Faber MK 3 "OTTER" CUB.
OK... this is what we are setting out to build. a Faber Mk3 framed "Otter" Triumph Cub. Page started 2011...
I have set this page up for the Faber framed Triumph Cub that I am about to build for my relative Stuart Bedford, from the Isle of Man, to ride in the many trials there.
It must be the best place in the world to learn to ride a trials bike, you just pop the bike into a van and drive up the road for ten minute's to a site with the right terrain that you feel you may like to ride on that day... Makes me green with envoy.
Anyway the young man wants to ride a Classic trials bike, and watching him ride my C15T for a short while I could see that he has the talent to ride a trials bike, very well.
So this is the Faber framed Triumph Cub engined "Otter" build.
I have the frame and most of the engine parts, and a alloy barrel and piston to make it 230cc from Bob Moore at UPB. Over the next couple of weeks I shall be machining the engine parts that need modifying, and this will be accompanied with pictures of the mods. I have been using the Mig alloy welder to the limit over the last couple of weeks to make several parts for the bike, included are a large cylindrical oil filter that also helps boost the amount of oil for the engine to use as well as that in the frame. Also exhaust parts, and an air box that looks from the outside a normal BSA type filter.
Some other photos are still in the Gallery... 11/11/2011...
OK... time has not stood still on this project and several more parts have been purchased, and made. I have bought the fuel tank in kit form so to speak. I have pressings and now need to make a tank or two from them.(Gallery) I have bought an Electrex World, ignition unit and fitted it to the "Top Cat Cub" to see if it is OK, If it works. I will buy another for this project as it seems to make sense.
Engine is due to be machined this week end and the built next week. Frame has had some brackets added and a couple of the welds tidied up. The forks are now about to be fitted, when I have time to machine the fork stem to fit... Anyway I will update you next week, OK.... I have decided to use "Triumph-BSA four stud forks" on this build too, I have them on most of the other "Otter"s and they seem to work OK, but you know me taking a look at the dampers I think that they can be improved.
Alan Whitton is going to supply me with a pair of his superb hubs and brake plates, along with the parts for the five plate clutch conversion, a set of his fork yokes for the Triumph forks, and a brace for the top as well, he also has some more bits and pieces for me to look at.
Alan now has the engine to perform his Magic on. And carry out the machining to fit the parts that he has developed for the Triumph Cub engine. This should help me to get the bike built a bit faster, with all the other projects I seem to be working on...
Here is another fine example of what can be built using one of these Faber Frames...
This is the famous Balco Triumph Cub.
Lets hope our's turns out has good as this...
This is the Triumph Cub Line up from the 2010 Classic Trials Show. We did have some nice bikes there...
30/04/14.
Well I thought I better just give you an update on this build. You know I have too many bikes in build and only one pair of hands most of the time. But Alan tells me the engine unit is now ready, and I have most of the other parts now to put the bike together. When the Super Cub "Mini Otter" is finished this will be the next bike in line. I will start to place photos of the build on shortly.OK...
About Stuart Bedford...
This Is Stuart Bedford from Castletown IOM, playing at racing in the summer months.
Not Only is he a good trials rider, but he also shows a lot of promise has a Manx Road Racer.
Real "Old School" style there fella.
Stu, Is trying to get enough points for his licence to be able to race in Ireland and the Manx-GP, next year. The travelling to the mainland and the amount of tyres he gets through scratching really hard, has left him short, in the pocket. So if anyone is prepared to fund his tyres, etc for a display of sponsorship on the bike and on this web site. Contact me. He could be that Star of the future, I have always said he was!!!. BSA "Otter-Star"
September 2015...
OK... Stuart has fulfilled one of his dreams he has ridden his 2006 Suzuki GSXR 600, into 23 place in the Newcomers Manx GP. And has achieved his second goal of doing a lap at over "One Hundred" miles an hour, average 101. to be exact. A start in the Senior MGP race was short lived with a problem (now found out) with the fuel filter in the tank, a problem caused by the paint in the modern take of the "JerryCan" flaking with the use of ethanol based fuel. Stuart is already doing many hours of overtime at work to save for next year Manx , he has amined for a 105 mile an hour lap.
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Practice lap from Wednesday night... Its the only lap I've got from my GoPro and it's 95mph. Saying that, I'm bedding a chain in from the start to Kirk Michael, and testing my pit lane limiter on the way out, but from there to Ramsey, I try and give it a bit more. I think it's still the slower corners I'm losing a lot of my time like Glen Helen and Signpost to the finish, and one or two places I need to take flat out, but the 101mph lap is a whole minute quicker, and still learning in little steps. Some of the really quick Senior lads come by like I'm stood still..
This Suzuki GSXR 600 from 2006, only has a standard engine and the only modification to the engine management is a Bazzaz ECU fitted, good MGP by Stuart he rode using his head, and with only four laps of practice would you want to go that quick?
The Triumph Cub will get finished when Stu has got racing out of his blood.
But he has a long way to go to get the breaks in the sport as this "Banbury Boy" but his father grew up with both, and this has given Stuart the incentive to do well.
Rod Gould and one of the family friends who looked after Rod's Bikes at the time (1972) was local to me Vince French. We were all involved with the racing scene in the sixties...spured on by the big name
(Banbury Dan) ... Dan Shorey...
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So Back to the Faber Cub build...
05/12/2020...
I have just moved the frame for this bike in my office where it has been in the way from the day I picked it up, the day we got back from the Manx GP and Manx Classic Trial in 2011...
Stuart did another Manx GP in 2016... Riding a Kawasaki 600 and got a better result than the previous year. But also had problems, and the cost of running the bike meant he had come to the end of his deep pockets, and the Road Racing had to stop.
He decided he needed to get a job "Off-Island" as they say in the IOM...
And has carried on his job in a Aero Components factory as a engineer machinist, a job he has carried on from the IOM.
And now with the restriction of travel to the IOM because of the Covid Virus is stranded in the UK for the foreseeable future...
Update. 2022...
Stuart now lives here in the Midlands UK with his new wife Laura...
Alan Whitton still has the engine for the Triumph Cub, but tells me it is ready when I want it..
I have had the "Four-Stud" forks in the stores for the past couple of years, actually I used the pair built for the bike on one of the Mini-Otter builds, and have had to replace them...
If you look on the "Alloy Tank page" you will see that this year I have got around to starting on the tank for the bike too. And the rear hub has been waiting for me to lace into the WM2 alloy rim as soon as I have worked out what angle to drill the spoke holes in the right place. Front hub will now be Yamaha TY, Honda C90 Cub, or the Montesa one I have...
We can only hope that I get my act together in the New Year 2021.. And eventually put the bike together.
Incidentally I have Stuart's trials gear in my shed even the helmet.. So if we can get it built and there are trials run next year, you may well see the bike in the UK. That is if this Covid thing will go away...
Update...28/05/2022...
I now have the Triumph Cub engine back from Alan Whitton, and I am trying to decide if I should not fit a Pete Kirby clutch unit onto it, Alan was not that keen on the Alloy barrel I had for the engine as with the pushrod tube cutout they tend to be weak in that area and distort the liner at the greater volume of 230cc...
I may try and get a Max Heys barrel that has the pushrod tube cast into the barrel so cures the warping... The outer timing side cover will be disgarded and the engine sealed the usual way, using a blind ended camshaft bush that I will turn up, also looks like me making a new clutch acctuating arm assembly too...
The frame was pulled out of the store yesterday and may get painted this next week if the sun shines on us...
So after Eleven years we now have a start on the bike and it will be a change for me to work on something that is not a BSA... but the engine the C15 was copied from...
Just opened the box of engine parts I had kept from 2011...
push rods, and a gearbox bearing seems to be all that is missing, so I have ordered them...
I have placed together the timing side parts that have been made and will run without the outer cover...
The only maching not done is the 28mm wide by 4mm deep recess for the kickstart shaft oil seal, but a small amout of weld is nesassary if you look, to stop the mill running out at the flat at the top... only a small weld can be added as the gear selector plate pin has to fit into it's hole, that is why the flat was machined at the factory...
The Alloy barrel and 230 cc piston along with the breather modification from the photo taken in 2011...
30/08/2023...
After a chat with Howard Fawkes from Faber Frames, we have worked out that the Faber Triumph Cub Mk3 frame is now the only reliable sorce to get a Newly built trials frame for the Triumph Cub engine... So we have taken it upon ourselves to try and get it recognised by the Pre 65 Scottish Club as a frame that fits their remit for the trial.. So watch this space for the news and the details of what we have to do to the current frame to comply......
Photo Credited...
What it seems is needed to comply is to continue the under engine frame tube which will incoporate a sump sheild... We Hope...
Photo Credit ebay...
Most parts on the engine seem to be OK...with the Scottish Club commitee...Exept the carburetor that needs to be an Amal or Villiers...
This is what I have come up with for the under engine add on tube, there is no welding to the existing frame it bolts with a plate to the bottom engine mounting 10mm bolt and the 2" x 1 1.3/4" extension tube is bolted with a 10mm bolt into the oil drain hole, that uses this thread size... It would be simple to place this bolt into the lathe and drill a 5mm hole through the centre for future drainage...
The original engine bash plate can still be fitted using the threaded holes provided... I will pass this onto Howard Fawkes and see what he thinks...
And I now know that he is working on the Faber Triumph Cub frame this week and next Sept 1st and it is his frame so we will wait and see Howard's ideas and he may build a compleatly different solution...and this will be the frame that is used...
I will make one of mine up next week...
Here you can see what I mean about the fixings... I will spigot the new extension tube into, the existing frame bottom and also use a large copper gasket washer to seal the oil...
The 2" extension is about half way up this tube with the bolt through
And if you look at right hand side top of the photo you can see the bash plate fixing that is above the extended tube...so can still be used...
The front will be capped the same as the original tube, and butt up close to that with the welded on plate locating and securing the extension tube of the same 1.1/4... 16 gauge T45 tubeing...Or I may make a small sleeve to go over the tube...
Well after playing with what I thought would be a easy fix for a compliant frame it got far too complicated and I could see it would never work (but you have to try)...So I just left it to Howard to see what he came up with... and the simple solution was just to add the two under engine tubes the same as he has to the BSA Mk 3 Faber frame...
And here it is hot from the jig on the 27/10/2023...
Photo Courtesy Faber Frames ©...
Photo Courtesy Faber Frames ©...
The New Faber Mk 4 Triumph Cub frame...
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More Later then, it is about time this page came from its sleep...
More Later...
Updat2023...10...
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