Restoring the Motorbike My Grandfather Rode As A Teenager - Part One

In today's video, I introduce you to a project I've been wanting to start for a very long time - the restoration of my Grandfather's motorbike.
This is a "Triton" - a composite made of a Norton frame with a Triumph engine, that was popular back in the 1960s. I believe Grandad himself made the swap and then rode this bike as a young man in the late 60s.
It has been off the road since 1995, and he passed away in 1999. In his memory I want to bring the bike back to working condition, so that I can ride it a few times a year and enjoy the feeling only a motorbike can give.
Thanks to The Hangar Motorcycle Company for working with me on this project. www.hangarmotorcycles.com/
#Motorbike #Classicbike #Triton
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[@wilkins2490]

Your entering the bike world now. More down to earth. Less "I am restoring" rhetoric and more honesty straight up... "I am getting someone to restore" my bike. There is a difference.

[@davidarter9670]

Makes a nice change from the cars, James. Also, with the personal connection with the bike, it makes it more interesting. I look forward to seeing further updates.

[@dharshankumar2522]

Sentimental value is a higher priority

[@hymek7017]

So it's not just Harry who does cars AND bikes. I am delighted to see you start this project and I will be following it all along the way. Good luck and best wishes.

[@JayEmmOnCars]

Thanks for the support!

[@thedarrendasher8134]

Nice-one James, not being into modern cars that much (except the Bristol Fighter) but being bike mad this will be good to watch. I was given my Dads old Ducati and it is lovely to ride when it behaves. When it doesn't behave it's an utter Twot but I could never get rid of it.

[@grahamnutt8958]

Definitely an era of bike 🏍 that my Dad remembers for sure. The 6 volt system was a case of whenever he saw any headlights coming towards him...... he really hoped there wasn't a Zbend ⏪⏩ somewhere in between 🙀 lol.

[@peteredwards7872]

Fascinating video James. I wish you and Simon all the best on the recommissioning process. Fond and bittersweet memories I’m sure.

[@alistairbernard9574]

A Love story of a Classic bike. I've never seen or red of a Standard looking Triton before. At first glance it looks like a Norton Dominator. Waiting to see more of the project. Cheers

[@nicnak4475]

It started off as a Norton Dominator Alistair.

[@alistairbernard9574]

@@nicnak4475 Alrighty.

[@BikerDarren24]

Hi James, Its Darren here, was great to finally meet you yesterday with my mate on the motorbikes. Genuinely have been a fan of yours for ages as I said but just never got round to subscribing so me and my mate done just that. 👍 Really appreciate you offering and filming us on the bikes quickly yesterday and we got your wee message at the end of one of the videos lol brilliant, we did laugh out loud to that! 🤣👌 Really loved this video you done mate, not just cause its about a motorbikes but the story and history about your grandad is beautiful and will be a real testament to his life and your memories together, we will be following this series with great interest as with all your other videos now. I never even knew about you being a biker, that's exactly how I did it over 10 years ago myself, got my bike licence first then got my car a few years later, never looked back since. Might bump into you again sometime at that good spot we met as that's my go to place too over the years or maybe even bump into you in our own town in the future and I genuinely mean if you ever need any local exterior or flyby footage in the future hit me up as it's the least I could do for filming for me mate! 😉 Cheers and take care, Darren

[@FuelwithDave]

Looking forward to the next videos on this 🙂👍

[@billienomates1606]

What a fantastic legacy to have the privelege of being part of, I am so envious.

[@miquelcolet6946]

I would LOVE LOVE if you also did modern classic motorcycle content (or any motorcycle content) on this channel (or on a second channel for it)!!

[@cubstig]

So glad to hear it's a re-commision, and the charm and patina will be retained. What a fabulous thing, to be able to ride your grandad's bike. Really looking forward to the updates. :)

[@ianmead7712]

Nice bike and a nice change of content as most people love cars and bikes

[@MrOvershoot]

Bloody hell you know how to make someone feel old, both my grandfathers were 17 in 1920!! my mothers father was into his motorbikes and I have a picture of him on one in 1926 somewhere in the Yorkshire Dales. No crash hat just a flat cap and a Woodbine perched in his lips. Still he made it to 98 so he cheated the odds ;)

[@TheMrFishnDucks]

Very cool. Looking forward to this video series. Keep up the good work.

[@maxmartin-merrells3723]

We love bikes!!!

[@petyrkowalski9887]

Great project. Excellent bike and love the family history. I look forward to watching the series.

[@dee106ful]

It's a bike and as such you do what you need or want to do to it. I'm sure grandpa would approve.

[@samgregory4291]

I'm not really into bikes but love the background story looking forward to the series

[@huwwilliams9287]

I love it, even that seat cover.

[@GadgetMart]

I was a massive car guy until I rode bikes,I’ve got to say they are a lot more involving and entertaining than any car.

[@Geshmaal]

Waheyy bike content! Impressed this bike stuck around for so long, my family would have sold it on long ago! I think Pirelli Angel GTs would be your go-to tyres for something modern but retro-style. Would be really interesting to see what you think of this Vs a modern Triumph Bonneville.

[@edwardwest5035]

Very best of luck! I think you have made the right choice to do a recommission rather than a full renovation to retain as much of your grandfather's bike as when he rode it.

[@klauswassermann8054]

Brilliant. Bring on part two :)

[@RoadsOfOz]

Looking forward to this series.

[@mikedevlin8340]

Great machine, easy restro, you'll have some fun on her 😀

[@davidsharp9166]

I look forward to this series

[@davidcooke6803]

I already thought of you as a good ‘egg’, as a biker you are now an all round good egg! Bless you sir, enjoy riding again……..no road trips? Hmm 🤔 Well done!

[@Dave-in-France]

Very interested in this, can't wait for the next episode - Dave biker.

[@gph42]

Tremendous James. Thanks.

[@sputumtube]

Definately looking forward to this series of vids.

[@SamCordery]

Yes!!!!! Looking forward to this an awful lot

[@ollieo6681]

Hi J, that is excellent! Look forward to the next video. Cheers Ollie

[@JayEmmOnCars]

Thanks Ollie

[@manuelhaug4053]

Great to see some motorcycle content on your channel !!!

[@comeberza]

James I wish you a successful series. My grandfather had a couple cool scooters and I've always wanted to do something similar. looking forward to the next video!

[@wlewisiii]

OOOH a Triton? My first bike was a T140 Bonneville and still love Triumph to this day.

[@2loudspeakers]

Ah brilliant! Lovely bike!

[@simonelliott5956]

This is great news! I’m not much of a bike fan, I do appreciate them, especially the old ones, but this is your Grandad’s bike and that makes it very very special! Please make as many videos as you can on this as I for one would love to see the process of bringing something with such a great story back to running condition.

[@scalecrawlnl]

Fantastic James, this really gets the blood pumping. An awesome project and a very cool video. Top trumps, excited to see much more. Thank you, as always ✌😎

[@tedsmart5539]

All those Norton 500cc's were used in 1950's Cooper F3 racers popular from 1957-1960. John Cooper and his friend Eric Brandon built their first air-cooled 500cc motorcycle-engined Cooper cars in the late 40's. The boys had so much fun that numerous would-be customers stepped forward to order replica cars for 1948, and the Coopers - Charles and John - founded their car company to meet this demand.

[@malcolmhardwick4258]

Beautiful machine !

[@billienomates1606]

Nice thing to know is it will not need any more mot's or pay for road tax. A big win in my book. Looking forward to the next vid.

[@aogrady]

Lovely story, looking forward to bike content!!

[@MilitaryHistory2011]

watching this made me drag my 1986 cbr 400 out the garage, give it a dust off, wash and run.. thanks for the motivation

[@johnmcreynolds5299]

Nice one James! Like it!👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼🚗

[@neilpatching7443]

Bloody marvellous 👏

[@Simon-ui6db]

Not into bikes as such, but looking forward to the restoration of this one.

[@6chhelipilot]

You've got a Z750 twin. Awesome!

[@Fee.1]

Ah man so sorry for your loss

[@seanhershey3390]

So cool.

[@SpontaneousEvolution]

I had somehow missed this video on your channel. It's a pity these videos don't get the views but I'm glad you made it and hope you continue to film the restoration. Brilliant to keep old bikes and cars on the road, not to mention that it's your granddads. Great video, great story.

[@NCE61]

Nice video James looking forward to the next one about this 👍

[@justinmaccreery2490]

Restoring your grand dad's bike is so freak'n cool. Almost as cool as the bike itself. Thanks for creating the video and looking forward to the bike's evolution. Cheers from Charlotte, NC

[@serarthurdayne9490]

Nice video JayEmm. This seems a very worthy project.

[@focus550]

This gave me vibes of Hammond talking about his Grandad building the Lanchester on that Top Gear time trial rally 😂

[@The_Original_Geoff_B]

Nice! I'm looking forward to following this tale :D

[@robertmaitland09]

Brilliant, lovely bike and keep the patina.

[@nickmurray721]

Looking forward to seeing how this recommissioning goes, wishing you all the very best in this very personal project

[@davegreenwood9110]

Excellent, a bike on the channel. A proper classic too and with a personal history. Looking forward to the upcoming vids. Nice one James.

[@psircos]

Aww, that's Lovely James. It brings back memories of my time in Greece and my uncle Αριστείδης bike. No idea what it was, I was 5or6, but the headlight and speedo assembly is the same and it instantly took me back 45 odd years. Great project, do a good job J 👍

[@mikadavies660]

Exactly as I did... Bike licence first. Then pushed to drive by my parents... 👍

[@David_Owsnett]

What a great project! Looking forward to watching it progress.

[@phillipsharpe6459]

Brilliant bikes at last, many years ago i acquired a Ariel square fore witch a paid £35 for , never did get it running right, sold it for about the same price, oh how i wish i still had it, 😁👍

[@michaelsdiscusandatticaqua9155]

Love it 😊 great content

[@johnfazackerley6951]

When you take her to the pub,skip the Coke.Have a couple of Fullers Autumn Gold.These old bikes always run better that way on your way home....Cheers John.

[@davidjb3671]

Just remember that for every wonderful Triton there's a sad 'Norumph' somewhere... 😏

[@nicnak4475]

Years ago I had the Norton Dominators smaller brother, the Jubilee 250 twin, It looked very similar to yours James, just smaller, I've had lots of bikes since but held on to my '71 Triumph Tiger 650 for the last 45 years, The later Tiger 650, that I have has the same engine as the Bonneville, same camshafts etc, Only difference is a single carb and different manifold. They are normally very easy to start, just tickle the carb till she floods, good kick and it should fire up.

[@mgutkowski]

You need to start turning your own spanners, James. There's a whole world of fulfilment waiting for you.

[@markjohnson8352]

Yes! What a lovely thing to be able to do! A definite watch for me! 👊🏻

[@jozsefizsak]

This is great. The history is interesting and the personal component makes it even more special.

[@markprendergast1718]

If your passionate about bikes as you are with cars then do vids on them your passion will shine through plus on a business side of things it opens your channel to more people worth considering

[@vaughandavey4553]

Always pleased to see some bike content, being a bike guy that likes cars rather than the other way round. Only one little nit pick. When you talked about the gearbox you implied that "race position " was on the right with the gear positions as you stated. In fact on British bikes of that era all the gearchanges were on the right side and stayed that way until the Yanks made it law that all gearchanges had to be on the left(coincidentally where Harley Davidson had theirs😉)so that people didn't get confused. So I'm not moaning - just adding to your knowledge😃

[@JayEmmOnCars]

It was my understanding modern race bikes kept the shift on the left, hence the reference to it as such - was not aware it was the Americans who forced the change!

[@vaughandavey4553]

@@JayEmmOnCars That's the problem with being a young whippersnapper and having to depend on others for information😀. Whoever told you, conflated two ideas. Standard road shift is first down and the rest up where race shift is First up and the rest down (to give more room for your boot toe when changing up whilst still leaned over in a corner). This is true whichever side the gearchange is. Just for completeness when Bridgestone(the tyre company) used to make bikes the linkeage was designed so that you could have the gearchange whichever side you preferred. I've learned a lot from you about cars so I am just returning the compliment!

[@Reinturtle]

Oh wow, that is properly cool! The bike by itself is already very nice, but the story makes it a fanstastic project!

[@2702simmo]

Enjoyed that and the emotion when talking about clearly an important man in your life 👍

[@norbertpecheq3427]

I will definitely enjoy this series...It reminds me my father´s bike ,1961 Norton ES 2 in same color scheme,owned from new 49 years...

[@ruinunes8251]

I’m not into motorbikes whatsoever. However I appreciate the engineering behind it and so, when it comes to bring a piece of history like that bike back to life, you can bring as many videos as you want, I will watch it.

[@davidyapp2240]

Enjoyed this, really interesting story of the bike's history and your Grandad, good luck with the recomissioning, hope no nasties appear and look forward to viewing the progress.

[@ianthomas3411]

Great project and definitely worth doing, last year I finally got around to recommissioning my 71 Bonneville that I've had since 1981, I kept all the original paint as it was done in period but had the cycle parts smartened up with black powder coat, I did all the work myself apart from the powder coating including top end rebuild, new carbs and some tasteful mods (electronic ignition, upgraded electrics and upgraded clutch) to aid driveability. Good luck, looking forward to seeing how this project turns out.

[@michaeleccles1019]

Respect sir

[@Andy-pu2iv]

I'm looking forward to this mini-series. For context, I'm an old fart (56) that took his bike test about seven years before his car test. I rode bikes for well over 30 years, in the earlier years bikes were my only transport but I rode only Japanese and Italian makes. In the early days I knew older bikers who had their Triumphs and Nortons from when they were young. The names and phrases they used to throw around are still out there - Featherbed frame, Roadholder forks, Borrani rims, twin leading shoe, T110, T120.... Ahh jumpers for goalposts.... More of this kind of thing, James!

[@jo05dk]

I have been looking forward to this. LOVE old bikes, and especially one with such a good story.

[@dwarfshortage244]

More content on this bike please! Cheers.

[@laskos02]

Grandpa is probably smiling now, watching that rebuilt from the sky :)

[@nickmoulton446]

Would be good to see you riding this on The Distinguishable Gentleman’s Ride next year

[@Fee.1]

Next time you’re in the USA we have to ride the tail of the dragon!

[@shawnmungur4875]

I'm a bigger bike guy than car guy, keep doing the series! And let us know if you need parts or help with anything.

[@andyfaima6472]

Great to see this,you are doing the right thing not restoring it. I have my late Dads 1954 G9 Matchless which he owned from 1968 and was owned by a friend from new.it’s unrestored but lovingly cleaned and polished

[@JayEmmOnCars]

I think that is the way these things are best enjoyed and preserved

[@Fee.1]

Holy crap after years of bothering you about returning to motorcycles you’re doing it I love you

[@thetezz0001]

Great video bro

[@kevinpollard1550]

Enjoyed vid hope u goes well cant wait to see next vid

[@JamesCairney]

This was good, and I'm not in to bikes, but this was still good

[@mick0846]

Nothing wrong with them wheels. They match perfectly with their patina. Iv had bikes with hardly any chrome left on them and they where fine passed a mot no problem so I would just paint then silver mainly because you couldn't get new ones

[@johnroach4291]

Hi James great Vid but your well off the mark on why Tritons exist. Norton at the time winning everything using there own engines check out period race results. there 500cc single basically ruled the track. so much so that if you were building a formula 3 500cc race car there was only one engine to buy. Norton did not sell engines only complete bikes. so plenty of the best rolling chassis of the time became available from F3 car builders. Triumphs were decent reasonably quick and affordable but there handling was sketchy. So to get a cheapish race bred road bike you bought a rolling chassis from a car builder and scoured the ditches on the north circular for an engine. Thats more or less where tritons came from. Look forward to the restoration

[@mikebuckley5072]

Love it. I don't expect more than 3 in this series though, Harry posts bike content irregularly as it gets lower views and messes with the algorithm that promotes his car stuff, strictly passion project only really. Would love to see more detail on this though, my Dad sold his Vincent Comet before I had the forethought to say "hang on, I might want that".

[@davidnimmo5115]

Really cool projector looking forward to seeing the next episode 👍

[@mzungusi]

I'll admit that I didn't initially take to Mr Emm and his style. A little bit too smart-arse. That works if there's passion behind it and I'm glad to see that this is now very much in evidence. I'm enjoying this channel quite a lot now. I used to watch it based on the car being tested, now I'll watch even ones I'm not interested in. Good job.

[@JayEmmOnCars]

Glad to hear I could win you over eventually

[@mzungusi]

@@JayEmmOnCars You've obviously worked your arse off, it's well earned. Thank you.

[@onespeedyboi9835]

Would really like some more motorbike content on the channel.

[@michaelarchangel1163]

When you get the wheels done, don't forget to get a pair of Dunlop K81's. I only ever bought one K70 and hated the squared off profile of them. I see many restored old British bikes that have them fitted for authenticity, which is a mild form of insanity.

[@deadprivacy]

"cliquey" blimey, thats some understatement , its more tribal, but respect the expert on the bikes he knows and you will go far, the rest is opnion and can literally start a gang war over deriding perfectly functional and charcter filled american agricultural equipment. ehem. which you always must do , but kindly and gently. not start a gang war but ask questions like whats wrong with ohc cams? and have tou seen the harley they put a desmosedici setup on? yes yes its got many torques...we know.... but like bsa scramblers, the featherbed is royalty , not quite a brough but prince among uk bikes. that setup, norton featherbed? plus triumph motor will bring many a smile from many a grandad or grandkiid, pull your sleeves up , the enjoyment is building it , make it your own, what would your grandad have added back then if he had a few more pennies? panniers? different paintjob? Good luck with her, the real reason the fetaherbed was so good is the brazed frame, like high end go karts that have no suspenison...it flexes, you float, its stiff but theres give when you lean her over,something ducati couldnt quite get right with pure crabon frames some 50 yrs later. english frame building has always been a big deal, with harris just taking engines form anywhere and building cro mo race frames all brazed....think ducati monster but with brazed joints and a bit more hench to fit gsxr motors.... im far from an expert on these, though atrip to the motrcyle museum or beaulieu , which aret far from one another, will give you a good picture of where the fetaherbed sits in history, the working mans balck shadow. or the "ton up" bike, then youve got to look up the rverend and the history of the ton up boys//// and i would think? a video on the history of vincents ? would go very well on your channel if you aint done one yet. just unreal. for fifty years it was the worlds fastes production bike, fifty years, and they built it way before this norton was even a twinkle in somoens eye.