Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge First Triumph...need advice.

Hi, guys. New to the forum and, I gotta say, it's great to be here-you seem a sound group of people. *creep*
OK, a bit of a bio: I live in Liverpool, UK and passed my bike test 10 years ago. Rode for 5 years with my bike as my sole form of transport but I eventually got cheesed-off with getting cold&wet and, also, with nearly getting knocked off on a too-frequent basis. So, I swapped my bike for a car. Anyways, the bug that be 'biking' is an insidious little thing and it's bitten back...hard. Fortunately, I can afford to run a cheap car and buy a bike
...but what to buy?
Long story short, my heartstrings were well-and-truly tugged by an all-black, 07 Speedmaster. I've always loved the shape and now that Triumph have sorted out the details that I wasn't too keen on (wheels, pill.peg hangers, etc), I've found my steed(subject to a test-ride, which, weather permitting, will be this weekend). And so to my questions:

Is there anything I can do prior to buying (other than get the best deal) in order to make my biking life a little easier?
Is there anything I can do/get the garage to do prior to or during the PDI? (I'm getting an alarm fitted as an extra but I'm thinking more in terms of, for example, coating the internals of the header with a heat-resistant paint to prevent/reduce discolouration.(I've read to do that somewhere-is it a worthwhile mod.?)
I'm thinking of keeping the bike standard as far as looks go but I will be doing a few minor performance mods-what things can I/should I do and in what order, bearing in mind I've a limited budget? Is there anything I can do for free/little money that'll make an improvement?
I hope my questions make sense and, by asking them, I'm hoping to gain from several million miles of biking knowledge.
See ya on the road. neill

Welcome Neill and congrats on the bike!

Ask your dealer whether they will remove the Air Injection (AI) pieces. If not, get an elimination kit ASAP. At the same time, adjust your air mixture screws to 2-3 turns out from lightly bottomed. Balance your carbs after this.

This will cost very little money and could keep your pipes from bluing.

Neil,

Welcome to the site and enjoy the ride. If on a limited budget I would do as Phil suggested, have the Air Injection system removed. Adjust the carbs and make sure they are balanced.

Most likely the dealer can do all this and you can even negotiate the cost during the purchase. After that I would just ride the bike for a while and then make adjustments as money, knowledge and time permit.

Tom

So I put after market Triumph pipes on my speedmaster how do you know if you need to jet and what jets to buy? Hope not a stupid question but asking any way

There are no stupid questions here Bill. If you don't know, you have to ask.

Your best bet to get the bike into the ballpark is to download Dinqua's Jetting Calculator (it's a link to the executable). It works VERY well.

I never knew about the Jetting Calculator! Thats coool!

Welcome to the site Neil.

BUY A RED ONE.

As you can see, loads of advice for you here on what you can do to these machines. OR alternatively. You can leave it totally standard, like i have. Either way it is a great bike.

Really, the first thing you should do is start planning the longest possible route from the Triumph shop to home. These bikes are such a delight to ride that you won't want to get off of it.

I only found out about the jetting calculator AFTER both our bikes were jetted right!!! Figures!! LOL

I figure more don't know also so I amended the Link Stash thread up top of the Lounge and added links to it, Pat's carb page, his shim calculator, and Matt's site where there's a wealth of electrical information...

Good idea, I found those on my own before I joined this forum but I am sure adding the links there will be a big help to many.

Welcome to the site Neil.
Dave

Hi Neil, welcome to the site. There are two sides of performance. Semi-metallic brake pads will do wonders for your braking power. Fasteddiesports.com has $95/3sets pads for the Speedmaster. The next step would be braided steel brake lines, about $190.

Hi Neill and welcome to BA.com, the only advise I would give is push for the best deal your money can get, ask them to include after market parts, they will probably tell you to go and ..... but it's worth a try..

Also check out our annual ride to the Farmyard and meet the majority of people that frequent this forum from the UK.

*feels luvved* Thanks for all the advice/welcomes/etc.
As I was considering the Speedy, I wasn't sure how well supported it was as, over here, people tend to go for those plastic things from the far east. *spit* Also, I've not seen a single Speedy on the roads and only a few other Bonnies/Bonnie derivatives. This lack of support was a big concern of mine as I didn't want to be buying something I couldn't get bits for, other than from Triumph; anyways, I've been reading this forum for some time now and it's convinced me that I'm not going to have a problem getting 'stuff'...in fact, I'm genuinely shocked at the amount of 'stuff' that's available-from shiny stuff to go faster stuff to go very faster stuff; it seems that if I want it, I can get it.
The other thing I noticed is how supportive you are of each other and I think it's a 'family' I'm looking forward to getting involved with.
Keep the advice coming and I'll keep y'all posted as to my bike buying experience.
PS For the last month, all I've done is read Triumph, eat Triumph, speak Triumph and sleep Tr...erm, actually, I've not slept much at all...I'M TOO BLOODY EXCITED!!!! heehee

I AM NOW THE PROUD OWNER OF A BEAUTIFUL BABY SPEEDIE!!!!

But I want a DNA test coz it's black!!!

What am I doing here? Gotta ride!!!

Let me be the first to congratulate you on your new purchase, Neill.

From past experience around here, I can safely say that this feeling you're experiencing at this moment that you've just bought about the best looking and best all-around real-world functioning "cruiser" motorcycle on the market never much lessens.

(Nope! This here "Buyer's Regret" phenomenon is pretty much a foreign concept around these here parts, Dude!)

Oh no a scouser!

Welcome and yeah come to the Farmyard... The more the merrier!

Hope yours is as good to you as mine has been to me.

Welcome, Congrat's and Ride Safe!!

Congrats on the new bike Neill! Hope you got the AI removed too. That will prevent most of the header blueing.
Ride safe.

Thanks for the kind words, guys. (Yes, even *you*, Gina!!! )

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Oh no a scouser!

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Sadly, the weather's not been too great so I've only done about 150 miles on it but...I've got a gig in the Lake District this weekend, the weather forecast is good so looks like I'll be adding quite a few more. Yay!

Ride safe.

Sorry...it was just so easy!
But you are not denying it.

Must have just been bad up there - I've put 100's on miles on the Thruxton this last couple of weeks (it's not mine... ) but since I got my America back yesterday I've already put another 200 on.

I didn't want to start a new thread but I've a few miscellaneous questions so I'll ask 'em here...

Right-hand turns: I'm still getting used to cornering on the Speedie but I can enter LH turns a lot harder (relatively) than I can RH turns; it's hard to explain but it's as though the RH shock is softer than the left and it feels very vague. At first, I thought that maybe the shocks weren't adjusted equally but I've checked and they're OK. Can anyone suggest anything?

2ndly, what kind of connectors are used to wire up the rear indicators (turn signals)?

3rdly, there's a pretty bad vibration between 3 and 4k RPM -any suggestions as to what it could be? (It's not yet had its first service so if it's a setup issue, it'll be sorted then.)
Thanks in advance, neill

Turn signals have a small plastic 2 prong plug each.

vibration could very easily be carb sync.

Welcome to the site dude. I have had my America since 03 when it was new, have gone through three different sets of pipes before I got the sound and performance that I was looking for and still have the stock AI, so I think that change may be overrated as my pipes have not blued enough to worry me. TR

Neil, sorry if i sound like a smart alec here, i dont mean to. But the Left Turn Right Turn thing. Its all in the head man. Its a mental thing and it affects a lot of riders. Trust your bike, turn your head, look where you want to go and roll on the throttle. Your pretty black Speedie will do the rest.

Now i have to ask you. You being a scouser. Are you Red or are you Blue.

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still have the stock AI, so I think that change may be overrated as my pipes have not blued enough to worry me.

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I still have the AI on mine. I have some blueing, but i dont mind it. Makes her look ridden. Besides, i am a useless home machanic and im too lazy to ride to the dealer to have them do it. Im hoping that i will bump in to some one from on here somewhere and they will have the tools and stuff to do it for me there and then.

Not that im hinting or anything, I'm in Cleveland, southeast end of Tennessee. if any one happens to be passing through.

Welcome Neil. Just keep riding the right hand turns will come and you will find she will do them just great. The engine will smooth out in time. They seem to get better as miles are piled on.

Dave

Something that came up in conversation before: can you supercharge an engine with a 270degree crank firing interval? Does the firing interval matter at all?
Thassit. Easy, huh?

Won't be an issue at all. The compression ratio would be much more of a concern for a blown engine. The blower effectively raises the compression ratio so it's much more involved than just bolting one on.

UPDATE: Firstly, thanks for all your posts, guys. I know now what you all mean. As you know, before I bought my Speedie, I had a few doubts, hence this post at TRat.net.
I passed 420 miles today on an hour long ride, just chillin' out on local roads. All the uncertainty about the bike was blown completely from my mind-my feet are on the pegs within a few feet of setting off, the issues I had with the front wheel and forks are gone...in fact, it's as easy to ride as my pedal-bike. Granted, I'm still a lil nervous about corners, again, especially, RH corners but I'll just take my time and build up my confidence and speed slowly. It's plenty fast enough and, despite, the thing weighing 3x what I do, it's barely noticeable beneath me, even when pushing it around. Oh, and the attention we get, both on the move and when parked up, is unreal. I thought everyone was fabricating the stories about coming back to their bike and having a crowd around it-how wrong I was.
Also, riding thru the local villages and having the people I pass all stop and stare is something I'm gonna have to get used to-I think I can manage that. If it wasn't for the fact that I have a hard-man, biker-thug reputation to uphold, I'd be giggling to myself like an asylum-escapee...oh, wait, I do!!!
I still can't get over the fact that I own a Triumph Speedmaster. Bonnies and their derivatives are pretty bluddy rare round here...in fact, I've only ever seen one...mine!!!! Yay!!!

Thank you all and keep giggling.
neill

]:>

Hey Neill,
Welcome to the group. I am new here too and I come here to read posts everyday. As you already know these are a great group of people who have one thing in common. They all love their Triumphs and are willing and ready to help others.
I just purchased my 03 Speedmaster a couple of weeks ago and they helped me a lot already. I was lucky mine was already outfitted with the AI and snorkels removed, after market pipes, and rejeting by the previous owner. I wish I had tried to maybe bargain for some saddle bags with my deal though.

Right now I can't seem to stay away from the Speedmaster. It is such a joy to ride. . My wife says It's like I am having an affair. I took my wife (not the bike!) out for a nice dinner a couple of times just so she wouldn't start feeling jealous. <grin>.

Take Care, & Congratulations on your bike.



Bob