Bonneville America Forums Forums General Motorcycle Forums Other Bikes "The Loser" Rides again!

I know these type of old choppers aren't everyone's cup of tea but I finally was able to ride my '66 Bonneville this afternoon. The bike came from a shop in Philly. The owner said the owner rode with him and they had a loose-knit club calling themselves "The Losers" because they drank so much.

Thanks to Snekepte who introduced me to a friend of his who is an expert on old Trumps and has a great parts stash. It was only with his help that I was able to get this thing rebuilt.

The only thing left from the original bike are the forks, front wheel, handlebars, motor, carbs & oil tank. I found most of the replacement parts via the Jockey Journalforum or swap meets. A set of short dog-bone style risers arrived today and will get installed with one of two z-bars that I have.

The smile on my face must have been a mile wide after the test ride. It was a little nerve wracking as I haven't been on a hard-tail since the early 80's. It rode a lot better than I had envisioned for two years and the seat is pretty comfy. The brakes also work well, but it maybe a few more rides before I'm dicing it out in traffic.

We still have to tune the old Amals in a bit more and re-check the timing but she's pretty much ready to roll.

Heres some pix and a video of my buddy taking her for a spin.





What I started out with:


Video:
http://rides.webshots.com/video/3021793450062237293MSHeMQ

I Like it!

I like it Al,

Does the bottom "what you started with" photo have the old Lester or similar rear wheel?? And a King/Queen seat, I'm feeling old, hmmmm mature.

jh

That is Awesome! You going to enter it in the VA show in Leesburg? I'd love to see it there.

great job...a lovely bike.

What did you do with that awesome 70s king&queen seat? Give it to a museum? :-)

Nice job on the rebirth, Al. Now cover that solo seat to match the grips!

Yes, sadly that was an "Invader" wheel that could not be used. It was in good shape and an original round-spoke wheel (versus oval spokes). The wheel was for a Sportster and the guy just mounted the Triumph brake hub with no spacer and just cranked the axle nuts in to hold the wheel in place. He couldn't have ridden many miles on this setup. They also pried open the original hardtail to make the wheel work. We couldn't get the hard-tail section straight so mounted another. The original hardtail was 6" over, the replacement is only 4" over and I like the shorter look. The brake hub was also shot, like everything else on the bike....

The wheel is now in my buddy's son's Sportster project:

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I like it Al,

Does the bottom "what you started with" photo have the old Lester or similar rear wheel?? And a King/Queen seat, I'm feeling old, hmmmm mature.

jh

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Absolutely. I'm free that whole weekend and will probably ride with some Baltimore Trimph Guys (Renegades) on Satuday.
I will be staining the VA ground on Sunday!

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That is Awesome! You going to enter it in the VA show in Leesburg? I'd love to see it there.

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Still have the seat. It weights exactly 30 lbs! Most of the other stuff I swapped/sold. (tank, etc.)

I have a leather cover for that seat, but a buddy who does bike seats so you may see some red sparkle in the future!

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What did you do with that awesome 70s king&queen seat? Give it to a museum? :-)

Nice job on the rebirth, Al. Now cover that solo seat to match the grips!

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I have a few Invaders floating around,19" front and a couple 16" rears. Mine have the square spokes. 5 spoke rears and 6 spoke front.

Al, ride that beautiful beast down here for our VA ride on Saturday. I think Gene and some of the other Clinton gang are going to try and come down.

That's cool,I would love to try and build one someday.

love it! +1 on matching the seat leather to the handgrips! I want one!

Well, it's been four years since I bought this project. Thanks to Snekepte's friend, Mike, the bike is officially on the road as of the 4th of July weekend. I've been having fun scary myself and neighbors. It gets lots of smiles and thumbs up from the old guys. The HD Hog type folks just seem puzzled. I had it at our hot rod show last night and when it started on the first kick said, "well, it starts". I need a "it is finished" sticker to put on the oil tank. It's loud, smelly, still drips oil and puts a big smile on my face every time I ride it.

It is most happy on 40-50 mph secondary roads. The lighting, off the battery-less Mity Max is weak, so its not great to ride at night. It's so small, folks just don't see me, but they can hear me

I needed a bag of sorts to carry tools, flashlight, etc. and found my Pop's old ammo bag he used in Vietnam. I mounted it to the hardtail section and it seems to fit the bike.

I found a set of Biltwell "Frisco" bars on a swap board and will install them next week. I'm used to slightly taller bars than the z's bars in these pix.

SUPER Special!! Love every aspect of it! I can smell the oil all the way from here!!!

Definitely has a lot of character.

Badass man! I'm lovin' it.

New bars installed, I like the taller bars. Had to flip the risers around, now the reach is perfect. Also added a red kicker pedal to compliment the red grips.

Looks fantastic, well done!! Love the helmet too

I ride an old rigid Triumph Chop too so you're not alone on here...

Cool. The America is unfortunately gathering dust lately, but ready for the longer rides. Just took the chopper for a little spin this evening, a very nice warm evening. I don't like riding it in the dark, the headlight is pretty feeble (no battery) and it's probably a little risky.

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Looks fantastic, well done!! Love the helmet too

I ride an old rigid Triumph Chop too so you're not alone on here...

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There was a T100 chopper basket at the event we did this past weekend but the guy wanted way too much for a rough hard tail in pieces. It was titled as a 66. Too much missing and have no idea if the engine was any good.

I have both tank badges, but the left side only has one screw. Is there anywhere in PA that would have these Brit-thread screws (a 10/32 SAE is too small, M5 too big)? In working near King of Prussia PA tomorrow. I was going to call "Cafe Customs" in the AM, he sells Brit stuff on Ebay.

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There was a T100 chopper basket at the event we did this past weekend but the guy wanted way too much for a rough hard tail in pieces. It was titled as a 66. Too much missing and have no idea if the engine was any good.

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I get all my old stuff from Hermy's (unless it's hard to get stuff) ask to speak with Hermy himself for that stuff not the parts guy.

More changes. Here's a quick camera phone pix.

Finally got my tank badges mounted, both sides. They match the bike's character perfectly.

I also gave up on that drum front brake. My forks were shot and needed a complete rebuild, including new stanchions. I found a '79 disc brake front end on Ebay and it slipped right on. I have the extra 79 stuff I didn't need on Ebay and my old front end and just those parts alone look like they'll cover the cost of the new front end. I still have my old conical wheel to sell, if I need to.

I ordered a new Duro Tire and it came today. Got it mounted using my drum tank trash can and installed it on the '79 front end. Took if for a quick spin around the neighborhood. Wow, rides pretty nice.

New master cylinder is supposed to be here Thursday. I ordered an XS650 "slimline lightweight" mc from "Mike's". A local shop will make me a new hydraulic line. Hopefully by Saturday I'll have it mounted and working. I guess you get used to it, but boy is it strange riding without a front brake.

I had some spare time on Saturday and couldn't resist polishing the fork legs. No prep, just hit the wheel with some white rouge. That really doesn't fit the character for the rest of the bike, so I'll probably scotchbrite them at some point. Oh well, one day with a little wet sandpaper they would really gleam

My buddy said don't bother machining the front disc rotor, he has a few good spares and I can use from his stash.

Sounds like its all coming together!

New bars definitely look better, are they from Biltwell? I don't run mine as high as yours, but they are a very similar style.

Finished my front end/disc brake install. Just got back from a test ride. Very nice, this thing is now fun to ride at speed. No more bouncing and the disc brake is a good upgrade.

I needed an adaptor to match the metric swivel on the Goodridge line to the Lockeed caliper. This took a while to find, but a Goodridge part #441-03 Adaptor did the trick. It came from a shop in Sonoma CA called "Brit Parts".

I installed it without the olive. It took the better part of an hour to bleed my 47" line (which unfortunately, is about 6" too long). But, I have a part lever and the brake works great. I'll replace the $30 line at some point, I just don't feel like having to bleed the system all over again right now.

My buddy has a collection of discs, I'll compare mine against his and install another if necessary. Or that failing, get this one machined. Still, it works pretty well at this point.

You folks do some amazing stuff here, putting on a front end is no doubt not a big deal. But, I was able to make this swap on my own, with some internet advice and that makes me feel pretty good. Plus, I have a better riding, safer front end.

The best part is I bought the new front end/wheel and tire for $400. I sold the unneeded OEM parts for $380 and still have the old triple tree set and a few misc trim pieces.


Goodridge 441-O3Adaptor without the olive installed, see it sitting on the caliper:


Bike with front end installed and working.

Sweet.

That looks awesome.

~Brent

Nice work, looks great as well as the better braking you'll have. I'm lucky enough to have disks front and rear on my old chop.

Bring that ole girl up my way,well go ride the battlefield!Very nice Al.

sounds good in the video.