Britbike forum Forums British motorcycles in general The triple forum Yeaa, Just bought my first Triple

I first saw a T160 back in 1983 when I bought my first Bonnie. The shop I bought my Bonnie (Allan Jeffries in Shipley) took it in as part ex on a T160. I vowed then that I would own one. Well almost 37yrs later I picked up my first T160

I bought it from a guy I've known for around 10yrs. Although he didn't own the bike long, he had bought it off a well known Triple enthusiast, known for doing very long journeys (he must have an Iron Butt)

A couple of small issues in that it took a while to start using both foot and electric. I eventually removed, cleaned and reset the plugs and away it went. I did about 10 miles and at one stage when I tried to accelerate, it started popping. On return home I pulled the two outer plugs and the rh (as I sit on the bike) had sooted up . The bike has a BB Micro Mk111 fitted

I have ordered a manual, but in the meantime what is the air screw settings (are they the same as a T140). Receipts from Burlen for new stay up floats and main jets

T160 manual:
http://www.classicbike.biz/Triumph/Repair/Trident/1975Triumph-T160.pdf
Parts:
http://www.classicbike.biz/Triumph/Parts/Trident/1975T160PartsManual.pdf
Owners:
http://www.classicbike.biz/Triumph/OwnersManuals/1970s/75T160OwnersManual.pdf

Possibly worth checking the float levels. As supplied by Burlen, they can be miles out.

Very nice bike by the way - they're about as good as anything when running sweetly.

Thanks L.A.B.

Still waiting on the new plugs, but cleaned the auld ones and took it for a run. The bikes choke has been removed and the holes plugged. The bike started fine and away I went. Although it was very warm weather the bike seemed to run a bit lumpy for the first few miles. A consequence of no choke I'm thinking. Anyway I travelled about 12 miles and came to a dual carriageway and tried to open it up a bit. The bike coughed and spluttered with popping in the carbs. If I raised the speed very gently it would run a bit better but not what I would think it should be.

On returning home, I again pulled the two outer plugs and one looked a bit dark but the other was black and sooty. I checked the air screws and they were 1 and a half turns. The manual says 2 turns so I'll give that a try

I'm a bit reluctant to pull the carbs off as I have just bought the bike, but if that's what I need to do then so be it.

Any advice welcome

Well, the pilot air screws adjust the idle (and just above) mixture, so unlikely to be the cause of problems at larger throttle openings.

https://www.princeton.edu/ssp/65-cub-data/library/amalbritbike.pdf




You'll (probably) get used to it as AMAL carbs on a triple can provide hours of entertainment for its owner. Edit (That's assuming the carbs are the actual cause of the problem).

If the carb adjusting brings no improvement, the symptoms also sound like what happens when a Boyer EI isn't getting enough volts. Mark III's are especially prone to doing this. http://vintagebikemagazine.com/technical-articles/Boyer-trouble-shooting/

Should have replaced the needle jets and not the main jets. The needle jets wear and when they do it leads to rich running. There is nothing to wear in a main jet. I posted the above note on the Boyer system as a bit of a cautionary note. If fiddling with the carbs brings no joy you need to start looking elsewhere and that's a good place to start. When I good my t150 back on the road, it would start and run well for a while and then steadily get worse. After some investigation I found one of the leads off the alternator was broken. I'd charge the battery before riding but after riding awhile and no alternator input the battery would eventually discharge to the point where the Boyer unit would start to malfunction. I've also had intermittent ignition problems when an ignition switch was going bad. The older Boyer units are real sensitive to any input less than twelve volts.

Thanks for that
I'm away from the bike now for a week or so, then I'll get a grip of it

If you get new needle jets check them with a No.65 engineers drill set. I've just gone through this and the actual sizes are all over the place, new means nothing.