Article & Photos By: Mikey Revolt
Originally Published In The October2016 Issue Of Cycle Source Magazine
Todd from Lowbrow purchased this bike as part of a two bike deal. When he got this bike it consisted of a stock swing arm frame with a complete motor that had the correct 8 bolt top end, a later year alternator inner and outer primary and a transmission. It also had the stock front forks, front and rear wheels, oil tank, and tool-box. Basically it was a roller with the majority of its parts missing. The frame had been painted at least three times and the top layer was a badly done black metal flake. There was so much paint on the frame that he couldn’t even find the vin number. Knowing where the number should be on the frame he proceeded to scrape away at the layers of paint with a razor blade. Todd eventually found the numbers and they matched the motor; needless to say he was extremely happy to discover that. After going over what he wanted to do with the bike Todd decided there were too many things missing to put it back to stock. Not wanting to spend years hunting down all of the parts needed he decided to go the bobber route. The next thing was to disassemble the main components down to a naked frame. Todd had quite a bit of fun removing the swing arm. It was just a press fit pivot shaft and although it does have a grease fitting it had not been serviced probably since it originally came from the factory. He decided to go ahead and install a David Bird hardtail. It turned out the boss had ordered one for a project and had ended up not using it. He told Todd to take it and see if he liked the configuration for his build.
Satisfied with the hardtail, the frame came out looking good and exactly what he wanted. As usual there were some extra holes drilled in the frame from previous owners so they were welded up and smoothed down. Other than that, the original part of the frame that was re-used was in pretty good condition. Next on Todd’s plate was the wheel selection. He ended up using a Harley 40-hole rim that was laced to the stock pre-unit rear hub. For the front he had the original Jones rim re-chromed and then laced that back together with some Buchanan spokes. The front forks were taken apart for inspection, and he ended up replacing the tubes, top nuts and hardware. Finally, after getting it back to a roller with some new tires and tubes it was time to take a look at the motor and transmission.
The top end was removed and stock bore pistons were found inside the barrel. He decided not to take the lower end apart. He did however give her a new top end with oversized pistons and a valve job. The magneto that came with the motor was not making any spark so that was removed and replaced with a mag that had been re-built and used for a short time on one of the Lowbrow land speed bikes. Todd was originally going to run the alternator primary but had already started another pre-unit project and ended up needing those for that bike. It takes a bit of looking to come up with a good set of inner and outer primary covers for the generator model engines because a lot of the inners are cracked or broken when a distance spacer it omitted. The generator came from another spare engine that he had bought. When he opened the transmission for inspection Todd found that it had been converted to a five speed. He ended up rebuilding another 4 speed with new bearings and did the layshaft needle bearing conversion. It now shifts perfectly with no complaints when going into first gear.
After gathering more parts that he needed such as a Gasbox rear fender, Cali Choppers aluminum oil tank, Rich Phillips leather seat, and a NOS Wassel banana gas tank things were starting to come together pretty fast. He used a set of 1” Biltwell tracker bars and a cool old light he found on our favorite auction site. A simple fork mounted bracket was made for the light and fender struts and some Lowbrow bungs were welded up by his friend Stevo. They also put some bungs on the top frame rail for the gas tank. The license plate bracket was cut out of a piece of sheet steel and added an unknown old taillight to that after it was welded to the hard tail. A set of 2 into 1 high left exhaust pipes were used with a Cone Engineering stainless muffler. Todd really wanted to use an Amal monobloc carb because that is what would have been on this bike originally but he didn’t want to spend $300.00 for a new one. After playing musical carbs with his parts stash of carbs, he finally got a 376 to work. This was kind of a long term project for him, having completed at least five to six other unit 650 bikes in the time he worked on this one. He finished up towards the end of last summer and has been riding it every chance he gets. “It is a blast to ride; its’ lightweight, super nimble, and handles extremely well.” Be sure to visit lowbrowcustoms.com if you are working on getting your triumph project started or just bringing an old bike back to life.
Lowbrow Weirdo Tech Sheet
Owner: Todd Muller
City/state: Ohio
Year: 1956
Model: TR6
Value:
Time: Way Too Long
ENGINE
Year: 1956
Model: TR6
Builder: Todd Muller
Ignition: Magneto
Displacement: 650cc
Pistons: 0.20 Over-Sized
Heads: Re-Built
Carb: Amal 376 Monobloc
Cam: Stock
Air Cleaner: NOS UK Made Pancake
Exhaust: 2 Into 1 Cone Engineering
TRANSMISSION
Year: 1956
Make: Triumph
Shifting: Foot Shift
Frame
Year: 1956
Make: Triumph
Model: TR6
Rake: Stock
Stretch: Stock
Forks
Type: Triumph Pre-Unit
Builder: Todd Muller
WHEELS
Front Wheel: Stock
Size: 19”
Front Tire: Avon
Front brake: Stock Drum
Rear Wheel: Triumph HUb, Harley Rim
Size: 16”
Rear Tire: Duro HF302
Rear brake: Stock Drum
PAINT
Painter: A Guy At Sons Dealership
Color: Gunmetal Gray
Type: Base W/ Clear
Chroming: Who Needs Chrome?
ACCESSORIES
Bars: BIltwell
Risers: None
Hand Controls: Stock
Fuel tank: Wassel Banana
Front Fender: No Way
Rear Fender: Gasbox
Seat: Rich Phillips
Foot Controls: Stock
Oil tank: Cali Choppers
Headlight: Really Old
Taillight: Car/Truck, Who Knows
Speedo: None
Photographer: Mikey Revolt