Am I allowed to ask for help about my chinese triumph?

[notgotc90]

Am I allowed to ask about my chinese triumph.

I am told I bought (in 2009) one of the first mid 1980s 27 inch drop handle bar 10 speed Triumphs that was made in China. It has the triumph name and logo written all over it and a 'made in china' sign at the bottom of the main longest vertical frame tube that holds the seat.

It has had lots of regular use (communte and trips) since 2009 so my £15 was well spent. But I now need to grease all the bearings. I have most under control except I am not sure about the old style steering head ball bearings.
Never done those before.

I wonder if I need to replace any steering parts as a precaution due to cheaper metal? Or will just dismantle clean and grease the steering be the answer? It helps to know what may wear/need replacing, to avoid taking it apart lots of times, in an attempt to get it right.

[Pjam]

Hey ! of course you can. We're all friends here, you can ask anything you want ........ anything

But don't expect me to answer, cus I'm don't know much

[Jon]

How strange! Triumph were a badge engineered Raleigh...i wasn't aware Raleigh sold the Triumph name in the mid 80's ...They were still selling millions of bikes then and still building the Triumph traffic Master as far as I know.
Anyway, your bike has an adjustable ball race headstock and is unlikely to need anything more than a light oiling with 3in1 cycle oil and possibly doing up.

To do it up, loosen the large top chromed ring nut a couple of turns, grip the headstock including the adjusting ring below that ring nut, pull the front brake on with the other hand, and rock the bike forward against the brake. If the headstock needs adjusting, you'll feel the slop in the bearing as a 'clonk' in the hand gripping the headstock as the forks rock forward. As you rock the bike in this fashion, turn the locking ring clockwise with your hand. It'll do up in small increments as the bike rocks against the brake until it no longer has any take up, that's it! Done!, and you just need to do up the top ring nut.

if the balls are absolutely wanked, and they very rarely are, you can buy a pack from ebay for a couple of quid. I've never had to do that and I used to service and resell 5 bikes a week...

[notgotc90]

Thanks Guildbass. very Helpful

I was not told triumph was sold in the 1980s but merely that in the mid 1980s Triumph experimented with making 'some' bikes in china. Just as Honda with the CG125 made in brazil? And later Turkey? And some CG125 owners say parts quality went slightly down hill from 1985?

The problem I have with the steering head arises from when I ride the bike through city traffic hanging frontwards shoulders over the drop handle bars trying to compete with the speed of a cub. As I alternate pulling up on each side of the handle bar, i get a concerning creak as if the alloy stem will snap off. With the bike at home the creak seems to be not the higher studs or bolts loose but creaking from around he top of the steering head.

There is no play in the steering head and no creak from steering, so that I am frightened of making it worse etc if i just take it apart. There is just this concernibg groaning creak (as if soemting may eventually break) if i pull up on one side of the drop handle bars. I first thought it was the screw holding the handle bars on tothe stem, but it is not, the creak is in the stem/top of steering bearing.
sterring

[Jon]

Thanks Guildbass. very Helpful

I was not told triumph was sold in the 1980s but merely that in the mid 1980s Triumph experimented with making 'some' bikes in china. Just as Honda with the CG125 made in brazil? And later Turkey? And some CG125 owners say parts quality went slightly down hill from 1985?

The problem I have with the steering head arises from when I ride the bike through city traffic hanging frontwards shoulders over the drop handle bars trying to compete with the speed of a cub. As I alternate pulling up on each side of the handle bar, i get a concerning creak as if the alloy stem will snap off. With the bike at home the creak seems to be not the higher studs or bolts loose but creaking from around he top of the steering head.

There is no play in the steering head and no creak from steering, so that I am frightened of making it worse etc if i just take it apart. There is just this concernibg groaning creak (as if soemting may eventually break) if i pull up on one side of the drop handle bars. I first thought it was the screw holding the handle bars on tothe stem, but it is not, the creak is in the stem/top of steering bearing.
sterring

Well like i said, Triumph bicycles were bought by Raleigh in the late '50's and by the '80's were simply badge engineered Raleighs. It might be a Chinese bicycle that carried a Triumph name but mid eighties is pretty early for Chinese stuff...Especially Chinese stuff that could stand up to euro quality kit. the budget stuff at that time tended to be Eastern European which was itself borderline shoddy. I've seen Japanese cycles from that time, invariably extremely nice kit and generally far too expensive to import and sell alongside comparable domestic bikes...In the mid Eighties some 'Raleigh of America' bicycles were being built by Huffy in Japan, and later China so conceivably yours is a 'Raleigh of America' Raleigh badged as a Triumph....

There was a cycle boom in the 80's and huge numbers of machines were being built by Peugeot, Raleigh and other top names and ten and 12 speed lightweights were the norm. Companies couldn't build bikes fast enough in fact...Entry level was £150 for a Peugeot Premiere 10 speed with steel rims and the equivalent Raleigh was a similar quality bike. top end at that time was something like a PuG Px10 with Reynolds 531 double butted tubing at around £550...

Tell me, on yours, the the rear mechanism, the derailleur, does it have any identifying marks?... 'Sachs Huret', for example?

That creaking sound is not uncommon ...~I know what you mean and i've heard it myself. On my 1980 raleigh Magnum there's an alloy handlebar pinch bolted through an alloy stem which is located by a single height adjustable wedge system into the fork stem tube. The alloy stem is not a hugely tight fit in the steel fork, locked in as it is with the single bolt lifting a steel wedge internally and the handlebar is not clamped all the way round, so it is entirely possible for either the alloy bars or the stem to move slightly against their restraints and creak.

The other place you sometimes hear it is via the bottom bracket which on a steel tubed bike will flex under power and the entire frame will then flex slightly in sympathy.

there WAS a stem prone to breaking, it was French...Can't remember the make, but by and large, quill stems are robust things. Alloy against alloy WILL creak though, and the tubular nature of the components will amplify the sound...

[notgotc90]

Shimano Tourney is on rear deurailer. And I checked that shimano is on the front deurailer in case the rear was an aftermarket replacement.

[Jon]

Shimano Tourney is on rear deurailer. And I checked that shimano is on the front deurailer in case the rear was an aftermarket replacement.

that's 87 or later then... Not a lot of help really...The Chinese rarely bought in stuff like that but preferred to clone their own. The Tourney was a Singapore built budget unit mind...

Horrible derailleur...My Falcon had one...barely worked on the flat when gently tickling along and totally refused to shift under power!

[notgotc90]

Yes you got it spot on, that is exactly the derailleur.

I suppose I do not have any complaints about it as I live in a flat area and ride smallest cogs without changing gear.

The one I have ridden on longer trips is my similar era townsend westminster that I bought second hand on holidays in Bournmouth in 1990 as to buy that s/h bike was similar price of a weeks bike hire. So I have kept using it all this time and I eventually fitted my own drop handle bars for the open road. This is what i am using while I spring clean up the Triumph.

I would like your view on a more recently acquired 27" coventry eagle if you are willing? Is this the better bike? It is from a similar 70s/80s era.

The frame near the bottom bracket for six inches in all directions is thick rust with no paint at all, but sound enough. The rest of the frame is an unpleasant faded light blue with a nice Coventry Eagle sticker at the steering head. I usually like to paint rust in smooth hammerite. What do you reckon is good way to clean up this bike? Try and match paint to keep original. Or cover the eagle from paint and paint over all else one colour in hammerite? or get another eagle badge and just paint the lot? I used to ride a coventry eagle with the old 3d eagle badge when teenager. They are still aorund for sale.

[Jon]

I would like your view on a more recently acquired 27" coventry eagle if you are willing? Is this the better bike? It is from a similar 70s/80s era.

The frame near the bottom bracket for six inches in all directions is thick rust with no paint at all, but sound enough. The rest of the frame is an unpleasant faded light blue with a nice Coventry Eagle sticker at the steering head. I usually like to paint rust in smooth hammerite. What do you reckon is good way to clean up this bike? Try and match paint to keep original. Or cover the eagle from paint and paint over all else one colour in hammerite? or get another eagle badge and just paint the lot? I used to ride a coventry eagle with the old 3d eagle badge when teenager. They are still aorund for sale.

they were independent from Raleigh right through until the end which was an achievement in itself! Ernie Clements, the renowned '50's cyclist who designed the fabulous Falcon San Remo went to Coventry Eagle to get his machine into production and was installed as works director. The San Remo was a beautiful bike, thoroughly modern in handling characteristics, fast, light and pretty and there's no reason not to believe the Coventry Eagles carried the same geometry. I've seen a couple of '60's/70's Coventry Eagles and they are nice bikes, good lookers with nice lines. Entry level and 'ordinary' brazed and lugged steel frames but nice. The big Golden Eagle badge on the front is pretty special too!


The Falcon works colour was light blue....


Restoring bike frames is a nightmare as overspray means you end up using tons of paint. The best finish for the best money is powder coating especially if you are not going for a nut and bolt restore. Get the frame blast cleaned. It costs a few quid to get it all done but those older bikes had most of their accessories as chromed 'extras' rather than brazed add-ons so a plain colour frame with those pretty pump holders and derailleur cable guides looks lovely. Classic dark green with a halfords gold touch up pen around the lugs, the Gold Eagle badge and a honey coloured Brookes B17 , polished alloy drops with honey leather-look bar tape and polished centre-pull brakes and you'll have a real looker...

[notgotc90]

Thanks Inspirational!

(sorry to be boring I threw out my TV in 2008, told the TV licence people to go away and prefer this kind of thing)

As a young teenager I think my coventry eagle had a 3d silver eagle on the front probably as a copy of that gold one. And may be 26 inch wheels. At that time my father had the Honda 50.

I reckon you are right i can do up the covenrty eagle I now have, just as you say.