I've bought a Triumph!

"Decay buys too many beaters" (decay)
06/01/2016 at 11:00 • Filed to: Craigslist Triumph, Thunderbird Sport

Over the weekend one of my standing ifttt recipes picked up a 1999 Triumph Thunderbird Sport for a great price. Now this is kind of weird because I’m not actively looking for cruisers and it came up on a standing search I had in place for Dukes and Tuonos. In any case because I thought the bike looked sweet, price was right, and it’s been almost five years since I’d had a cruiser in the stable, I decided to at least contact the seller and see if I could set up a meet. I didn’t think it would go any further than that because I was about six hours late to the party and I expected it to go FAST. Additionally this was Saturday night and the banks had just closed for the long holiday leaving me with about a tenth the cash I needed to buy the bike outright. I emailed the seller asking if he’d be ok with taking a deposit and holding the bike till Tuesday morning and much to my surprise he went for it. Keep in mind all this was sight unseen on the bike, the price was good enough that my only criteria were that the bike existed and had a title.

On Sunday I went out to look at the bike and put in my deposit. She was a little rough, but definitely cleaner than I expected. I didn’t give it a real thorough look over because I knew I was buying it as soon as I saw it.

Anyway got the rest of the cash and the seller agreed to deliver the bike to my place for a pack of beer (which is awesome, didn’t have to burn an AAA tow). Once it was at my place I gave it a pretty thorough going over that’s usually part of my pre purchase inspection.

First things I noticed, brakes were super soft, a lot of the fasteners have minor surface rust, and I think it fell down in a garage at some point. I’m making the last assumption due to that strange red paint transfer on the tank, the headlight bracket and exhaust being a little bit tweaked, but the lack of any road rash at all.

Its got a set of cafe bars on it right now that actually feel pretty comfortable, but the seller included the standard bars so I can swap back if needed.

Since this is the S model it has fully adjustable suspension all around with adjusters for preload (which are all set at maximum, must have been a big dude) rebound and compression damping. Also there is a freaking clock on the steering stem.

I noticed the forks are leaking a bit, but that’s going to take a back seat to the current fueling issues. The leak isn’t that bad overall.

I was happy to see mine has a Keihin carbs rather than Mikuni, I still hope to upgrade to a proper slide carb in the future though. After experiencing that on the DR-Z I don’t know if I can take CV carbs anymore. Also I really want to swap out the air box with a line of pod filters, think that will clean up the look a ton!

I drained the tank (which has some light sealant peeling, another project for another day) and put in some fresh gas. And on choke she actually started right up! I had to fiddle with the idle a bit to get her to stay running but once that was set everything sounded relatively healthy. I was getting some smoke from the exhaust but it seemed to taper off after a few minutes of running. Now at this point with her nice and warmed up, I started doing some free revving and noticed a real bad mid throttle bog but small throttle inputs seem to work at intended. Either way the carbs have to come off for a clean, but I added some seafoam and got her running just well enough to go for a short ride.

First thing I noticed. HOLY CRAP THIS THING IS HEAVY! Slow speed maneuvering is not helped by the cafe bars and it feels pretty tippy. Once the speed picks up a bit it all smooths out, but damn slow speed is going to take some getting used to as this is 100 lbs heavier than the SV and a full 200lbs heavier than the DR-Z. Rode around for a bit while trying my hand at the “Italian tune up” and started to notice my right knee getting pretty hot... Yep as seen in the picture above when I sit right over the pegs like I’m used to it puts my knee right against the head! I’ll have to get used to sitting way further back.

In any case I’m really excited to get to know her as I fix little things here and there. First things I have planned are getting those carbs sorted out and a full host of maintenance as I don’t have any records at all from previous owners. I’ll certainly post more as I dig deeper.

DISCUSSION (17)

BobintheMtns > Decay buys too many beaters
06/01/2016 at 11:12

Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiice! Congrats! Regarding the carbs, you gotta expect gunk in then if it’s been sitting.. Run a couple of tanks of premium to see if that clears it out, before removing and fiddle-fucking with them...

Hammerdown > Decay buys too many beaters
06/01/2016 at 11:34

Cool bike and good post! Keep us updated on it!

Decay buys too many beaters > BobintheMtns
06/01/2016 at 11:43

Well judging from the amount of cobwebs I burned off when she started its been a while since her last run. Given the way she’s acting I’m willing to bet on a few badly clogged needle jets and given that im going to mess with a few other things in the area I’ll probably just crack them open and take a look. It did start running a lot better after a few pulls last night, but I’m ocd enough that I’m not going to trust it until I see they are clean with my own eyes.

Decay buys too many beaters > Hammerdown
06/01/2016 at 11:56

Thanks! Will do.

BobintheMtns > Decay buys too many beaters
06/01/2016 at 13:00

Certainly understandable about wanting to bite the bullet and open them up, but personally, I’d spend that time changing out the brake fluid and getting the front forks up to snuff. And your issues with the slow speed maneuvering might have a bit to do with uneven/crappy oil in the front forks too... And regarding the sea-foam- just find an E85 station near you and spike your tank with that— MUCH cheaper than seafoam and exactly the same thing..

Damn... I’m jealous.. you totally scored... I want a new project....

Decay buys too many beaters > BobintheMtns
06/01/2016 at 13:06

Oh brake fluid got changed before I even started her! No use in having a bike go if it cant stop. And I imagine the squirly handling also has something to do with the amount of preload on the suspension, which I haven’t changed yet.

On the Seafoam, REALLY!?!?! Damn, if I’d known that sooner I’d have saved a ton of money.

BobintheMtns > Decay buys too many beaters
06/01/2016 at 13:07

Yeah—- go read an MSDS for seafoam.. It’s just like 30% naptha (gas) and 70% alcohol.... But they charge you, what? $30-$40 per gallon....

Decay buys too many beaters > BobintheMtns
06/01/2016 at 13:13

No shit, just looked it up. Looks like I’m going to go buy a $3 gallon of seafoam after work!

BobintheMtns > Decay buys too many beaters
06/01/2016 at 13:15

Hahahahaha... I always get a kick from all the folks screaming about how alcohol in fuel will DESTROY YOUR ENGINE!!!!! And then they swear by seafoam in the next paragraph...

Decay buys too many beaters > BobintheMtns
06/01/2016 at 13:26

I’m curious, how it stabilizes gas now, snake oil or not. I’ve had two bikes sit with the same gas over a winter. and the one with seafoam in the tank was MUCH cleaner in the spring. No varnish or anything in the bowls.

BobintheMtns > Decay buys too many beaters
06/01/2016 at 13:40

It’s the alcohol. I ALWAYS use premium fuel (with ethanol) and I have no problem leaving gas in my bikes over the winter... Pull them out when it warms up and they start right up. Never any issues at all.

But I don’t really know what “stabilize” means in this context (kinda like health nuts talking about ‘cleanses’.. umm, isn’t that what your kidneys do? Why do I need X??)

Although thinking about it— gas, over winter does two things (that I can think of): it evaporates (leaving a thicker mixture—- which is troublesome for the small carb passages) and petrochemicals, over time can get contaminated with mold/fungus growing in the mixture (also trouble for carb passages)— so perhaps the alcohols: 1.) being a solvent, counteract the thickening and 2.) act as a biocide to inhibit shit growing in there.... so maybe it does “stabilize”....

But in the seafoam it’s clearly the alcohol doing the heavy lifting, cuz naptha is really just low-quality gasoline...

Decay buys too many beaters > BobintheMtns
06/01/2016 at 13:50

I was under the impression that the point of fuel stabilization was to counteract phase separation in humid climates. I mean I’ve taken apart mower carbs and found a distinct area of corrosion around the bottom where the water/ethanol mix settles. Unfortunately with a standard carb’s float level this is about the same level as the main jet.

BobintheMtns > Decay buys too many beaters
06/01/2016 at 14:10

Well, ethanol will hold the water in suspension, so you won’t get a puddle of water in the bottom of the carb bowl. But that’s up to a point, once there’s too much water to bond with the ethanol then you’ll have a water collecting in the bowl...but if you’re seeing a distict area of corrosion around the base of the carb bowl, that (to me) would point to ethanol-free fuels being used.... or you live in very humid area that’s over saturating the fuel with moisture via condensation...

But isopropanol (the alcohol in seafoam) is more on the hydrophobic side of thing (versus ethanol).... so it won’t hold the water in suspension like the ethanol to begin with.... so I don’t really know how it would counteract water in the fuel anyway...

But I just did a quick peruse of a few other fuel-stabilizer msds’s.. and most are just petroleum distillates... which like the isopropanol, aren’t gonna do shit to water.... so perhaps you’re onto something regarding it being snake-oil....

bob and john > Decay buys too many beaters
06/01/2016 at 15:53

tip with the pod filters: dont. you will NEVER get them tuned right. ever.

Decay buys too many beaters > bob and john
06/01/2016 at 15:57

I assume just a low and medium speed jetting issue? I was thinking I could counteract that by using a few inches of black PVC to increase the intake manifold size to the point where it doesn’t bog on tip in. I know they’re pretty easy to tune up top if you get the main jet sizing right

bob and john > Decay buys too many beaters
06/01/2016 at 16:00

up top is never the issue. you want to tune it right, you tune the whole thing. and with pod-filters, its next to impossible.

hows this for an idea. remake the stock airbox (or close) out of clear PVC?

Decay buys too many beaters > bob and john
06/01/2016 at 16:10

I was also hoping to simplify maintenance a bit as well, carbs already have to come off just to access the factory air box. After owning a large number of Japanese machines over the years, I am somewhat surprised at the amount of dissassembly required to carry out basic maintenance tasks.

Maybe pods with a polycarb wind shield and longer runners. From what I understand the issues with pods and tuning is that with a large airbox there is always a slug of air ready to go before the engine sees the restriction of the filter, but this goes away with the significantly smaller volume of pods. Another issue people run in to is wind turbulence from the environment and potential water incursion, I think I could build up a shield that would solve both. But I still have a lot of forum reading to do before I start down that road (if at all)