This is a man that if you know him you love him. I was lucky to meet Tbear when him and Maggie came to run a article on Duane and we all became great friends. After that we hooked up for the SOW two years ago and had a ball. He is a gentle giant with a killer heart. Everyone in the industry knows him as TBear and I know him as my friend. He is working on this bad ass ride for charity. I asked him to send me info on the build and we will you updated as the progress continues. If you have extra parts that you think he could use, help my brother out.
From TBear to you, enjoy…..
About two years ago, I picked up a severely neglected 1968 Triumph TR6C with the intention of doing a quick bobber job and selling the bike with the profit of the build going to some of my children’s charities. Well, I let the news slip on a couple of the internet biker related boards just trying to get some info on unit Triumph motors as I’ve been a dyed in the wool H-D Panhead man for over 30 years and never dabbled in British Iron before.
The response from some of my friends and even strangers ion the industry was over whelming. Offers started pouring in for parts donations and soon I had parts that were never meant to be put on a Triumph. It was a real good feeling to have people step up and want to pitch in to help. With so much moral support I thought it was going to be an easy job to quickly slap together something and get it sold. Well, the best laid plans and all that grew with the modifications that had to be made.
I have to back up and tell you that I in on way consider myself a custom bike builder. I’m a writer and an erzots biker photojournalist, what ever that means. I don’t have a big shop with all the equipment needed to build a fine custom. The fact is that I, with the help of a buddy who also knows little about the vagaries of the British made bikes were stepping into the Twilight Zone,
Within a few months, some of the Mutha-Fokker’s donated parts started showing up here. Kevin “Teach” Baas was the first to step up and sent a custom seat pan, Duane Ballard offered to cover the seat, Fabricator Kevin sent along one of his invisible seat hinges and made the stainless steel rear fender struts, David Bird sent over a custom hard-tail frame, I got a great deal from Buck at Goblin Millworx to rebuild the motor and convert my old Joe Hunt Panhead magneto to work on the bikes unit construction 650cc motor. Legendary Clay Cobb made me up a side draft manifold to mount the new JRC 30mm carb that was sent along by Wes White from 4-Aces Cycle Supply and Dan from 7-Metal West kicked in a way cool vertical mount Beehive oil bag. The crowning touch was a hand fab’ed head light made from a farm combine piston from CycleBoyz in Manitoba, Canada. Hank Young took the bikes old gas tank and worked his magic on it and added polished aluminum “knee pads” for the tank that were engraved by Heather New. BrewDude handlesd the black chrome powdercoating on the bikes handle bars that are off a 1943 Nazi BMW R-75, and the black ceramic coating on the shortened pipes, Big Truth from Boston’s Choppa Head made up the forward controls and John Warga out did himself by spending almost 100 hours fabing up the sweetest set of brass machine gun barrel foot pegs and 50-caliber brake and shifter pegs. Master Painter Robert Pradke who painted Indian Larry’s Biker Build off bikes is now doing the paint work.
Well, this was supposed to be a fast turn a round build, but with all the parts having to be modified to work on a Triumph, the going was slow to say the least. To make matters worse, last February I took a spill that landed me in hospital for over 6 weeks and 4 surgeries with my knees taking a real beating requiring me to be stuck in a wheel chair and my legs in full immobilized braces from my crotch to my ankles so my legs could not be bent. Needless to say, there’s not too much one can do building wise, stuck in a wheel chair. Today, the braces have come off as of the beginning of October but I’ll still be stuck in the wheelie chair for another few months, but undaunted, I’ve re-started the build, or as much as I can do.
As of now, the front end has been re-built and the roller has gone back together. Last week, my building buddy Bo and I managed to wrestle the motor back in the frame and as soon as the tin comes back from paint, we’re going try and put the full court press on to get her ready to go by springtime.
Being out of work since February, money has been tight as I try to pay off medical bills so it’s gonna get back together one dollar at a time. Stainless steel hardware and miscellaneous parts like cables, oil and fuel lines, a Smiths Speedo, etc. are going to be rolling in as money allows.
Stay tuned, I’ll try to keep you all posted as the build progresses. My only regret is that the bike won’t be done and sold before Christmas time so the $$$ can go where it’s needed most.
TBear
