Originally Posted by uktotty
This is Marmite, if everyone hated Marmite. Seen in a dealership in Swindon at the weekend
350kg of sloth
This ones vegimite on the main drag in Porthmadog today.
some of the popping (not all) can be eliminated by removal / blocking of the SAI system on a truimph bike ( im pretty sure the thruxton has one- enoch probably knows) - that said the overrun popping is one the characteristics i like most about truimph engines :)
You can tour on anything if well prepared.
My Melody Mini, with Rickman panniers, Givi top box, long range fuel tank and phone was more practical than my RGV Wolf.
Not quite as nippy though.
I think I may be alone in making mine quieter over the last few months
Nah, at new tyre time have some fun - burnout!
I agree, all these bikes that pop and bang on the overrun are not cool - it makes them sound like they are badly out of tune/set up and are reminiscent of a chavvy Corsa with a home-made exhaust.
It annoys the hell out of me, even on my ratty steeds, i`ve got to eliminate any tendancy for them to do that.
Excellent, i have more respect for the guy who tours the world on a tired C90 Cub than the myriad £20k mega-super-faux-adventure types with an array of empty 300 litre alluminium luggage boxes who bimble to the local bike meet once a month (only if it`s dry and not cold, though).
That Melody is superb. Not sure if you have heard of the Horizon Overland events Gyp see here https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/You can tour on anything if well prepared.
My Melody Mini, with Rickman panniers, Givi top box, long range fuel tank and phone was more practical than my RGV Wolf.
Not quite as nippy though.
I have attended 2 or 3 they are short talks each 60 to 90 mins long from travellers who have been there and done it. There is always someone who has done 20,000 plus on-a chaley postie bike or nifty fifty. One year there were a group of young lads camping by our tent. All on japanese step thrus. They had shopping baskets zip tied to the bars to hold their sleeping bags tents etc. The bikes were wrecked. But the best bit was the following week they were heading off East to do the “stans” Uzbekistan Afganistan ect . Wow the bravery and naivety of youth.
Last edited by higham5; 21st September 2020 at 13:36.
Steady on; this is a Melody Mini, not your large, luxurious standard Melody!
Absolutely loved doing the National Rally on it, when we (I had a mate with a similar one) spend ages optimising the routes to reduce distance between checkpoints - through farms, along footpaths, anything to make it a straight line. On more than one occasion we got from point to point quicker than some guys on big tourers that had done the 2 sides of the triangle rather than out hypotenuse.
At the time no-one had mobile phones, so car phones were the latest and most ridiculously expensive executive tool. My car phone handset bolted to the pannier lid with aerial on the back, with AA batteries making it light up (there was no phone gubbins in the pannier at all) caused quite a stir, and I took great pleasure having fake conversations about progress with the missus while parked next to Goldwings that were not similarly equipped.
I'll have a look at that, though at the moment long range reavel, sensible or otherwise, is not on the cards.
I've got the DVD of Ed March's trip from Malaysia to Devon by C90 around here somewhere
What does an A on you licence entitle you to ride?
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https://www.gov.uk/driving-licence-categories
I went out for another little ride today, and having decided I wasn't entirely happy with the handling decided to take a closer look at the tyres. The rear is quite noticeably squared off, whilst the front is the opposite, almost shaped into a "v" (not quite, but definitely not a uniform curve). Anyway, I've decided to leave it under cover until the new rubber goes on in a couple of days.
Tyres aside, the bike is just gorgeous and I'm totally in love with the looks. I always liked the 9Ts that had been cafe'd so I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise.
Thanks for the link Gyp, but I'm still (numptiness) none the wiser. Can I buy that lovely Gilera 350 on SC and ride it home?
A entitles you to ride any motorbike of any capacity/power.
You have to have taken a full bike test to be able to ride any bike which you would remember doing I am sure.
As mentioned be careful as someone at work for some reason has A status and has never even sat on a bike.
I will ask him tomorrow if it runs from the same dates as his car test as my A and B entitlements show the dates I passed the respective tests.
The Gilera Saturno is 24kW, so can be legally ridden by someone with either an A or an A2 licence, as long as it is appropriately taxed, MOTed and insured.
To check your licence entitlement and what it allows you to drive/ride, check here https://www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence (just in case there's something weird with your licence etc)
But basically with A you should be good to go
Well, I have now changed the clutch and ACG cover. Might get the oil filler cap.
Now thinking about the Tec decat, anyone had experience of that on Triumphs?
And then maybe the power commander...
Is there a restriction showing? I have a valid A category (from 2013 for some reason) but "restrictions apply". Those restrictions are that I am limited to a tricycle. Hopefully from around lunchtime on Thursday those restrictions will disappear.
I had them on both my T120's, along with TEC front springs and rear shocks. I'd recommend getting replacement gaskets for the silencers as the original ones were chewed up and not reusable on both bikes.
R
Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.
if we are takng truimph some models you can do it yourself using tune ecu ( just neeed to check vin number to see if it can be mapped -some ecu's are locked) - if you are willing to goto power commander money a custom tune specicifically for your bike is a better bet.
I have fitted 5 TEC decat X pipes Bobber, Bobber TFC, Thruxton R, Thruxton R, and Speedmaster.
Never had an issue with fitting, but on some bikes the little heat shield has required a week to fit properly. But you can leave it off if you prefer.
https://youtu.be/2vsRpqumen8
https://youtu.be/idilPRjCpjg
@Enoch, Thanks for that, it looks fiddly but straight-forward, however I don't have a stand so if I go ahead I think I'll try to find someone who can do it for me at a sensible price.
@pugster, yes tuneecu is another option. My main goal is to improve the low speed fuelling, I think the euro 5 stuff has got in the way and it does feel a bit lean at low revs, in fact it's stalled a couple of times in sport mode - I wonder if there's an issue brewing similar to the one causing the Thruxton recall. That said, if a few more ponies can be liberated so much the better!
TBH, apart from the low speed fuelling glitch I'm very happy with it as it is, it's just I like it so much I'm being drawn into fiddling with it a bit!
For sure that sounds pretty much exactly like my Scrambler 1200. Everything great, apart from a tendency to stall and be slightly hesitant at very low revs. In my case, the Booster Plug pretty much sorted it.
I've run it now for about 1200 out of the 1500 miles I've put on the bike. During that time, I can't say I noticed any difference in general performance or fuel consumption.
My Speedmaster has a booster plug. Runs beautifully and does 65mpg..
According to the onboard computer, my Scrambler 1200 is about 59.5'ish mpg, although I've not measured it to see if that's close to reality. It's been the same before and after fitting the booster plug.
Well, they both fit comfortably in the garage, it’s very tempting to be a two bike owner for a while.
I could get 4 or 5 bikes in there ! What is the contrast like between a classic air cooled honda and a recent BMW? I guess the BMW is torquyer and needs less stirring of the gearbox.Well, they both fit comfortably in the garage, it’s very tempting to be a two bike owner for a while.
Last edited by higham5; 22nd September 2020 at 21:42.
Most interesting, I have of course looked at booster plugs, but there are mixed reviews on the forums (which I accept you have to take with a massive pinch of salt) ranging from great to does nothing.
Out of interest, what plug do you guys, the Tec parts one?
Grrr...
You’ve pretty much nailed it right there, the Honda just makes me want to waft around at 45-55mph. Is very early days but the torque on the BMW is instantly impressive and I think it could be a bit of a hooligan if pressed.
I agree, it felt like a leap of faith to spend £125 on a gadget that some said was a miracle, and others said was snake oil.
I got mine from Tec - although they are just the reseller. I bought from them because they offer a clear “money back if you’re not happy” guarantee. I also used their installation video as a guide as - on the Scrambler 1200 - the install involves removal of the end cans etc.
That's because a lot of people fit a booster plug to try and fix the snatchy throttle response you get when going back on the throttle at low revs. A lot of the time that snatchiness is because the ECU cuts fuel completely on the overrun to improve MPG, reduce emissions and make the revs reduce faster. A booster plug fools the ECU into adding a flat 6% across the board, but 6% of nothing is still nothing, so it doesn't fix the problem.
Now most modern engines are tuned to run lean anyway, again for emissions and MPG, but then people then fit decat pipes and loud exhausts which make them run leaner still. Too weak a mixture is potentially dangerous for the engine but the bit people notice is that it also makes them run a little rough. That's where a flat 6% across the board can help.
Booster plugs can work depending on what you are trying to achieve. They work because there is a range of fuel-air ratios that are acceptable to an engine (I said acceptable, not optimal) and they're gambling that modern tuning and the average bikers penchant for Gucci zorsts means that an extra 6% will put the engine back in the Goldilocks zone again. Plus a slightly richer mixture is generally safe for the engine. But a custom remap (or one known to work on the set up you have) is still the better option.
If you have access to TuneECU or similar for your bike you can of course add a straight 6% fuel across the board and do what a booster plug does for free.
Last edited by Groundrush; 23rd September 2020 at 13:11.
That was why I was impressed with the Vance and Hines Fuelpak. You could simply go on the website and input your bike, exhaust and air filter and download the correct settings. Then you simply keyed them into the Fuelpak and it gave the engine the optimum settings for your setup.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
As I’ve fitted 5 decats I’ve also fitted 5 booster plugs to the same bikes. All owners including myself have noticed smoother running, and less snatchiness at low revs.
It’ll never be as good as a custom remap, but is cheaper, and can easily be removed if you have a warranty issue.
My concern with a custom remap is that it can be detected by the Triumph factory software, and will void warranty on a new bike.
I suspect that in the future I will go custom, once the bike is out of warranty, in the meantime the booster plug is good enough to give the improvement I need.
Agreed re warranty.
£127 isn't a huge risk so I think I'll give it a go.
Twice the fun at half the speed :-)New bike + new tyres + pissing rain
You do look at weather forecasts, don't you?
Thanks for that Groundrush , boosters are common on my model of bike, and I never fully understood how they worked. At one time I thought they were an electronic snake oil. Now you have explained it , it makes a lot more sense.
What a great thread this is , every day is a school day.
I'm a believer* in taking a wire brush to brand new tyres, give the surface a bit of a roughing up and then get them warmed up with a heat gun/hair dryer before venturing out - and of course avoid hard acceleration/braking in the wet.
*Other opinions are of course available.
R
Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.
^^^ enjoy Tony, it’s drying out nicely here as well and I wish I could get out today.
I’d put a warm jacket on though...it’s surprisingly nippy out there. Have fun.Well, the sun is out, the ground is drying and I'm shortly going out for a first proper ride (that is, with new rubber and a bike that will be handling properly) on the Thruxton R. Beside myself with excitement
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This is not exactly kind to the previous owner. He seemed to handle it quite well.Well, the sun is out, the ground is drying and I'm shortly going out for a first proper ride (that is, with new rubber and a bike that will be handling properly) on the Thruxton R. Beside myself with excitement
The issue here is that it's a different bike for you, and YOU have to adjust to these differences. Once you have, you will indeed be able to improve it should you choose to: driving position, seat, suspension set up, engine remapping, etc.
But at the moment the main fault of your new bike is to be different from the one you're used to. This is also why I initially suggested keeping the existing rubbers, because they fitted the previous owner's riding style so it is fair to assume that the bike was "sorted".
Now of course as you pointed out the rear was borderline dangerous, changing them was probably a no-brainer, as indeed it is better to change both if you're going for a different make/profile.
But you still need to learn how to tame the beast, so go easy and please do not believe it's handling "properly". I have little doubt that it is, but a new bike + rain when it hadn't rained for a long time, so gasoil patches + autumn leaves is a dangerous cocktail to take your new steed through its paces.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Sorry, but you're completely wrong. The previous owner and I have spent many hours talking and texting, and he warned me that the back tire was squared off and probably wouldn't cope with being ridden home from Shrewsbury (which was the deciding factor in me arranging transport instead). In fact, when I spoke to him about the handling issues upon receiving the bike, his response was as follows - describing precisely what the bike was doing as he'd already experience it on the bike himself:
You keep commenting on the tyres when you've not even seen the bike. I appreciate that you're trying to help but I know a worn tyre when I see/feel one.Hah, yeah square tyres are horrible, it’s like turning on a cam, it’ll resist and then all of a sudden it feels like the bike wants to tip over. The problem is if you get used to it the bike feels especially weird when you get new tyres on because it feels almost too eager to turn haha! Did you say you’re going for Road 5s?
I think I was quite clear:
I am just trying to remind you that even with the same tyres as your Beemer, the bike will feel and behave differently; that the roads may be dry where you live (local flash floods not far from me) but will be greasy and leafy. That is all. And as you say, I don't know how you ride either. I was just worried (for you) because ofNow of course as you pointed out the rear was borderline dangerous, changing them was probably a no-brainer, as indeed it is better to change both if you're going for a different make/profile.
and I was trying to tone it down.Beside myself with excitement
Don't mind me, and enjoy your ride.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Well, that's not quite what you were doing if you read your previous post, but in any event I think the point about the rear tyre is now clear. Oh, and the need for an immediate tyre change resulted in a nice reduction to the asking price, which was very welcome.
As said, i appreciate that you were trying to be helpful but trust me when I tell you that the tyre was shot and the bike's handling was all over the place as a consequence.
just enjoy the new bike , modern tyres warm up in a few miles (unless its freezing ) dont need to be sanded /polished /given a makeover with a hairdryer or anything else these days.
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