Tweet
At Davenport this year, a 1970 Triumph T100R 500cc was judged and suffered a deduction for having its cylinders painted BLACK, when silver is the proper color. Here is why the color was wrong:
In 1950 the 650cc Thunderbird was introduced. It had iron cylinders and heads and these were painted black to aid in heat dissipation and (naturally) to prevent rust. Indeed all the "low performance" Triumphs of that time had black-painted iron cylinders and heads. However, the 500cc T100 and TR5 bikes were considerd high-performance and had ALUMINUM cylinders, and cylinder heads, and did until the discontinuance of the last pre-unit 500s in 1958.
In '59 came the first "sporting" unit-construction 500s, also named T100 and TR5. In keeping with tradition, these new models also had silver cylinders, although these were not aluminum, but silver-painted iron cylinders. And thus they continued to be silver, and not black, on T100C and T100R models through the end of 500cc production in 1974.
In 1950 the 650cc Thunderbird was introduced. It had iron cylinders and heads and these were painted black to aid in heat dissipation and (naturally) to prevent rust. Indeed all the "low performance" Triumphs of that time had black-painted iron cylinders and heads. However, the 500cc T100 and TR5 bikes were considerd high-performance and had ALUMINUM cylinders, and cylinder heads, and did until the discontinuance of the last pre-unit 500s in 1958.
In '59 came the first "sporting" unit-construction 500s, also named T100 and TR5. In keeping with tradition, these new models also had silver cylinders, although these were not aluminum, but silver-painted iron cylinders. And thus they continued to be silver, and not black, on T100C and T100R models through the end of 500cc production in 1974.