The Adventures of FriarJohn on Two (and Sometimes Four) Wheels

Think I’m going to do this next weekend (Friday-Monday). Visit John in Thompson Falls, MT, Del in Bonners Ferry, ID, and Keith in Trail, BC. Then swing down around Lewiston, ID, and come home up Lolo Pass. I’m sure there will be subtle differences in the actual route, but this is the basic idea.

View Directions to East Helena, MT in a larger map

Traveling alone. I’ll have my dual disc front wheel for the first time, as well as my SPOT GPS transceiver and the iPod Nano. If the GPS works like it should, I’ll post a link to the Google Maps page it generates. My plan is to hit the “report in” button at each gas stop or overnight stop. Probably won’t have the Kuryakyn Grips and Breakaway cruise control installed. A little too close to start making new mods.

Just a quick note, inspired by the fact that IT’S SNOWING.

I’ve had the bike out twice already this year. Probably haven’t put much more than 50 miles on it. Last Sunday the weather was gorgeous so I got out in the garage and finished drilling out a couple baffles in my stock pipes. Naturally I was required after that to go for a ride and test them out. I’ve been running factory short Triumph “off road” (“short TORs”) mufflers for nearly 8 years, but I’ve always wanted to see what the stock pipes sounded like gutted, or at least partially gutted. I left in the third baffle and the reducer cone at the front. The results were amazing. The exhaust note, while not sounding tuned, sounded incredibly deep. I should have done this 8 years ago rather than buying the short TORs at around $385.

So now that I have these drilled pipes, I still have to mount up and try out the set of short slash-cut mufflers by Specialty Spares that I picked up used recently. Zdenko put a set on his girlfriend’s bike and says they sound nearly identical to his Specialty Spares long cannons, which I love. So if these SS shorties are that good, I’ll probably sell the drilled stock pipes.

Not 100% sure on the makeover happening this year. Events conspire to derail. But it’s no sweat; I’ve waited this long I can wait a little longer. Besides, I’ve got plenty of other things to do on the bike. Next up I’m going to install the Speedmaster drag bars, aftermarket pull-back risers with stepped bolts and finally, finally, finally, the dual disc front wheel. If I have the time and the will I will try and do the new turn signals and headlight, the latter requiring some rearranging of the wiring at the front of the bike.

But one thing at a time…

This time it’s bolt-on and from British Customs.

Blood Falcons: This just in!

He’s correct,  it doesn’t look as nice as the LC Fabrications weld-on hard tail, but for those of us who don’t weld (yet) it could be a godsend.

[Update: This will probably be updated frequently. People keep asking me for more pictures. Stuff is going fast. The sissybar is going to Taiwan! Damn, I haven't even STARTED with ebay yet...]

On the heels of my last post about selling the D&Ds, I just listed several items on BonnevilleAmerica.com in the classifieds. Here is the gallery of images, but I don’t have the prices listed in the gallery, only on BA.com.

Current Item list:

1. The aforementioned D&D mufflers–need stripping and coating SOLD
2. Triumph tall sissybar and luggage rack–usually a very popular item SOLD
3. Stock tail light housing–good for blacking out while still saving your original chrome piece
4. Triumph chrome rear brake reservoir cover–chromosexual approved SOLD
5. Stock dash–again, good for color-coordinating with your tank or just blacking it out SOLD
6. Optronics fog lights–cheap, lots of light SOLD
7. Triumph chrome front brake reservoir cover  with British flag sticker–also chromosexual approved SOLD
8. George Foreman Grill (stock sprocket cover)–good for hacking up and customizing
9. Aftermarket horn–meh
10. Triumph chrome control levers–again, chromosexual approved SOLD
11. Phantom Pad–weird, but if that’s your thing, okay–WON’T FIT A TRIUMPH
12. Thunderbird Sport front rim, 17×3.5″, with spokes–good for you fat front tire fans, 1″ shorter than stock, 1″ wider than stock–laces right on to the stock America hub SOLD
13. Triumph tachometer–could be fried, need someone to test it for me and only pay me if it works (which means my bike is still screwed up) SOLD
14. Triumph rear fender luggage rack–still chromosexual approved SOLD
15. Someone’s interested in my effed out Belt Drive kit SOLD

More to come. That’s good enough to get started.

I’ve been meaning to sell some stuff. I’m not ready to list everything but I do have a thing or two with which to kick this pig.

Now that I have some Specialty Spares slashcuts, I’m going to dump the D&Ds I have. Nothing against D&Ds, I just love the sound of Specialty Spares. I picked the D&Ds up off ebay a couple years ago and they’ve been sitting on a shelf in my garage since. They have some surface rust. My plan was to have them media-blasted and ceramic-coated black (keeping the heat shields chrome and the exhaust tips polished). Since I bought these with the plan to black them out, NewSpeedmaster started selling black D&Ds but they cost some bank. I got an estimate from Jet-Hot of $115 for the ceramic-coating. If I remember correctly Wolfe will do it for less. Even with shipping you’ll have Black D&Ds for less than half the cost of new pipes. Even less if you go low-tech with some BBQ paint like some have done.

I paid $75 plus shipping for these pipes and that’s all I want out of them. Here’s a picture from the original ebay ad. I’ll take some fresh shots of my own this weekend. The Specialty Spares were shipped from Iowa to Montana for less than $20 so I can’t imagine it costing much more than that for these (though they are longer). So let’s call it an even $100 shipped.

Next I’ll be listing a tall Triumph Sissybar with Luggage Rack and my HD Hard Bags. Gotta take some pictures first, though.

[Updated 4/2/2010 --FJ]

Okay, since I got through the recap of last year, I’m looking forward now. Specifically thinking about my bike and all my failed plans for modifications, and trying not to beat myself up too much. Taking stock of all the parts and supplies I have accumulated since I decided to give my bike an “Extreme Bobber Makeover™” a few years ago and upgrade the braking, I have the following:

Read more

I’ve had my eye on a set of Triumph Speedmaster wheels (the newer, directional 5-spoke) on Ebay, but I just can’t pull the trigger, even at a paltry $500. I’ve already gone through so much to get a wire-spoke dual front disc wheel, but I’d love to stash those Speedy wheels away for my bike’s next makeover.

So I consoled myself with a killer deal on a Corbin backrest and glovebox. New the combo costs $578. I got it for $99. It’s black and red, which doesn’t match my bike at all, but I’ll either have my buddy squirt it solid black or I’ll just rattlecan it. Still a killer deal.

With my Experienced Rider Course looming one week hence, it was (past) time to get my bike back on the road. Here’s a few pictures of the process, and a couple of the goodies my pops and uncle brought me from California last weekend, including a compressor, router table, computer desk and rollaway tool chest.

Garage Day 20090822

Odometer: 44512.7

LC Fabrications has a stripped down wiring diagram for Hinkley Triumphs (new generation like mine) that they developed for this custom hardtail standard Bonnie they built.

With all the electrical problems I’ve had this year, it’s tempting to start from scratch. Yeah, yeah, I know. That would be just as big a headache as sorting things out on the stock harness.

Or am I just being cautious?

I have the aforementioned British Columbia trip coming up in about a week and a half. My bike is running sweet. Yet I want to start making mods to it, which I know is a no-no this close to a big trip. This is what I have on tap yet for this year:

• Triumph Thunderbird Sport dual disc front wheel upgrade with new tire, new rotors and new pads
• Speedmaster drag-style handlebars with pullback risers (4″ up, 1.5″ back) with stepped riser bolts
• Kuryakyn Voltmeter
• Custom 5 3/4″ headlight with frenched trim ring (requires some rewiring)
• Reinstall my cheapo fog lights using my homemade lightbar
• Contruct a new luggage rack out of aluminum bits I picked up at the hardware store

And that’s just the list I expect to accomplish this year, not including several bits involved in my long awaited makeover:

• New paint on modified tin (tank still needs work)
• Kuryakyn retro bullet turn signals with brake module (rear signals act as brakelights)
• Veypor performance computer to replace stock speedometer (need wiring harness and billet cover with indicator lights)
• Black header wrap
• Fabricate mount for custom taillight and license plate mount

And those are just the parts I already have. There are many more bits I want to add for the makeover and a few I’d like to make. But those will have to wait until I settle up completely with the hospital from my little ordeal in April.

The point of all this is that I want to get on with it. I really want to make some progress on the bike this year. Granted, I have the rest of the summer after my trip and all of Fall to make these mods before putting her up for the winter. I just need to be patient I guess. But I can at least do the Kuryakyn Voltmeter and the fog lights before vacation. In fact with my recent electrical issues I’d say the former is key.