loads of knackered wrecks hanging around that you can’t devote your time to

edit to add- if it’s for bumbling about and looking old, get a royal Enfield. At least there’s a fair chance you’ll finish the journey that you started

The Land Rover is a runner, 90% of the work left is cosmetic, not a huge fan of the royal Enfields apart from the pre war bikes, my model A lightweight will be on the back burner for a couple years as it’s not everyday the correct 86 year old bike parts turn up. My 1985 Honda xl has done me well for pottering about and has never let me down, the T110’s and similar seem to be a good balance of performance and reliability for such a classic and stylish bike.

 

[Tinbasherdan]

The Land Rover is a runner, 90% of the work left is cosmetic, not a huge fan of the royal Enfields apart from the pre war bikes, my model A lightweight will be on the back burner for a couple years as it’s not everyday the correct 86 year old bike parts turn up. My 1985 Honda xl has done me well for pottering about and has never let me down, the T110’s and similar seem to be a good balance of performance and reliability for such a classic and stylish bike.

You’ve done no miles in that landrover, I wouldn’t bank on it being only cosmetic.

 

[winchboy]

I have a feeling that classic car and bike values will be dropping a lot very soon, no one will have any spare cash left in their pension pot, maybe the best of the best will hold up but the more common examples ………………………… keep an eye on auctions, there is a classic bike auction coming up next month,

Very true the local BSA owners club has 8 bikes for sale this month

 

[frank horton]

buy a different make unless u have to........
how they get these crazy prices I have no idea......
bit like the Morris 1000's of yesteryear..spend £1,000's doing them up then u cant give em away....!!!!!!!!
As there are so many out there I think there will be tears soon, may take a couple of years tho.....
unless u plan burning up the roads...Joke....buy something from the late 40's on......
almost the same performance, just as reliable as the Triumph and will def keep it's value.....
Did anyone mention the oil leaks n tappet rattles.......hahaha....

 

[jerrytug]

Get a Norton! Trumpets are absurdly over valued.
Also, Nortons are better

I would be looking at one of the less desirable Commando models. Commandos, in my humble, are more likely to be sorted because they get used and ridden, while Triumphs are used by posers or tarted up by wheeler-dealers to make a quick buck.