Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Performance Mods where to get TBS needles?

My nearest dealer is an hour away. Is there anywhere online that i can get them? I suppose the dealer may sell them to me via phone order with CC, but then again they may not want to bother with something like that which is so cheap and would have to be ordered.

First, you locate a Thunderbird Sport. Then make sure the owner isn't around, then...

Seriously, I wouldn't think the dealer would have a problem ordering them for you.

If your dealer has a problem ordering anything for you, I'd wonder what kind of a dealer they are...

Here's a dealer that you would have no problem with:

Palm Beach Triumph
12550 So. Military Trail, #8
Boynton Beach, FL, 33436
Phone: 561-638-8411 / 800-992-1511
Fax: 561-638-4234

http://www.palmbeachtriumph.com
sales@palmbeachducati.com

Talk to Bob or Marnie. Two excellent people.

You'll never know if your hour-away dealer will get them for you if you don't call him. It won't hurt to ask!

As a former parts man (motorcycle, airplanes, stock cars, hot rods) I know that most real part guys will go the extra mile to get you what you want, no matter how small.

Palm beach said they think they have them but can't check till they open on tuesday. I emailed them sunday nite at 9pm PST and got an answer when i checked my email an hour later !!! Someone there must love thier job to be up at midnite eastern time on a sunday nite checking thier work email !! So anyway i should be able to get them there. Hermys also got my email so one way or another i'll have em soon. Thanks all....

hey bonnyusa...i bet lot on here have a TBS needle left over "they come in a set of 3" and my dealer would only sell me the set.. coule not order just 2 so i have one left over it any one want's it just send me a email and i will send it out to you for free..and i know there are others on here that have one left over..

BIKER

Really? Bob ordered two for me....

Regardless, that's very cool of you.

Well, palm beach doesn't have them. I got a feeling they'll need to be ordered anywhere i go.

Ah, well it seems the palm beach dealer is willing to order them at $650 each and "minimal" shipping. And so i shall. Thanks Phil. By the way, think i'll need to downsize my 130 mains with the TBS needles?

uh...thats $6.50

Since i last posted i've done some research. Now i'm wondering whether to go with TBS or thrux needles. What do y'all think? Bike is 05' speedy, AI removed, snorkel removed, 1 shim, airbox/filter bottom drilled, 130 mains, tho i can change those if needed to accomodate needles. Bike ran much stronger with the shim added. With that info, which needle would you use? i'm ordering the TBS needles tomorrow unless you can convice me otherwise, so chop chop !

The Thruxton needles have a more radical taper than the TBS which are more radical than stock. They are all not that different, just a slightly steeper taper than the lesser. Hey Pat, do you still have that pic we took in GA of the three needles side by side?

You found her stronger with a shim, right? Well, what you did was put less of the needle into the jet by lifting it which opened the jet more (don't mean to lecture but others may read this...). Don't forget, these are metering needles. Adding a more radical taper (or more shims) will introduce more power (and gas) up to (and possibly past) a point where all you are doing is wasting gas and not getting any more power. What's that point? Only your seat of the pants dyno or a real dyno will tell. I believe it was SalMaglie who had two shims on the stock needles and went to TBS needles and saw no power gain so two shims on the stock is probably the same in that respect as the TBS needles.

Most people are putting in the TBS needles to cure a mid-RPM slump as I did. You may or may not gain anything with these needles. What the heck, it's a cheap mod and easily reversable. The Thruxtons are too tapered for probably anything less than a big bore...

If you decide on the TBS needles, start with no shims and see what that gets you.

I have the Freak, Epcos, and ran the 160s for awhile and found them too rich. Now down to 150s and have not lost any power so I will do plug checks for awhile and adjust until I hit the sweet spot on the jets.

With your setup, the 130s and the TBS needles may be perfect. Do plug checks and even buy 140-145 jets for grins. They're cheap and it's downright fun playing with these awesome machines!!!

Here is a link to the original discussion about the TBS needles. Interesting reading if you haven't seen it before.

TBS Needle discussion

Phil....dowop has a speedy with pretty much the same setup as mine, tho his is an 04 and mine an 05. Plus i drilled my airbox which he hasn't. Anyway, he just put the richer thruxton needles in and said them made a considerable improvment. as much as he got removing the snorkel, which he said was quite a bit just as i noted. So hopefully they'll do me some good. Also, redbird over at RAT said he measured the TBS and thrux needles and found them to be the same with the exception that the TBS were longer. He said two 0.5mm shims shound approximate the same length as the thrux needles allowing me to closly simulate them if the TBS aren't rich enough.of course thats unlikely i suppose, but i do have the box drilled, snorkel removed and am getting a unifilter so who knows. By the way, according to that chart that shows where the different jets and all overlap, it shows the needle taper as having an impact on a much larger portion of the throttle range than shims. so i would think shimming a stock "nail" wouldn't be the same.

Deuce......yea, i saw that today while searching the archives. in fact i think i read every post here about needles there is !