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

Cheers!Welcome also,I'm new too and this thing is sooo much fun and a wealth of info and comaraderie ( solidarnosc).My wife and I rode today in southeastern US,she has a Sportster and my ride is an 05 BA,I had US flag and your nation's flag ( UK ) flying in the wind behind me! It looked great and got lots of thumbs up.Never fails-people walk up ,totally ignore the high $$ Harley and go into this big discourse about the Bonnie!!I love it,my Harley buds just shake their heads in contempt.Ride well and be at peace with your machine,Wade

Hey dude, welcome to Triumph lovin. I have to agree that the whole right turn thing is in your head. Just keep working on it like you are doing. You will eventually get over it.

Well I'm still progressing with the purchase of my America.... counting the days now before I can get the order in.

Still, just read this thread back from the beginning and wanted to say I had trouble with Right turn too! - So much so that I scared myself a little. I found turning left a lot easier. I'm sure that it was just me and it gives me the perfect excuse to go and dissapear for long hours in order to get used to it.

I too will let everyone know once the order is in! (hopefully within the next 10 days!)

Cheers,

JC

It's my understanding that making right hand turns are more mentally difficult, which is why it's part of the practical factors portion of the WA State (USA) motorcycle test. I know I had a little trouble with it and is something I need to get comfortable with. My brother has been riding bikes for years and works with psych patients. He told me that it has something to do with your head. Most people are right-handed and have more trouble with leaning right.
Personally I don't know, but I'm glad to read that others, here and across the pond, have the same difficulty with right turns. Guess I am normal after all.

I just can't wait to get my America and start practicing my skills.

I noticed something a little odd about the whole right vs. left thing. If I stand my bike up and sorta just let it go....it always falls to the left. In other words,seems that the America has more goodies/weight on the left hand side and falls that way far more easily than to the right. Could that have something to do with it,seemingly, cornering better to the left??

Everyone will have a more comfortable turn -in side. Think about anything that requires you to use reverse dominate biomechanics. Most people find turning on ice/roller/blade skates buy crossing over skates easier one way than the other, snow skiing turns easier one way than the other, and the list goes on... batting, golfing, boxing, even powerslides in a car. I'm much more comfortable hanging it out to the left than the right. Same withthe bike. Most right-handed people will find it easier to turn left...

You know what, I think you've just hit the nail on the head. I started thinking about it and I noticed the following :

Ice Skating - Always go Anticlockwise (left)
Skiiing - Always Stop by hard turning left
Karting/Powerslide - Always prefer left hand down.

Intresting as I'd never thought about it before - maybe some sort of lower instinct.

As I said, all this means to me is that I'll have to put a lot more miles on the bike to try to counter that!

Cheers,

JC

I have been riding since I was about 8 (Morini Super America) I don't ever remember any difference turning one way or the other. But the roller skateing thing I can definately see. Always right over left when turning for me other way would just be awkward so I guess the same would follow on a bike. Guess I have just been on 2 wheels so long I never felt that.

See now here is the odd thing...(besides ME in general) I lowsided my bike at 65 on a right corner...and yet in running the dragon on the way home from GA this Righty will make low fast right turns all day but somehow lefts were not as comfortable...

I wonder if its an eye dominance thing?

Don't forget about the crown of the road. While taking on a left-hand sweeper, you're actually a little more off-camber than when you're tracking to the right, which is then slightly banked in your favor.(in the U.K. of course, the opposite would hold true)

One is much more likely to scrape their left-side peg/muffler/assorted lower hanging bits than their correlative right side components.(once again, the opposite in the U.K.)

I did consider the camber of the road having an influence and, here in the UK, right turns would generally be 'off-camber' but that doesn't explain why 'you lot' have difficulties with right-hand turns. I can, however, throw another possible explanation into the mix: predominantly, you control the lean of a bike with the grip that's on the inside as you turn: the left-hand grip is fixed and therefore you know exactly what it's gonna do; the right hand (throttle) grip moves and, of course, if it moves too much, you change speed (also, possibly, direction)...thus, I think, you can't have as much confidence in the right-hand grip for controlling the bike.

I've not worded that very well (it's late, I'm tired, etc) but I hope you get my point.

neill


];>

My arse is sore!! Been on my bike all day doing various things, including a rider refresher course and getting my bike looked at by the stealership. Had some pretty bad vibes between 3200 and 3800 revs; the tech said it's probably where the factory 'lean' the bike out to pass emissions and noise, etc, and with my TOR's, it's exaggerated. I'm gonna get it on a dyno soon, anyways, so hopefully that'll cure/reduce it. Also, had my tank badges taken off coz those that come as standard are bloody awful! Bought a Scottoil 'CrampBuster' and it's great. It's a piece of plastic that clips to your loud-handle and allows you to release your grip slightly without losing speed-you kinda rest your wrist on it. Recommended. Also, put a Triumph flyscreen on yesterday but the jury's still out on that. It looks fantastic and certainly takes the wind off my chest but makes my lid noisier, although it's actually worse with it fully closed; if I leave the visor cracked a bit, it's not too bad.
Next up is first service and brakelight modulator fitted, along with some LED number plate bolts-not sure whether to get them wired up with the tail light or the brake lights. I'm letting the dealer do a few lil jobs so he doesn't moan about warranty when I do some 'bigger' jobs myself-replace indicators with billet-ally LED, etc.

As a big Brucie-bonus...I found out today that I've been paying car insurance to 2 different companies. I thought it was me not having cancelled my old one but it turns out that it was a mistake at their end...so a lil pile o' cash comin my way to spend on...hmmm, what? New shocks and springs? Brakes? Put it towards a big bore kit? Yay!!

neill

Smee, again, guys...with another quick question: I wanna remove my AI (no, bear with me on this!!) but I don't wanna pay 20 quid for a kit that costs about 6 (I've priced it up). I've got the grommit for the airbox (40p) and I know I can use sump plugs from a Suzi SV650 for the head (£2.50 ea.). When I asked my local Suzi dealer (also the Trumpet dealer I bought mine from) about the sump plugs, he asked me what year? Does this matter, or will any fit?
Secondly, where can I get the vacuum cap from? What size do I need? I was thinking of using a tyre-valve dustcap with some form of sealant in there, will this do?

Any help gratefully received, otherwise I'm gonna have to bite the bullet and get the kit.

Cheers, neill

Can anyone gimme the size of the plug/cap I need?
Cheers, neill

Another quick question. I didn't want to start a new thread because I'm sure it's been covered a million times before and I DID do several searches to find the information but had no luck. I'm looking to buy some bar end mirrors-what's the internal diameter of the stock Speedie bars?

Cheers, neill

3/16's vacuum cap

So why do people remove the AI

Cheers, Uncle C.

AI makes the bike run hot and turns the exhaust header pipes blue. Some people like this; others, myself included, don't. It's a personal thing-the only thing you should know is that, with it removed, the engine is putting out more nasty stuff into the air.

neill

Once pipes get blue, can they be unblued/deblued totally?

I would think the double walled pipes were done that way so the pipes wouldn't be blue. I am also assuming the bike really wasn't designed to run so lean or have all that extra stuff on it. I, also, don't want my pipes blue.

I'm not sure if you can get all the blue off (if bad) even with some serious power buffing. The pipes turn golden before they blue. The "golding" can be removed fairly easily. I have used Semi-chrome on any golding since the bike was new and never got to blue. 9K miles - like new pipes.

My pipes were horrible, gold, blue, black, purple.
I got it off, but it was alot of work(6 hrs).
Do a search, this has been gone over before in some detail.
Look at the pics in my gallery, over 6,000 miles since then,
and they still look great!

Uncle Charlie

I've just ordered the AI kit for my 04 speedmaster, I'm hoping this will stop the popping on overrun that I'm getting with the short Triumph exhausts, if anybody else has any advice on stopping it please tell me cause it's spoils the sound of the bike.

Ian

I think the popping has to do with the idle circuit and you'll need to readjust that to run a bit richer.

I had the short tors, they sound like ****.
Now I have the BUBs, love 'em.
45 pilots, 135 mains, UNI, no snorkle, 1 shim.
Get some good pipes(many available), and re-jet.
Adjust, and balance the carbs, you'll think you
have a new bike!

Uncle Charlie