The 1963 Triumph - Part 6. On the Brink, and Off to the Races
It has been an odd couple of months. To be honest for us and our friends at Revival Motors and Coffee Co., there have been terrible low points following the Dec. 2021 fire where we lost everything and our friends lost most of their business assets.
But February brought a glimmer of hope. While we applied to be part of The 1 Moto Show back in October, we had frankly let it fall of the radar in the month or two following the fire. But word came that the bike had been accepted as part of the show. So now the question pivoted to - can we even make it in time?
With the bike in storage, and in a sad, rusted, state - it was a very legitimate question. But before long, Jimmi had the bike on a trailer and ready to get back to work. Though, in a very small workspace in his shed. Not ideal for restoring the past months work, and getting the bike to the finish line.
The 1963 Triumph in full rusted glory just after being pulled out of storage
In someways a goal and a deadline can be an amazing motivator, but with that you can also find a double edged sword with the other side being a looming sense of unease if you can meet your goal. The first question to tackle would be, how hard will it be to clean the rust off the bike - and if any damage is too deep into the bike’s structure.
Rust removal test
Good fortune was on our side as the rust removal process was not as difficult as feared with the damage not being permanent. There were tricky areas to work on for certain, but with over 2000 gallons of water and dry wall poured on a bike for hours straight, it could have been a total loss.
After a short while the build began to resemble the state the bike was in prior to being involved in the fire. Which, as you can recall from earlier blogs was getting closer to the end of fabrication with a long road left for the details and mock ups.
The build post rust removal
By early March the build had progressed to working on the finishing touches before mock up. It was during this phase that Jimmi leaned heavily into his history as a coppersmith. Before too long the bike was ready for disassembly and to go to paint, which is where we leave you today.
There are still plenty of surprises left in this build, but you will have to wait until the final reveal and then you can see it for yourselves at The 1 Moto Show in Portland, Oregon April 29-May 1.
Thank you for your support thus far.
You can provide support to Revival Motors and Coffee Co. at: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-revival-motors-and-coffee-co