Triumph Tiger Cub
a recent history of my bike

My granddad helped my brother Stuart and I do up a Lamretta when I was 16 in 1982. I loved that scooter and was going to take my test on it. However, I fell off going round a corner. Little wheels and wet man hole covers etc. Whilst mending they bought out the 125 law so I was forced to take test on a friends Honda. I can remember being on the receiving end a fair amount of insults when I was at college. From Japanese bike owners but I had the last laugh as a Lambretta is fairly fast (in a straight line at least) and could burn off most of them.

We used to ride from Torquay Arcades to Paignton Arcades all day. When we got to Paignton we had no money to play the machines so we just ride back again. Totally pointless but would love to spend a whole weekend doing that again.

My dad had often talked about his Tiger Cub motorbike. He bought it new in 1958. It was his first bike and he was 18 at the time. One day I spotted an ad in the local (Torquay) paper. Mentioned to my dad and we set off to see it. 626 SMK was at the end of a ladies garden and had a hedge growing through it. She had been painted black Hamerite and was very rusty. The owner was in prison. His mother was glad to accept the £23.50 that we had in our pockets and we managed to get her home in dad’s car.

I was reluctant to restore her until I had the space. I had just bought a Triumph GT6 and a boat so my doing up time was limited. I always intended the Cub to be a long term project, something to keep. Well I still have a GT6 and a boat. Plus a Spitfire that is as old as I am.

My mate Dave chrome plated, to a very high standard, anything that needed doing. All for the price of two packets of fags. He worked at a plating works. Dave is an excellent character. He was knocked off his bike by a Range Rover and needed pins and braces put into his legs. His mates at the plating works held him down, unbolted them, gold plated them and put him back together. I don’t think that the surgeon was happy but it did look cool. He was only my age 19. He bought his own house and I became his lodger. (until he got a girlfriend and she chucked me out). Dave had the house built to his own design. Priority No1. Double, centrally heated garage with nice floor, wc, microwave, sounds etc. Dave met some bikers whilst getting therapy for legs. They formed a club and built trikes in his garage. I came back one evening to see eight false legs propped up in the corner and four bikers scooting around the floor surrounded by enough chrome work to make C3PO look dull. I know that you might think that was sick but it has stuck in my mind ever since. Dave is an excellent engineer. He fitted hand controls and an auto Range Rover gearbox to his V8 converted (4ltr, Hollies etc) Land Rover series 1. Dave grabbed me one day, threw a Stanley Knife at me and told me to help him cut some tread into his tyres. He was chased and escaped from the Police after doing 110mph in the A38. The tyres were only a few months old! Police arrived minutes later and took him away again. He was infact (still is) a great bloke. We stopped a burglary once and caught the thief plus lots of other good deeds.

When I took up my first teaching job I was 25 and moved away to Newbury. I had some time on my hands and a nice big workshop at the rented house. Being a Technology teacher I had the use of workshops after school and found that several pupils were interested in helping out. It was not long before she was painted, running and then MOT’d. I bought a later type engine with side-mounted points from Beughliegh auto jumble during that September. 1991. I was working to a budget and the £150 seamed a bit steep but the engine ran fine without any work and served me well for years. The rest of the bike was very cheap to do up. I won’t say restore as I was not doing a concourse job. I enjoy spraying paint onto things. I am not so hot on the engine side of things though.

I looked at the buff log book from 1958 and got the first owners number from directory enquiries. Robert Edwards was very pleased to hear from me and I sent him some photographs. He lived at the same house in Merthyr Tydfil.
I registered the bike with Mike Estall, a well know Cub guru and author on the subject. In 1997 received a phone call from John Lincoln on the Isle of White. I had the engine that should have been in his 1963 Cub. He had a 58 engine in his, by coincidence. Turned out to be a very nice chap. He and his wife Chris were very hospitable when I visited them and we decided to swap. I had paid a lot of money for my engine to be rebuilt but it wasn’t as good as it should have been so John had to do some work on it. The engine that I got had been rebuilt by John and goes very nicely. John has since gone upmarket by getting a Tiger 100 instead.

A lot of Cubs were converted to Trials bikes. Engines were often put into other frames so Cub engines are hard to come by and there are a fair few engineless machines.

I took the Cub into Winton School a year ago and a great little club formed. We stripped here down, painted her and fitted lots of new shinny bits. A new Amal carb replaced the rubbish Zenith unit, new horn, lighting, rubber bits, seat cover, rectifier, coil, battery and lots more. I have always had a problem with the front brake. Tied every thing. New linings, cable etc. Had the wheel rebuilt and asked for the drum to be skimmed. He didn’t do it and brake was not a lot better. In the end I fitted a new set of non Cub handle bars from Brit Bits of Christchurch (Excellent place). The levers have a greater through to them and now the brake works. Had to make a new lever on the hub as the cable was too short. I plated it with the nickel platting tank that we have set up at school. The tank works well and the kids enjoy plating a variety of projects, including the Yr10 Key Ring project and components for GCSE projects.

Josh Hall, a pupil from Salisbury helped me a lot on the cub and I wish him well with his career as a mechanic. (His parents own a garage so no credit to me). Josh has a natural aptitude and found riding the Cub easy.

I must give credit to Lee Sandilands, David Blackman, Nick Pimm, Tom Elsey, Scott, Ricky Caffrey and Andrew Waites. They are an exceptional bunch of people. We have recently restored a Matchless G5 350cc lightweight. Have been helped enormously by a parent and now friend Pete Benger. Pete owns eighteen bikes. Including several 1920’s Harley’s, a few Red Hunters and a Moto Guzzi.

Sadly my dad died last July. I miss him greatly but I am glad that he saw the Cub put back into good condition. I know that he was proud of it and he had helped a lot when he came up to stay with me from Devon. His was also silver by the way.

I hope that my son Daniel, now 15months old will be able to ride, and take on the Cub when he is older. He can already steer is plastic trike and his batter powered Harley police bike but he can’t reach the foot switch yet!

Nick Vass
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