Bonneville America Forums Forums General Motorcycle Forums Other Bikes The bike I always wanted..

I managed to source a pretty good Thunderbird Sport, it needs a little work or cash spending on it. I have managed to order all the replacement parts so it should look like new..











The indicator holders I have managed to get two new ones with the orginal bolts/allen key heads


Two new tyres will be fitted as the ones that are on are as flat as a pancake going for Bridgestone BT-023

That is a fantastic looking scoot! I love the T-bird triples...congrats!

Wow! Nice find! Sweet bike!
Looks like brand new

That is one of my personal favorites!

Yea it is in lovely condition and getting to be a bit of a collectors item. A genuine 6800 miles on the clock and dry stored for over a year. The work has just started giving it a clean









For some reason the guy who had it before me has took the original horn off it and replaced it, after looking around I managed to source one to bring back to 100% original.

Nice, luv the colour Ray,looks mint as is .better watch that front wheel dont go awol, ya know them America riders are always lookin for em . so are you collecting TBirds now . right now im torn between the R3T and a Tbird storm in flat black. just cant (buy both )choose which one ,known my previous luck, both will be sold when i do choose. Ride safe mate .

Hi Gordie keeping my eyes on the front end... The 1700 has gone, I was happy with it but my love the T-bird was firstly the 900 and the chance come so I took it. Bonnie did not like the riding position and I was still a bit iffy with the engine. But the 900 just needs a little tinkling and it will be fine... Take care and I would go R3 next if and when I start looking again.

Wow, very nice! Good luck.

Looks like a 2004?

Great find, mate!

Same as the one I had before I sold it. Damn was that a mistake... still have the solo seat from it as a reminder.

Hi Keith built in 2003 and first registered in 2004, just waiting for the bits to turn up and she should be like new..

Great find there Ray.
The TBS was the bike I went to look at and test ride in '03.
That was the first time I saw the America I have now.
Still have a soft spot for the triple though.

I think one to keep Tony in the stable and look after it. The new Thunderbird I can always buy again, but I think I would go for the R3 this time.

we all know that you more likely to show off than ride yor bike a bit further than home county but I think people would like to know what happened next with this below


I DO !!!!!!!!!!!

full story "it dosn't matter how you start but how you finished matters"

OK right its not a full story

It is coming on slowly Grzegorz, just not in any hurry...

over a year !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not that it has anything to do with you how long it takes it me. The america is my second bike and it takes as long as it takes.

I agree... I love the T-bird Sports. Beautiful machines and a pleasure to ride. I'm doing a bit of work on this one now..

I enjoyed the 1998 model I had but the long distance riding killed my knees.Should have kept it.

Hey Ray! Find a set of THESE babies and put 'em on your Thunderbird Sport and THEN you're talkin', dude!....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD9qSip3Etw

(...sexy, eh?!)

chy what you doing to it, anything I should look out for?

Nice bike Ray, been looking forward to seeing the pictures.


Will the America be ready for Dent?

Will post some more up Stephen, when I get her sorted out properly.. New tyres/innertubes arrived today

Congratulations. Beautiful bike. Been looking for one for quite a while but they are getting expensive
to buy

It had some running issues Ray, kinda strange hiccup sorta thing and would die at idle. It was kinda like a lean condition in the carbs so I went through them just to be sure.. glad I did because somewhere down the line someone had glued the float bowls on with structural silicone (the stuff I use to reseal an engine case).
Anyway cleaned them up, replaced the bowl seals and the needles as they had a bit of chafing, adjusted and synched the carbs... it ran better performance wise but did not fix the problem.
After taking it down the road it acted much more like a coil problem and sure enough I replaced 1 ignition coil and fixed 95 percent of the problem. I'm thinking it may have another one going bad.

I've worked on a few of these triples and I gotta say that they are pretty tough.. the most common problem I've found with them is the coils, even moreso than the twins. Been considering advising the guy to just change out all three for the nology brand.
I've had to replace the starter on two of them now, and they are not cheap. The brushes wear out for whatever reason and both bikes had just over 20000 miles.
Another downside is that if the starter drive clutch goes bad, you have to remove the engine and split the case to get to it. I think that was more of a problem on the earlier model T-Birds and Adventurers though.

Great bikes though... If I could I would be adding one to my stable.

Thanks Chy for the time to write this know you are busy. I will keep the coils in mind and probably replace with the Nology.

I have heard something about taking the engine apart (Sprag Clutch problem) that will be in the back of my mind but only have 6900 on it at the moment.

I will definately be keeping it in the stable and at some point in the future will look for something else.

Thanks

The brackets on the rear that hold the indicators/mudguard on were peeling so I ordered some more from JL. All the parts in the pic £212.00, not cheap to keep it 100% std