Part Suppliers for 1969 Meriden Triumph TR6

[Epreon]

Has anyone got any suggestions for good online suppliers for sourcing parts to finish my TR6 1969?

Any suggestions for cleaning oil tank for re-use?

Thanks.

[mini-me]

https://www.trisupply.co.uk/

knows his stuff  110% but can be grumpy, don't swear over the phone either, even very mildly damn etc, possibly  a god botherer.

good quality kit.

[Rex]

Doesn't quibble over returns either. A nice bloke, (he's called Oliver Barnes) though he had the business for sale a while back so presumably he's had enough.
Fed up with all that cussin' and cursin' probably..

[33d6]

Strangely, few people learn how to be a good customer. It makes life so much easier if the customer actually knows what they want. Has the engine number, part number or other relevant information to hand rather than expecting the other person to be a mind reader.
I don't do retail but do offer to help with certain engine makes. It's amazing how many callers let their fingers do the dialling before they've ever thought about the question they want to ask. Sometimes it like trying to pull teeth getting basic information so I can possibly answer their questions.
I hear many stories about grumpy retailers. Usually my sympathy rests with them rather than the person calling. The retailer is running a business. Sitting on the phone with some ditherer does not put food on the table.
Rant over.
Cheers,

[Mark M]

I'm with you 33d6. I volunteer for tech help in a one make club. The enquiries I get are (so far at least) are genuine but the dearth of information supporting the question is shocking. I don't want to spend my evenings typing yet another email asking for basic info. It's almost as if the questioner has made their mind up about the answer and doesn't want you to question their judgement! The price they are asking for some unseen bike they are 'thinking of selling' for instance...
REgards, Mark

[mini-me]

Was not knocking the guy,just advising.
 As someone who was in the bike trade for many years I sympathise with him 100%.

motorcycle trade,especially with the vintage classic side of it, is very stressfull indeed, so many tossers out there, and tightwad tossers at that.

[Rex]

Classic bike enthusiasts are, in my experience, the tightest of the tight.
Say something is a quid at an autojumble and they'll come back with "give you 50p for it".

[mini-me]

You can spend hours, and I have, advising talking some bloody half wit through a problem, onlt yo have him come back with..."but my mate says"....you can guess what my answer was.

One of the best was a heard up type who brought in half a 650 triumph engine to have mains replaced, I did him a basic but sound job.Two weeks later he is back in, his rear chain had broken and stuffed up the crankcase.

"my mate says"   " you should replace the crankcases free of charge, or I should go to trading standards"

"why?" says me.........

"because you did the main bearings."

"fekk off then and report me, because if you can explain how you got the engine in and out without removing the rear chain I'll buy you a new bike"

You could hear the clang as the penny dropped.

The worst enemy of the classic bike movement is prats like that one, and here are a lot out there.

I have so many stories like that, its why I got out of it

[murdo]

I would like to hear some of your stories, they sound like a good laugh.

[mini-me]

funny to you, sent me to the edge.

bloke comes into my shop.looks around with an air of disdain, 'you got a lot of stuff'  [ I had bought four defunct bike shops stock of new spares, all genuine stuff]. 'yes mate, can i help?'

'nah, got any ariel leader stuff, no one has'

'what are you looking for'

'A clutch drum, no ones got one'can't get one anywhere'

I reached under the counter,'here you then,only one i have, brand new...5 quid'

'what you ripping me off'

"well, whats it worth to you then?'

'its got a price on it there 17shillings and 9 pence'   [this is 1976] and its well old and dirty, so it should be discounted'

'Ok, do you want owners club discount as well?'

'yeh thats good'

'hang on then ' I said, took it out back and crushed it in the big vice, 'there you are chum, its free now'

his face was a laugh.
I swear every word of that is true.
most of those yarns are best told over a beer so I can cry into it.
don't even get me started on Vincent and Velocette owners, ducks arse territory.

After 4 years of it, i sold the lot off to a guy who was as naive as i was when I opened up, he was warned, thought i was just miserable........guess what?  he sold it all on again in 6months.

[john.k]

Funny thing is how people are breaking their necks to pay idiotic prices for absolute vintage junk on ebay and facebook......and telling you how they got a set of gee whiz clutch plates for some Jappa only cost $1000.....Whole thing has turned full circle.

[R]

"Got any Leader stuff ?"
"Got any money ?"
"Naaa"
"Naaa"

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/wp-content/uploads//2017/02/Ariel-Collection.jpg

[mini-me]

WHY???JUST WHY?

[R]

Some things are just inexplicable ?

At an estate clearance hereabouts, a quite renowned character in the motorcycle world had in excess of 30 LE Velocettes.
By any measure, that is a lot.
The story goes though that he had one in every city where they had a/did business, (and some spare) and he just carried a set of plates in his pocket,
so he'd arrive by train, bolt em on and away he'd go. Never any problems with the authorities.
The good old days.

[Rex]

There used to be one of the last traditional bike shops in Gosport. Absolutely stuffed full of lovely old bits, and in the glass-topped counter there was a pair of early Commando clocks, NOS. A customer in front of me enquired about the condition and price and had a look at them. The little paper price ticket said something ridiculous like £10, so the customer said "I'll take them both" and got his money out.
The memory of the resulting altercation always brings a smile to my face even now, all these years later.