1971 Triumph Tiger 650 restoration

One of the joys of working on motorbikes, rather than cars, is everything is so much more accessible. Ones skin can, largely, remain on ones knuckles and there is rarely the need to grovel around on the floor working upside-down while rust and dirt fall in ones eyes. There is less call too for brute force and grunt as most fastners are more delicately made sensibly placed. Less, but not none. For some reason, the physically tough jobs have all come at once. Firstly, because I am still waiting for parts, I decide to strip down the rear end. Off comes the drive chain, and with only a small tussle the back wheel. Next the shock absorbers and rear mudguard are removed, which is a dirty but easy job. Finally the swing arm itself can be released. The swing arm is the substantial U-shaped frame that supports the back wheel. At the front it is pivoted onto the main frame so it can swing up and down, while a shock absorber on each side cushions and dampens the movement to create a proper suspen

So much for my plan to work logically through the bike from front to back. It seems to be taking anything from two to twenty days to receive parts from the various suppliers, scrambling my plan of action somewhat. I can't finish the electrics because I am waiting for a headlamp boot and the indicators. I can't change the tyres yet because I am still waiting for inner tubes. I can't set up the control cables because I am still waiting for the new handlebars. Both these need to happen before I can set up the front brakes, although I can't do that anyway because I am waiting for two little washers that secure the brake cable to the lever on the drum. Oil draining from all over the place So I have instead started on the engine. First things first, I drain off the horrible sludgy old oil. On most bikes, one drain plug does it all, but not on this machine. There are not one, not two, but FOUR different drain plugs to remove, all with different sealing washers; the crankcase,