Max's shed of a TT600

[Max5476]

Having sold my Tiger in January, and waiting for a new 765 Street Triple R in May, I was itching for a bike to fill the gap. The plan was for something I could ride, but that would also act as a bit of a project, and something I could start to tinker with.

After a false start initially looking at 100cc 2-Strokes, a test ride made me realise I wanted something with a bit more oomph. Budget was a lowly £1000 but after a few weeks of keeping an eye on the classifieds, I spotted a Triumph TT 600 which I went and had a look at. Having been given a lift to pick it up this morning, and a £900 lighter wallet I have just ridden home on this:



First impressions, not quite the rocket breathing monster the seller made it out to be, but it'll keep me entertained in the mean time. I am already developing a to-do list:

1. Sort out the front brake - It needs new pads, and the master cylinder needs rebuilding.


2. It died when idling of the motorway, so need to check all the vacuum pipes and idle (I think)

3. The RSU is more like a pogo stick, so work out why it has lost all damping / replace.

4. New chain and sprockets.

5. New rear tyre.

6. I'm sure I will find some other things wrong with it.

I went with Triumph, as I can get good discount on genuine parts, and access to an OEM Service manual and code checker, and you don't have much choice of bikes under £1000.

[CoolHands]

seems pretty good for 900 quid. As you say, not much is available for that sort of money. Make a good commuter with reduced risk of theft compared with newer bikes.

[Jazoli]

The idling will probably be perished pipes to the IACV valve, its a simple fix with some silicon hose to change them all, you can also remap them easily using tuneecu (which is free, you just need to buy a £7 cable)

Looks pretty smart, I killed mine at Oulton 2 years ago

[Loyly]

This will be great once it's finished. I have always liked the look of these, and the chassis and brakes are supposed to be mint.

[spookly]

Loyly said:

This will be great once it's finished. I have always liked the look of these, and the chassis and brakes are supposed to be mint.

Chassis yes. Brakes not so much. Great just after you bleed them, but then seem to go spongy. Change master cylinder or regular bleeding seems to be the cure.

[Max5476]

spookly said:

Chassis yes. Brakes not so much. Great just after you bleed them, but then seem to go spongy. Change master cylinder or regular bleeding seems to be the cure.

Any recommendation on which master cylinder to change to? I was going to rebuild it, but its £30 for a rebuild kit, or I can get a brand new master cylinder assembly for £45, I was tempted more towards the later, although the theme for this project is budget, brakes are pretty important.

[Jazoli]

Max5476 said:

Any recommendation on which master cylinder to change to? I was going to rebuild it, but its £30 for a rebuild kit, or I can get a brand new master cylinder assembly for £45, I was tempted more towards the later, although the theme for this project is budget, brakes are pretty important.

Buy a used radial master cylinder from a gsxr thou or similar, you'll pick one up for £50ish, then your brakes will be fantastic

[gareth_r]

Max5476 said:

Any recommendation on which master cylinder to change to? I was going to rebuild it, but its £30 for a rebuild kit, or I can get a brand new master cylinder assembly for £45, I was tempted more towards the later, although the theme for this project is budget, brakes are pretty important.

Check in the "Supersports" section of the Triumph Rat forum. IIRC, the 2007ish (can't remember the exact years) R1 master cylinder is a favourite.

I never quite got around to changing the master cylinder on my Speed Four, but, no matter what I do, it always seems to have more lever travel than I'd like, as if the m/c bore is a little too small. Stops OK though.

[Mr OCD]

Great bikes. Need revving hard

Brakes are fine, just need a decent MC.

I have a nearly brand new radial sitting on the shelf if of interest.

[spookly]

Jazoli said:

Max5476 said:

Any recommendation on which master cylinder to change to? I was going to rebuild it, but its £30 for a rebuild kit, or I can get a brand new master cylinder assembly for £45, I was tempted more towards the later, although the theme for this project is budget, brakes are pretty important.

Buy a used radial master cylinder from a gsxr thou or similar, you'll pick one up for £50ish, then your brakes will be fantastic

Yeah, that.

The alternative is bleeding them on the regular or putting up with a mushy feel at the lever.

[Max5476]

The seller had kindly showed the bike a sponge, but not really cleaned it, so this morning I went over it myself, with the intention of spotting anything else I need to consider on it.




After I had put a little bit of elbow grease into cleaning it




After cleaning the chain, I retensioned it, as it had a good 4 inches of play. While tensioning it, I found the RHS chain adjuster has been bodged with a much larger screw and nut. In addition once the rear axle was tightened (it was pretty loose before) the wheel becomes stiff, so I need to take the wheel out and check the bearings / and spacers are all correct. And investigate the adjuster at the same time. There was a lovely bit of corrosion hidden under the swingarm paint, it flaked off with a delicate touch.



Thanks for all the advice on master clyinders. For now I'm going to rebuild the standard one, once I've got everything else working satisfactorily I will investigate a radial master cylinder for it.

[dirkgently]

Pity you couldn't get a black one, they are the fastest.

[Jazoli]

You need to get a legal plate for it, that one looks stupid

[Max5476]

Jazoli said:

You need to get a legal plate for it, that one looks stupid

Agreed, it's on my to-do list, but at a lower priority than the brakes and idling bits to sort first.

[crofty1984]

Very nearly bought one of these last year. Wish I had.

[Max5476]

With storm Doris behind us, and finishing early on a Friday, I rode in today, and took the long way home. A couple of issues reinforced themselves, primarily the rough running at low revs, and subsequent regular stalling at Idle is terrible. This was particularly fun when you pull up behind a queue of traffic, stop, engine cuts out, start, idle for 10 seconds, engine cuts out. Give it some revs, it picks up and goes to 6000 and deafens everyone in the vicinity.

Additionally the rear shock is as bouncy as ever, so I need to find somewhere in the midlands that will rebuild at reasonable cost, or budget £300 for a new one. Seems little point in buying one from Ebay, as no guarantee it will be any better damped.

When I got home my first package of bits had turned up , ordered some new brake pads, arrived with a small bottle of brake fluid and copper slip, which was nice, but I would have rather saved the £2 on postage and for the extras I didn't need.



Firstly gloves to keep hands relatively clean



Firstly undo the pin, and give it a good push to remove it from the calipers



Pull out the old pads, they weren't fully warn, but not much meat left on them, so worth replacing



Push the pistons back into the calipers (noting that they could do with the calipers splitting and rebuilding at one point, lets sort the idle and shock first), and drop the new pads back in place



Still waiting on the master cylinder rebuild kit, and will order some new vacuum line for the idle air control valve tonight, which will hopefully improve the poor idle.

[underwhelmist]

Nice project.
If you're still looking for a shock rebuild/suspension work in the midlands, try Revs Racing in Halesowen. I've had some forks rebuilt by them, they did a good job and it was a quick turnaround.

[Max5476]

underwhelmist said:

Nice project.
If you're still looking for a shock rebuild/suspension work in the midlands, try Revs Racing in Halesowen. I've had some forks rebuilt by them, they did a good job and it was a quick turnaround.

Thanks, I was planning on sending them an email, I had seen their website with a quick google, good to hear a recommendation as well though.

[Max5476]

More bits have arrived front master cylinder rebuild kit and a new position light and rear light to replace missing bulbs. The position light was missing its holder so had to order a new one of those as well.



The master cylinder will wait until the weekend, but I fitted the bulbs today.





Someone at Triumph did too good a job optimising the harness length, its a right faff to fit. I've ordered an LED position light, as I didn't expect a bulb with the bulb holder, however I'm not sure I will bother fitting it when it arrives.

[BuzzBravado]

Are you going to repaint the swingarm? Would well be worth it.