These January days in Ontario can be a real drag. With all the moose now hibernating in their dens, the Royal Canadian Motorcycle Patrol members don't have any moose collision calls to respond to. Some of us have departed for warmer locales, some of us hit the snow covered trails on snowmobiles. Some of us just wait for the snow to go away, for the time when the moose will come out of their dens and we can get back to work dragging moose carcasses.
As a distraction we are going to feature Patrolman Smith's 1967 Triumph T20M Mountain Cub restoration. This particular motorcycle is 1 of 432 imported to Canada from England. This particular model was an export only model created by Triumph for foreign markets so sourcing original parts from England has been a frustrating endeavour for Patrolman Smith. The following excerpt comes from Patrolman Smith as he relates how he came into possession of this machine.
"Around 1988 I stumbled on the bike in a British auto repair shop in Oshawa one lunchtime when I worked for GM. The original owner Terry Cullwick, had used the bike for scrambles and left it sitting in the back of his shop since. I inquired about buying it then and he told me he planned to restore it one day and turned me down.
In 2012 on a Monday morning my phone rang and a guy said, "do you still want the bike?" Imagine my shock when I realised he had remembered me after all those years and had got my phone number from Dave Jackson who I knew from dealing in British car repairs.
This bike has proved one of the most frustrating bikes to restore due to the lack of new parts and the fitting of any parts I did manage to get. It has required a lot of machining of custom parts.
Mike Eastall's book, The Tiger Cub Bible, of which I obtained a signed copy has proved invaluable. Mike, who has also helped through emails, has shed light on the various differences Triumph allowed when manufacturing these bikes. Don Hutchinson supplied the original paint color of Grenadier red and Alaskan white.
The bike is almost complete with only electrics and the painting of gas tank and fenders to finish the job."
Please enjoy these photographs of Mr. BSA's Triumph Mountain Cub. The Royal Canadian Motorcycle Patrol looks forward to the day when this noble machine will join the rest of the motorcycles employed by our patrolmen.
For more information on the Triumph Tiger Cub and the Mountain Cub variant please visit the following link.
http://www.motorcycleclassics.com/classic-british-motorcycles/triumph-tiger-cub-zmmz12ndzbea.aspx?PageId=1#axzz3O5lDEmqV
