Did some Choppin' on the Triumph!

Since the first day I owned this bike it has had plates welded into the neck gusset area and I never liked them. I removed the bondo a few times, but I didn't know enough about welding or metal work to know if I should cut them out so I would just re-bondo and paint over them again. This weekend I had to take the motor out to redo the top end gaskets and while the motor was out I decided to cut the bondo out again because I need to get everything ready to paint anyway. Since I was at Garco stealing space on the lift I asked Spenser what he thought and he said "cut that crap out of there!" so I did.


Here I am making some SERIOUS progress. I started with a small air grinder and made little sparks. Then Spenser let me in on the secret of the bigger grinder and the amount of sparks increased GREATLY.



Here is the bike while I was taking the motor out. I've done this so many times I think I could do it in my sleep.



The frame with the plates freshly removed. I think I just lightened the bike by a good 2 pounds. Who ever added the plates did a decent job, but they used 1/8" plate and it was too thick for the job since it was used on both sides. The good thing is that they left the coil mounts. I assumed they would be gone since they had cut off the stock tank mounts. I was pleasantly surprised to see them intact.



Finally done with cutting and then grinding out the leftovers. I'll get it sanded and primed soon. Then finish striping everything to get it ready to paint. Hopefully I'll get some miles on this beast this spring!




The other side.



Here I am making little sparks with the air tool before Spenser clued me in to the good stuff.

Stay tuned, it'll be a couple of weeks before I make any progress due to the Yule holidays, but I will update as I can.