Triumphrat

Jodel

Well folks,

Just notched up 2,000 miles in 10 days touring Europe on the T-Bird and thought I'd share some observations with you.

In its 'touring configuration' my bike has 3 x 48 litre hard bags, hand guards from a Tiger, universal Vista Cruise throttle lock and a Kappa windscreen. With the Triumph K&Q seat it was all day comfortable.

Faults = nil
Oil used = nil
Average mpg = 53 (best 62, worst 42)

It was cruised at around 70-80mph on the French autoroute (the Vista Cruise was great for this) and between 60-70mph on 'normal' roads.

I put on a set of Avon AV45/46's shortly before I left and think these are much better tyres than the OE Pirellis with better grip and faster turn-in. After crossing several Alpine passes, they are now well scrubbed-in and gave lots of confidence in both dry and wet conditions. The Avons started with 6mm tread on the rear and 3.5mm at the front. After 2250 miles they now measure just over 4.5mm at the rear and 3mm at the front.

The mufflers are drilled out to 19mm and one of the enduring memories of the trip was the fabulous soundtrack from the triple when climbing/decending the mountain passes in the Alps and Dolomites.

Now counting the days until next year's trip!

dhall10

Pictures! we want PICTURES!

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Dave Hall

My Photo Album
Bubbleheads and Bikes Forum

Jodel

OK,

Some pics uploaded from very cheap digital camera - will load better ones soon!

See here: Photo Album

jhusman

Where did you get those bags from?

Jodel

They are 'Nonfango' bags - an Italian company.

Nonfango

You can't buy a specific fitting kit for the T-Bird, so I bought the 'Universal' top-rack fitting kit and made up my own brackets to fit the pannier racks. The bags themselves are the '848' model.

Nonfango are a good bit cheaper than Givi and although the quality is probably not quite so good, they work well enough. I've had them for 6 years and been round Europe 8 times with them now. They've never leaked or rattled around on the mountings. They've also seen an indicated 175mph on my Honda without a problem.

[ This message was edited by: Jodel on 2004-09-22 14:13 ]

upNorth

As well you should...looks like a fantastic trip!

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Jodel

For those of you interested in European touring - have a look at this web-site. I've ridden on many of the roads mentioned here and can confirm they are excellent.

Plus, there are some good photos of Alpine roads to whet the appetite....

Alpine Roads