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Re: [ST] Triumph Tuning



On Sep 13, 2006, at 1:31 PM, Paul English wrote:

> Heck, you asked for opinions.. you got 'em. Like others have said, you
> might gain that 10hp on top and loose it in the middle. If you ride  
> your
> bike on the street, yes it might be like a totally different bike... a
> worse one.

I'd give up a little midrange for a little top end.  IMO, the Daytona  
engine would be about perfect.  It is still known for its midrange,  
and has a much better top end than the Sprint motor.

> If you are regularly getting to the top of the engine's  
> capabilities on
> the street then you are spending a lot more than $1000 on speeding  
> tickets
> and crash damage and you should consider getting a dedicated track  
> bike, a
> part time job and spending all your spare time racing. Maybe give  
> up on
> street riding all together.

Not necessarily.  It doesn't take very long to wind out 1st/2nd/3rd  
and take a healthy bite out of 4th.  It is also a lot of fun and not  
necessarily dangerous.  Richard lives near me in FL, and all the  
roads around here are pretty much straight as far as you can see.   
When I want to go around a turn, I have to go find an I95 on/off  
ramp, then drive for several miles down (very straight) I95 to the  
next exit, and have fun on those ramps turning around to come back.

On my long summer trip, I went through the mountains, and for a  
couple days almost never even went to full-throttle because there  
just wasn't room enough for me to feel comfortable with it.  On those  
roads, power matters less and skill matters more.  Down here, the  
only kind of fun you can have is twisting the throttle, and  
practicing stopping hard.  (Note: of course track days are an option,  
and one that I intend to explore at some point.)  Unfortunately, it  
is very easy to become desensitized to the power, and the rush from  
rolling on the throttle.  I experienced that with my turbo BMW, and  
with my first bike (Magna V45), and even with the Sprint.  There are  
times when I wind out 1st/2nd/3rd on the Sprint and it doesn't even  
feel that exciting.  If I don't ride for a couple weeks, when I get  
back on the bike, half-throttle feels pretty fast for the first  
couple minutes.  However, when I start thinking that I'd like  
something a little faster, I think about how fast the Sprint really  
is, and decide that I really probably don't need anything faster.   
After all, there are guys that run 7-second quarter-miles and I'm  
sure that doesn't feel nearly as fast on the 100th time as it does on  
the first time.

My main point is that things are not the same everywhere.  Also, from  
my experience in cars, corners are much more rewarding long-term than  
power.  While it is easy to become desensitized to straight-line  
speed, there is for me much more reward in getting a corner *right*  
and knowing that I know what I'm doing.  On the bike, I'm not even  
close yet.

> Our bike has a nice fat mid-range which is perfect for the street,  
> and if
> you are having trouble keeping up with other "sportier" bikes, try  
> riding
> with some really experienced riders on clapped out low-powered  
> beaters.
> Then you'll see that it isn't the bike so much that is making the  
> difference.

You can put the most experienced rider in the world on a low-powered  
clapped-out beater, and there is no way he'll keep up with even me  
(relatively inexperienced) on my Sprint when we run out the first few  
gears.  Find some curves and of course it will be a different story,  
but as I mentioned before, not so many curves around here, so power  
is pretty much the only thrill we can easily go find.


> So obviously my _opinion_ is that money spent on tweaking  
> performance on
> street bikes is money wasted. You want more performance - get  
> yourself a
> different bike, and sell your current one. You'll do much better in  
> the
> end.

This is relatively true, it would probably be cheaper to sell the  
Sprint and buy a ZX10R than to make the Sprint as fast as a ZX10R.   
The only way we'll get close to that kind of power is with a turbo  
kit, which if you're looking for serious power is really the only  
option IMO.  However, for that $6K, you could probably sell the  
Sprint and buy a brand new ZX10R with that much power and a chassis  
intended to handle it.  The ZX10R was comfortable to sit on, at  
least, and if you're not looking to cover hundreds or thousands of  
miles at a time, would probably be a nice bike.

> Same goes for "saving weight." Best way to do that is go on a diet.

:)  I've met Richard, and that probably wouldn't help him much.


I'm not trying to bash or defend anyone, just to point out that we  
all don't live near beautiful mountain roads.  Around here, I  
sometimes wish for a little more zip on the top end.  In the  
mountains, I loved the smooth linear powerband and had way more than  
enough power, so much that I rarely used it all for more than a  
second or so.

Jim

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