For the uninitiated a little history. A Triton is a mash-up made popular by the “Ton-up Boys” of the fifties and sixties. It consists of the chassis from a Norton, any Norton with the legendary Featherbed frame and a Triumph parallel twin motor. Some will say it was the best of both worlds. Others believe it is simply because there were piles of featherbed chassis laying around due to pilfering of of the engines for use in 500cc open wheel racing cars and readily available Triumph motors from crashed bikes. Wherever the truth lies the the result is café racer royalty.
eBay has become a bit of joke over the last few years. In 2009 however it was quite something. The majority of sellers were people just like you and me. This meant that the items for sale and the prices were varied and interesting. It was here that I started my search for the basis of my Triton.
After much searching I eventually found a reasonably priced Featherbed chassis for sale. After a tense bidding period the thing was mine. The chassis is a 1958 Wideline from an 88 Dominator. It came with two gearboxes, polyester Lyta style tank, aluminium oil tank, dodgy old Manx style seat, external spring Roadholder forks, lovely 18″ Akront rims, twin leading shoe Commando front brake and a lovely Bob Newby Racing belt primary drive.
With the base sorted it was time to find an engine. Again eBay came to the rescue. An, apparently, rebuilt 1954 6T Pre unit 650 Triumph. Although the barrels were junk due to a broken head bolt the rest appeared to be in good condition. Along with the base engine came a later 9 stud single carb head, some modified primary chain cases and two pairs of carburettors.
And with that I had the basis of my Triton.