Miracle Triumph motor over half way to the Moon

Making the equivalent journey of over half-way to the moon, it's something close to a miracle that this Triumph motor is in such impeccable condition.

Opening this engine was like cracking open a sacred arc relic to find a gleaming apparition inside.

I loathe relinquishing my bike into the hands of others, but when it's engine work I lack the confidence and workshop tools required, so I'm forced to hand over the repair helm to a local team. Luckily there was just one spotless and very well-organised workshop in town. When I rolled my globe-trotting Triumph into the workshop at "SHED Outside The Box" in Siem Reap, Cambodia, the poor triple cylinder motor was knocking a fair bit.

"These bikes are famous for sounding like London black taxis."

I said in an attempt to defend its mechanical pride.

Eric and Dave, the Canadian/Irish workshop duo shook there heads.

"Yeah, but not like that!"

They yelped.

Jaws dropped when I presented the mileage on the clock,

"150k miles = 240k kilometres...that's almost two thirds of the way to the Moon, only another 140k kilometres to go"

I exclaimed.

If all you had to do to reach the Moon was pull the throttle through space for 380 thousand kilometres, without a bump or corner in your path, then perhaps it wouldn't be so surprising to see a motorcycle look so good after making it that far.

Yet this Thunderbird 900 built in year 2000 has passed over Africa, South - central and North America, Australasia and South East Asia, across snow, desert, rivers, and generally roads that don't deserve to be called roads, through some of the worst plausible weather conditions, all whilst carrying a load that the suspension was never designed for. In other words this motor has been punished for 16 years by me, a once novice adventure rider, now a somewhat veteran of this model.

At their first pass technical inspection, Eric called me in to the shop.

"Do you want to sit down or perhaps lay down on the sofa Tim ?"

Dave asked.

I took a deep breath as I felt a heavy burden was about to be placed on my shoulders.

Dave then went on to carefully list out the prognosis, reckoning a complete engine rebuild most likely requiring all pistons, rings, con rods and more to be replaced. That is an expensive proposition for a traveller, but that's why you have to save for a rainy day I suppose. Some might say that a motorcycle that long in the tooth should be put out to pasture. However, I held out some hope that the job might not be as involved as all that, because over the years I've come to understand that this bike is long-lasting and well engineered, some say over engineered. So I agreed it was time to crack open the motor to get a closer look at what needed to be done.

A few days later I received a call from Eric asking me to come in again, there was no solemn or chirpy giveaway in his voice, but I rushed over nonetheless.

With a twist of his thumbs Eric demonstrated the pistons having rotational and lateral movement where they shouldn't.

The prognosis hadn't changed, but I was still hopeful

"Perhaps worn con rod pins and rings could be responsible for these symptoms?"

I offered.

Eric shook his head gravely and commanded an authoritative

"No"

Eric was upbeat about the cylinder head which at first glance was looking very clean indeed. Still, more investigation was required before the full truth could be known.

Later that day I was back in the workshop peering across from a set of very shiny unworn pistons and down at the immaculate cylinder liners.

"I think you've been lying Tim, you've been pushing this bike around the world, not driving it."

Eric was beckoning me to take a closer look at the liners.

"Do you see those diagonal markings up and down the liners ? Those are the original machine marks from the factory, these liners are like new! I've never seen anything like it!"

Later I would learn that several other technical friends and colleagues had come to the calling of a veritable pilgrimage to witness these liners and pistons as if they were some sort of holy motorcycle miracle to behold. None of them had seen such minor wear on a motor with this many miles on the clock. I wish I had been there to witness their first impressions of shock and awe.

I felt somewhat vindicated for having high hopes, but couldn't rest until I spent some time getting in the way of Eric's work, re-measuring everything repeatedly with a micrometer.

Replacing the worn pistons rings and bearing shells appeared to be the only real repair required along with some standard valve shim clearances.

With great excitement I got in contact with Kath Lilley in the UK, who has been a solid source of support since I first contacted her team in 2009, when this engine was last opened up. After a little to and fro we hammered out the parts order, which thanks to Kath's advice, would include Plastigauge and 3 full sets of bearing shells. All I had to do now was sit and wait.

After biting my nails for a couple of weeks the call finally came in from the post office. Minutes later I had the parts in Eric's hands. Eric prioritised the work on my bike as he knew I had to get to a Cambodian land border before my temporary import document (TIP) expired.

Now armed with 3 sets of bearing shells; Red, White and Blue, along with a pack of Plastigauge, a more accurate oil clearance measurement could be taken.

I was glad of Kath's suggestion to order all the bearing shell grades, as I would have been stuck without the additional ones required.

2 days later I was presented with a clean bike ready to roll. But not quite, the idle knob was not working and some routing needed to be sorted out.

After a quick consultation with Kath's team, it was suggested the idle cable might be broken. Low and behold Eric confirmed this and soon had the bike up and running as expected. Along with the engine work, the carburettors were overhauled, fork and oil seals replaced, temperature sender and thermostat also replaced.

A shiver went down my back when I finally hit the starter, I hadn't heard this rock solid engine sound in 10 years. No knocking, faltering, spluttering, misfire or other misgiving could be heard, just an unstoppable ticking hum.

Eric has a plethora of big road and dirt bikes pass through his doors, so I was impressed to hear him applaud mine for its liveliness.

"I'm amazed at how responsive this motor is, it's carburetted but feels like a fuel injected engine."

He offered.

With all that I had seen and heard on this job, I'm more than confident that this motor will easily make it all the rest of the way to the moon.