Triumph Thunderbird 900 (1997) 2 Years Off Road

[Roby11]

Hi,

We have a Triumph Thunderbird 1997 900cc, it has been off the road for around 2 years but we would like to get it going again. The question is would we need to just drain the old petrol out and the oil or would we need to strip it down and clean parts such as the carburettors?

Any advice would be great!

Thank you.
____________________
Roby👍

[Kickstart]

Hi

Probably would need the carbs cleaning out (getting them off and on is a pain, but easy enough to clean out after that).

Was there any mechanical reason it was taken off the road?

All the best

Keith
____________________
Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[Teflon-Mike]

Two years?

If it ent broke dont fix it!

I wouldn't presume anything, and I wouldn't start taking spanners to anything until I KNEW for sure that something needed attention.
More likely to make problems than solve any.

Motor would also be last thing I was worried about; 2 years isn't very long a lay-up, so I wouldn't be too worried about finding much, BUT.

Stoppie, Squidgy, Springie, Swingie, Startie.

Brakes, Tyres, Suspension, Steering... all more important than the engine. AND on a laid up bike, the more likely to need attension.

Brakes? Most likely to need attention, pistons likely to be sticky in the caliper, float-pins if floating calipers, likely to have siezed up. Brake fluid go 'off' with condensation.

Tyres go soft, or if gone soft and left flat, cracked where stressed, seriousely old rubber goes hard.

Suspension? Fork oil, condensation contamination settled out, water and silt at the bottom where damper valves are; shock rods gone rusty, mono-shock links got a bit siezed.

Steering? Bearings left in one place, oil grease goes hard, condensation gets in, races 'pit' so steering goes notchy.

Engine? Its full of oil, stuff tends not to dry out or sieze up so readily; they tend to start up pretty eagerly with minimal attension; BUT... over eager, having got 'life' banging it into gear, the end of the drive way is not best place to find that brakes are stuck!

So I would give the bike general once over; do basic service checks; do brakes, steering, suspension and tyres first; then as far as the engine goes, maybe change the oil, and filter, and fit new plugs.

Though just to see what I had, might just check oil level, look for signs of water in the cap; Possibly push it in gear with the ignition off up and down the drive to get a bit of oil pressure and get lube moved around a bit; then try firing it up.

Diagnose from there.

If no start, check the basics; spark, compression, petrol in the pot.
If sparks and compression... then I'd start looking at carbs... maybe.

If its only been laid up two years, you may have condensation sitting at the bottom of the tank and float bowls; you might have some evaporation residue in the jets, BUT..... if it fires up, might not need stripping and cleaning, chuck a jerry can full of fresh petrol in the tank, get it through an MOT, and then give it a good thrashing.

If its not too bad, new fuel will dilute contamination and start washing away evaporation deposits, and likely to clean itself, through use. If not? Well, at least you know you have good reason to start taking spanners to stuff.
____________________
My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?'