1972 Triumph Tiger TR6R
Special Cafe Racer Showpiece
Following the long British tradition of building cafe racers, road machines tuned and styled like circuit contenders, this 650cc special was privately built by Eric Parr. It started out as a Triumph Tiger TR6R he bought new in 1972 and used for travel to road race meetings, where he was inspired to undertake the makeover
For maximum performance he replaced the single carburettor cylinder head with a twin-carburettor T120 Bonneville item, fitting 30mm Amal Concentric instruments and Uni air filters. Oil coolers are tucked inside the front of the fairing, made by Screen & Plastics who supplied glass fibre to the Triumph race team For comfortable 70mph cruising standard gearing was raised by changing the standard 19-tooth gearbox sprocket for a 20-tooth item
The chassis is largely standard, with the oil-carrying frame Triumph introduced in 1971, but the rear shock absorbers are by Marzocchi and the alloy wheel rims are also Italian, made by Borrani.
For safer riding, Eric added streamlined rear view mirrors and kept the direction indicators, which first appeared on Triumph's 650s in 1971 His meticulous work won this well engineered special many awards in Classic Bike Show the 1980s, including Best British Special at the 1983 International