One of the things dad left me was his prized Triumph Sprint 955, which as he said - scared the shit out of him.

She was seized up in his barn but with the help of a friend with some nous, we managed to get her free and up into the van to take back home.

On the first sunny day available, I wheeled her out the garage and wiped off all the chicken shit that she was covered in! (My dad kept chickens)

Popping the key in the ignition unfortunately showed no signs of life and the prospect of a techie nerd like me, who has done no more than change a headlight on a car, getting this bike running was slim to say the least.

I had a 50cc moped as a 16 year old and a 125cc bike as a 17 year old and now I’m the proud owner of a broken 955cc bike!

As with anything in life that may seem daunting, break it down into small manageable chunks.

Step 1 was to give her a good clean.

After this I found a Facebook group full of people who have this model of bike. I joined it and introduced myself and the bike and received loads of good advice.

Next up I bought a Haynes manual which has explicit detail on tools required and parts to source for these bikes. It was approaching winter so my only aim was to learn more about it and clean up some of the rust where I could.

As spring approached I consulted ChatGPT to come up with ideas on why the bike wouldn’t start. They told me to check the electrics. So looking through the manual I took the seat off and sent a picture to GPT who told me there was no battery!

(Bear in mind I am not mechanical!)

So after ordering a Bike battery from eBay and it arriving. I consulted with the manual and GPT again and got it fitted. Turned the key and she lit up and made some noises!

Pressing the ignition made a clicking noise but no signs of life.

According to GPT and the Forum, this is probably the starter motor. It took me ages to find it and I had to take off the side panels to do so. The old one had rusted on and when I took the socket things out it fell apart in my hands. I managed to get it off and fit the new one I ordered on eBay.

So I turn the key start her up and she makes that coughing noise! Win!

I took her old fuel out over winter and it looked yellow?!

So popped some fresh fuel in today and she started pretty much straight away!

What a feeling!

Next up I’m going to save up and do my bike licence this year. There’s still lots to do to make her road worthy so I’ll aim to do that next year and will likely involve a professional mechanic.

So. Thank you to people on the internet for putting advice into Facebook groups. Thanks to Haynes for selling manuals. And thanks to OpenAI for making ChatGPT. You really can just do things

Here’s some pics