Vintage Triumph Strands RIDE-CT

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com

Today’s glorious weather had the roads loaded with bikes. RIDE-CT thought it wise late this afternoon to “exercise” all three bikes in the garage – get the oil circulating and the gas tanks topped. The 1969 Triumph T100R Daytona proved to be balky, though, requiring 40 or 50 kicks to get started. Having not been ridden in maybe two months (due to pneumonia and the pre-Halloween snowstorm), the carbs were presumably junked up. After riding it up and down the street a few times, it seemed to be running somewhat satisfactorily so I figured a longer loop might be reasonable. Wrong. About five miles from home the bike sputtered and died. May not have been the carbs. A blown fuse instead. A quick call to friend and neighbor Brian Dunbar and he was quickly on the scene with a trailer. As another friend, Gary Randall, noted in this morning’s RIDE-CT column in “The Republican-American,” “Having an old motorcycle is like having a child. They bring you great joy for the most part, but occasionally they really disappoint you.” Today was one of those disappointing days.