Proud Wife.....

[Tom Herold]

Here's my wife right before her first ride on her newly restored 96 Thunderbird.

Some of you might have read I found this 20k mile bike with a Corbin seat and custom paint on craigslist for $800. Having never ridden a motorcycle before, the previous owner bought it, trailered it home from North Carolina to Charleston, took it off the trailer, rode it down his driveway, across the street and right into a ditch.

He couldn't get it to restart, so he and a buddy shot starting fluid into the carbs causing it to sputter, but not fire off....... so he sends the carbs off to the dealer for a rebuild to the tune of $600, puts them back on and still nothing more than a sputter on starter fluid....... so he parks it in the garage for 8 months until his wife said "Fix it, or get rid of it!".

So he listed it, I found it, and here we are......

He broke the timing chain tensioner in the crash and scattered bits of it through the engine while trying to make it run again, so the engine is completely fresh to include the infamous starter sprag issue. I even rewired most of the factory harness and made sure to do the Sasquatch voltage mod too!!! I put about 100 miles on it fine tuning the carbs and breaking in the bearings and rings before handing it to the wife.

Yesterday she took her first ride around the block, then down the freeway a bit, then a 150 mile run out to Edisto Beach for lunch and back. It runs great and she still can't stop bragging and smiling, so life's good!

I will admit, that 885's one of the loudest engines I've ever heard in my life! When she's next to me at a stop, I can't hear the Tiger over the T-Birds rattle!!! It's a nice bike, now she has her triple too and is following in her dads footsteps. She's always been fond of his restored Tiger Cub, and he's happy as hell to see her on her "new" Triumph scooter!

[aeronca]

kick ass. it looks great. many happy miles  

[John Stenhouse]

Lovely looker, well done, ride safe and enjoy

[HockleyBoy]

Nice work Tom, you have a great looking bike there that your wife is really going to enjoy riding.  :D

[Tom Herold]

Thanks all, I'm happy it came together and even happier the wife's taken a liking to it!  Now she has her Triumph Triple for the road trips and fun stuff, and her cruiser for beach rides and more laid back riding.

That puts her on par with me!  I have the Tiger and the Harley and she can't talk any more garbage about me owning more than one bike at a time!!!!!!


Now... about those wonderful little Street Triple 675's....

[HappyMan]

How cool of a story is this?  Great find, great bike!!!  Enjoy!b

[haulin' daze]

She's lookin' good! and the bike ain't bad either!  

[Tom Herold]

Yep, she's a keeper......


And I guess  let my wife stick around a while longer too.......