Triumphrat

Shadowofleaves · 01-20-2009, 07:41 PM

I recently picked up a brand new flyscreen for a Thruxton on ebay. The price was right (about $80 including the shipping) so I decided to go for it. Has anyone tried mounting one of these to a Thunderbird (or any of the other Classic Triples)? I am wondering, in particular, how to modify the bottom attachment bracket, where it should attach to on the Tbird, and how the attachment should be made. Any help would be appreciated.

Magilla · 01-20-2009, 08:08 PM

As it would happen, I bought one on Monday as was told the T-Bird screens are out of production.

I have a legend and a quick look on Monday night indicated the following.

1) need to remount the gauges to get clearance on the screen if using the headlight mounting bolts, but I am thinking 10-15mm stainless spaces between the mounting bracket and top triple clamp should drop them low enough to allow the screen to sit back and around the headlight rim. Bolts that mount the gauges bracket to the top triple clamp will need to be replaced with longer ones of course.

2) as you say, there needs to be a way of attaching a bracket to the bottom mount on the screen. My initial thought was if I could drill and mount onto the bottom triple clamp without compromising the integrity of the triple clamp itself. I would think this to be ok as long as the holes were small and not close to where the forks or steering head mount (kept to say no more than 5mm in Diameter)

3) The indicators on the Legend look like they will need to be moved and I haven't looked into that yet but should not be a big issue. I wanted to replace them anyway as they are a little on the large side :-).

There is reasonable clearance around the headlight, bordering on too much, and I was going to look at possible fillers (black foam with adhesive).

I'm going to be working on this over coming weeks so will share what I find out.

Shadowofleaves · 01-20-2009, 08:42 PM

I'd appreciate your progress reports, and pictures if you could post some. I go back to work in a couple of days so my flyscreen and low bars install will have to wait about 10 days, weather permitting. My new flyscreen is silver and it comes pretty close to matching the silver on my T-bird (not perfect, but close enough). It also has a cool B&W checkered racing stripe down the center with "Thruxton" across the top of it. I remedied the "Thruxton" problem by applying a patent plate decal w/ the British flag waving behind it over the Thruxton logo. I used the other matching decal on the back of my helmet. They both came out looking pretty good if I do say so myself. It's beginning to look like I'm going to end up with a hybrid cafe/cruiser. The front end is going to be cafe'd while the back end will retain the stock seat for a passenger, leather saddlebags for storage, and backrest w/ luggage rack for hauling. It should be kinda interesting. If it turns out right, I'll post some pics...If it doesn't, I'll be scouring ebay again until it does.

Magilla · 01-20-2009, 09:13 PM

I'm at work now and traveling all next week, so will do my best to get some progress and pics up when I can :-). It should be pretty straightforward but I'll try and remember to take some progress pic's!

Magilla · 02-04-2009, 06:45 PM

Finally got to play around with the screen on the weekend. The main issue is the gauges if mounting using the bolts that also secure the headlight. The indicators if fitted back to original points can be solved with taking a dremel to the side of the fairing, only a small amount needs to be taken out, and mounting the bottom bracket while fiddly, appears to be easily solved by drilling a couple of small holes (5mm) in the front of the lower triple clamp and using the bracket that comes with the Thruxton screen.

The Gauges as they are mounted standard (on a Legend anyway) stop the screen from tilting back enough to fit flush with the headlight and need to be both mounted lower and tilted to give room. I am currently playing around with the standard bracket, But think I will make my own and not play around with the stock one.

The other option would be to make a bracket that extended the headlight mounting point by say 20mm forward and that would resolve both the indicator and gauges needing to be played with.

I'll keep at it and once I start making/modding things, will take some pictures and post

Shadowofleaves · 02-04-2009, 07:48 PM

I've had similar results of my own. I used my dremel to notch the flyscreen to fit around the turn signal stalks. Somehow, I got my measurements a bit off and ended up with uneven cuts. I ended up using my wife's "Pedipaws" contraption to straighten things out and even up the edges...worked like a charm. My gauges are likewise keeping the flyscreen from tilting back enough to square up with the headlight. I thought about trying to bend the gauge bracket, but with my luck it'd probably snap (assuming I can figure out how to remove the gauges from the bracket first). I didn't bother with the bottom bracket yet. To make a long story short, the flyscreen is mounted and looks OK even though it is not squared off with the headlight. I'm still interested in seeing your progress as it unfolds, particularly with getting the gauges to cooperate.

Magilla · 02-04-2009, 08:17 PM

Putting spacers between the gauges bracket and the current mounting points on the top triple clamp (about 15mm) and using longer screws helps a little bit by dropping them and allowing fractionally more clearance, but I think negligible. Jury is still out there with me

If you mount the bottom bracket to the screen, you will notice it fits against the front of the bottom triple clamp although not quite flush. My thought was to drill where the indents are allowing you to use some stainless screws and nylex nuts to secure.

I removed the gauges and indicators, mounted the screen through the headlight bolts, then started to look at what needed to be moved.

I'm still toying with option 2, to make new headlight brackets. 1 mod instead of 3.

denny · 02-04-2009, 08:27 PM

The dash panel on the TBS is a different angle, so that might help.
but that will not bolt on to the TBird/Legend top triple clamp.
It is bent at less of an angle, in other words the gauges are tilted more forward.

The headlight brackets for the TBS also have the turn signal mounting holes in a different position(Lower) so that could be another option. Those will interchange with the TBird/Legend ones.

The TBS flyscreen fits a Thruxton pretty nicely, I've seen that done, so the reverse sould be dooable with minimal modification. But the TBird/Legend dash panel and headlight brackets are definitely different than the TBS.

Magilla · 02-04-2009, 09:44 PM

Thanks for that helpful feedback! I can see how the Thruxton would fit a T-Bird or TBS if they are different to the legend, particularly if it had the headlight positioned slightly more forward.

I think playing with the headlight mounting brackets might be the way to go.

Magilla · 02-09-2009, 10:04 PM

I decided to remount the headlight by making a (125mm long) bracket that used the indicator and existing headlight mounting holes and a 3rd to position the headlight around 25-30mm forward. This allowed the indicators to stay as they were and no need to take a dremel to the screen, and I then used around 12mm spacers to drop the gauges bracket down and again allowed me to reuse without altering or damaging the existing bracket.

I have not made a bottom mounting bracket yet, and that is the next step.