There are few places left in the states that you can still find an old barn full of original and period chops. One of those places is Morries Cycle, about an hour north of Chicago.
The place has been around longer than I have been alive (Morries has been open since the late '40s) and Ed the owner is one of the most knowledgeable guys with the best motorcycle and memorabilia collection that I have ever seen. Ed took over the shop years ago after the untimely death of Morrie. When I asked what kind of basket cases he had around he led me to one of his barns filled with a sea of old Triumphs, BSAs, and Nortons, and basically said take your pick. I grabbed my '64 with matching frame and 12-inch over frontend in all of its chopped glory. I decided to trade the frontend back to Ed for the spool front wheel and stock frontend. I wanted a nimble and angry little bar hopper. I immediately started stripping it down with my buds at our shop in the city (Chicago). I put on a new bolt-on rearend, I rebuilt the carbs, and added new electrical. The motor had pretty good compression so I figured I'd just go over the top end a little to tighten things up and let it ride.
About six months later I finally had her up and ready for our first big ride around the Great Lakes, about 900 miles. I made it approximately 27 miles when she seized on the freeway sending my buddies sideways, banging handlebars. They all cried about my emergency exit on the Chicago freeway. After riding in the truck for the next 873 miles back to Chicago I stripped her down again at the shop and realized that I'm a fool and went a little heavy on the silicone gasket sealer and a piece of silicone found its way into the oil pump, which completely blocked the flow to the top end. By this time I had picked up a Shovelhead project and needed to sell the trumpet to fund the Shovel build. I had my buddies at Warren's Cycle hone out the cylinders while another buddy, Chad at Ace Motorcycle, rebuilt the top end. I got her back together and she ran like a top. I had so much fun tearing around the city the rest of the summer that I decided to hang on to her.
Winter in Chicago is absolutely brutal and the only thing that makes it bearable is building a new bike to tear up in the spring so once again the Shovel started glaring at me in the corner and forced me to put the Trumpet up for sale. Needless to say I love my Shovel more than any bike I've ever had but I miss my '64 on those warm summer nights in the city.
Now I am starting another Triumph project to fill the void in my life that once drove my neighbors crazy with my late-night excursions around the city. I have to thank all my buds at the Post Office (our shop is an old abandoned Post Office in the city) for all of their help. We turn a lot of bikes out and everybody contributes in one way or another, although it usually just turns into a drunken debauchery. Viva la France. SC