Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Performance Mods Improving the ride

So, how about a little thread about what made some definitely distinctive improvements in your riding, performance wise.

I'll start, and maybe Staffo and others will chime in.

So far, these are the mods:
- Long TORs
- TPS disconnected
- AI removed (DIY, soon to be replaced by a kit)
- snorkel removed, rode it that way today... mixed feelings. I seem to have lost some power, but it is also a blessing for my pillion. Before taking out the snorkel, the initial twist of the throttle from 2nd gear (or reprise for deceleration) had always been bumpy and would jerk her back. Even when I was feathering the throttle. I had to play with the clutch to get a smooth transition for rolling off to rolling on, like when riding in the twisties. Now, that jerky rolling back on is almost gone. A lot smoother anyway. hummm... a better ride but a loss of low RPM power...

On the TO-DO list:
- change main jets to 135 / pilot to 42 (running stock now)
- new Uni or K&N air filter to put as replacement
- change front disk (hopefully under Triumph warranty) as it is warped (might rub on pads even when not braking and take precious amounts of gas away)

The Freak seems a bit pricey for me at the moment, and I am not sure if I want to change to pods as a typical ride can start in a beautiful blue skies day and end in a torrential downpour. I am afraid of the pods performance in heavy rain.

Hopefully when those are done, there will be an improvement in range.

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Hi Jeff,
How do you find riding over in Taiwan buddy?

Am I being a bit primitive and ignorant in thinking the roads aren't up to scratch etc???

I'd say I would be otherwise you'd probably be riding a BMW GS or something hey?

Great you have plans to improve your bike's performance but imho I think 135 mains may be a bit ambitious initially until you can provide some more breathing space so to speak.

For instance, I use 135 mains and 42 pilots myself and whilst I haven't done a dyno yet for these settings, I was rich in my last dyno using 145 mains and 45 pilots, and considering I have virtually the straight through Staintune pipes
(btw, I had long tors originally) with a straight through rstrictor (not baffle but an easily removable part that just minimises the pipe's gases exit diameter), this in itself would imho make my speedie breathe better just by itself.

Then add the K&N pods hanging off the freak and you get some real O2 freedom.

In saying this, all our bikes are different in their own way and even if you were rich, that’s much safer than running lean. You’re definitely on the right track with the Uni or K&N filter too and 135 mains and 42 pilots do sound pretty good using them.

There is probably someone who may disagree with me on my comments but being an inexact science and that’s even after a dyno, I find a combination of a dyno with the air fuel ratio, colour of plugs and fuel consumption (beside the formance factor) will give you a pretty good picture of how accurate you are.

Btw, if your rear pads are rubbing I would have thought that would make a big difference on your range. Also, if your bike does have the warped disc as you say, I’m almost certain this will be replaced under warranty. Certainly, if your local dealer plays hard ball don’t argue just walk out and talk to us about it. Agro will just make the thing worse and as a group I’ve found the advice here invaluable to how much my bike costs to run.

One last thing, I know not everyone is a fan of the freak as a means of increasing a bikes breathing capacity but in my experience it was whilst initially quite expensive, not only reduced the ongoing costs (so would a drop in for that matter) the improvements were quite profound and that didn't take into the consideration the tone your bike makes when sucking air. Sweet .

Each to their own of course and whatever you decide on, you’ll be happy regardless. The same goes for pipes and again, I’m different to many of my fellow riders but my not being too impressed with my bike being too loud after installing Specialty Spares pipes, I found the staintune pipes easily my most impressive add on, balancing looks, performance and tone.


Unfortunately for me LOL, louder pipes spoilt MY overall riding experience. Anyway, difference is in these days

Anyway, hopes this helps and maybe someone else can chime in to help you make some informed decisions from other's experiences.

Cheers and ride safe

ps: If you were wondering about the length of this post. I learnt to type morse code back in the 70's hence I can go on a bit.

Just trying to help

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BTW Staffo, I have been looking for a sound bite of those Staintunes but I can only find them on Bonnevilles, not America nor Speedmaster on youtube... Got anything to watch/listen?

Hi,
Happy with the TOR short pipes, think they have much the same performance effect as the longs. I have 125 mains in the carbs and the air screws are about 2 1/4 turns out.
I thought it was abit jerky at lower revs with the snorkel completley removed and was also concerned about water etc entering the airbox so presently have the snorkel shortened as shown. I have standard air filter.

The biggest improvements in my riding came form suspension upgrades.
* 412s lowered the bike which had me scrapign my pipes but showed me how bad those stock rear shocks really are.
* 440s (once I adjusted them) were even better than the 412s and much needed as Im a biger boy.
* Progressive springs up front were a good investment along with the heavier oil. Though much better than stock there has still always been a dive in the front end. I have a set of Intiminators waiting for installation now.

The best asthetic improvement was the hard bags
The best audible improvemetn was Specialty Spares Long Cannons...yeah baby
The best performance improvement was the combo of pipes, Freak and rejetting.

On the short list is cams/carbs.
On the long list is a 904 and headwork.

Give this a go Stephen. It's not the best quality as sound bytes go but it'll give you an idea. BTw, this one is with the restrictors in which means they are toned down compared to if you had your the restrictors taken out.

The restrictors are not baffles as such but just a 2 or so inch pipe which has a reduced diametre compared to the rest of the pipe. To remove them it's a 1 minute job undoing a SS hex screw. Similarly putting back is easy too but takes just a minute longer due to lining up the threads.


They don't call them tunes for nothing LOL


Whilst I'm at it and for the benefit of anyone else interested, here's the specialty spares for those "lounder is better" crowd You might have to turn up your puter volume though (true) due to the settings when the vid was taken.

SS pipes - they actually sound alright in this sound byte


And for those considering the good old reliable Tors, Staffo won't let you down either. Notice there is a slight stall half way through when twisting the throttle? That was due I believe to my being to generous with the jet sizes as the tors are a little bit more restrictive. Still, not a bad pipe but the tunes imho sh#t all over em.

the old faithful Tors

Hope this helps

staffo

ps: one thing I've forgotten to mention when I have spoken about the staintunes is, they are slightly upswept. What I mean here is, both the Tors (inherited) which I had originally and then the SS pipes were virtually parallel to the ground from the headers to end but the tunes move up slightly. It's not that noticable until you sit back and look (admire) but it's definitely there.

Personally I like the look myself but the other factor of significance is I have never once scratched them in a turn. Of course proper pre-load on the rear springs should hopefully ensure this doesn't happen either but in the process of getting your pre-load right it'll only take one time and then it's not reversable so to speak.

Just another positive as far as I'm concerned.

Sounds like an old D9 at idle.

why thunkya

Hi Guys, This is my first post and this topic seems a good place to start. I have a 2009 America. It was fitted with staintune pipes from new and have since gutted the airbox and turned it to double entry with K&N filter fitted. Then the AI went and the O2 sensors. Tuneboy was required and now have custom map. It now runs oh so smooth and with much more get up and go. I have also moved the footpegs forward to infront of the exhaust and fitted a low profile seat. Next project is a beltdrive and then the 994 Kit. The 994 is going to be DYI and I am looking forward to the adventure.
Ride safe,
John

Thats a great looking ride! Welcome to the site. I dig the seat. Do you mean a 904 big bore?

BTW, props for the solar panels on the house!

I mean the 994. With what I am wanting to achieve Carlos from TPUSA suggested going to the 994 big bore as it was a much cheaper option.

Just checked it out. Wasn't even aware they had a 994 option, thought they jumped to 988 and 1087. I would like to hear some feedback on that once you get it done.

Sweet lookin' ride, Wolf. Thanks for sharing.

Beautiful bike John... like what you've done to it!! Btw, welcome!

That's a great lookin' bike Wolf. Great job moving the forward controls out. Did you use the mod by Wild Mike on this forum to do that or is this another thing altogether? I've been wanting to move mine, but I've got a thousand other things to do first.

Very nice wolf. Looks great. I too would like to know how you moved the controls forward. As a guy with a very long inseam I could use them a few more inches forward.

As so happens I was just in the process of replacing my steering head bearings with tapered ones. So I was able to take these photos. I do like the tapered bearings so much more than the stock ones, another story.
What I did with my foot pegs was that I took the bracket off and separated the flat brackets from the two pipes, leaving the pipe section in one piece. I did remove all the fittings off the bracket before I did this though. I did not need to remove my exhaust to do this.I then bolted the flat brackets back on to the bike and then tacked the pipe section back on. I turned the pipe section back to front and upside down so that the bend was now facing forward and that drain hopes were on the bottom.
Then I cut the pipes about 30mm from where they are welded to the cast fittings. I needed to add some flat washers between the flat bracket and the bike frame so that the pipes cleared the exhaust. When I inserted lengths of 18mm solid rod into the pipe ends. I used a grinder to shave a little off the rod so that it fitted nicely.
With the footpegs re-attached to the cast fitting I place them where I wanted them and tacked them. With both sides tacked I them sat on the bike to see if it was where I wanted the pegs. Once you have the pegs in the position that you want its time the finish the welding plug open pipe ends with rod and using a grinder, smooth and finish off the job so that it looks okay. I had the bracket powder coated and there you go. The only other things that I needed was to have a new rod made from 10mm stainless for the gear shift and a braided brake line to finish off the job.
Cheers,
John
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