Triumphrat

dazco · 10-28-2005

and not doing much good. In fact, i think the bike suffered. Looking at them they looked to be almost the same taper as the stock needles, but they were LONGER which as we know would actually make them leaner than an equally tapered needle thats shorter. And aside from that very tiny hard to even see thinner taper, these needles with thier extra length could be even leaner than the stockers...or could they? Does a barely noticable (visually of course) thinner taper make a lot of difference?

So anyway, in trying to make the length shorter i tried one shim first, then 2. 1 shim felt as tho the bike wasn't running as strong as the stock needles with 1. 2 shims and it felt more like it did with the stockers and one shim. So now i wonder if i need more than 2 shims or if i should just go back to stock with 1 shim.

I still have the 130 mains in it even tho i got 125's with the needles thinking the 130's were rich as it was and would be even more so after the TBS needles. But i don't see how that would matter because i was testing it in the 1/4 to 3/4 throttle range, mostly around 1/2 throttle.

This is rather disappointing after all the raving i've read about TBS needles in the speedmaster. My thoughts are that this is because most of those raves are from 04' and earlier speedys with the different cam and thunderbike has been saying forever that this cam stifles the engine's ability to use as much of a boost in air/fuel as the older ones. Dowop said the thrux needles gave him a big boost, and i think it was larry who said the TBS and thrux needles look the same except that the TBS are longer, and he went on to say 2 shims should make the TBS basically the same or close to the thrux needles that made a big diff in dowop's pre 05 speedy. But 2 shims seemed to only bring the bike back to where it with the stock needles and one shim.

So i'm a bit confused and sorta let down. Any of you gurus have any thoughts on this?

dazco · 10-28-2005

Hmmm....i think i may know why dowop and other speedy owners benefitted from TBS or thruxton needles while i didn't. The vast majority of guys who've done this as i already mentioned have 790 speedys. Looking in the manual the 790 has different stock needles than mine. So maybe mie already had needles that are as rich as TBS or thruxtons, maybe even MORE so since they are shorter than the TBS ! I think i'll try the stockers again with the same one shim and see. By the way, i just stuck the 125 mains in and they did help WOT performance a bit over the 130's, tho not a lot at all.

dowop · 10-28-2005

Dazco,
You are right about the 790 needles being different than the 865 needles.
I am sorry that the TBS needles didnt make any difference.
There is hardly any taper at all on my stock needles compared to the Thruxton needles.
Maybe you should try your stock needles with a shim or two with the 125 mains.
I sure do hope it works out for you.

fuzzdevil · 10-28-2005

hey dazco if you want to unload those needles send me a pm i was considering them for my bonnie

dazco · 10-28-2005

Quote:

Maybe you should try your stock needles with a shim or two with the 125 mains.

I've tried the stockers with 1 and 2 and one was best. thats how i had it till i tried the TBS. Today i tried the TBS with one shim, then with 2, then with the 125's, then went back to the stock needles with 1 shim. So thats where i am now.......stock needles w/1 shim and 125 mains. It basically runs how it did before i started in on it today.

Quote:

hey dazco if you want to unload those needles send me a pm i was considering them for my bonnie

I might in future, but right now i want the option of experimenting with the jetting and i'm thinking of trying them again but with 3 shims because i think thats what it's gonna take to get them as short as the stockers and see if the taper makes any difference with the different lengths out of the equasion. i think 2 shims is not quite enough to make the lengths equal and i need to get more shims to try it. but why not just get them from the place i did. they were only $13 for 2 plus i think 6 or 7 bucks for shipping. It's palm beach triumph in florida. Google it and you see thier site.

RedBird · 10-28-2005

Hope you don't get so many shims that the vacuum can't open the slides because of the shim weight! :-D :-D

Aren't carbs fun--if you had FI, you'd have to purchase a Power Commander to have this much fun! :-D

Larry

cafestyle · 10-29-2005

Maybe it's time to realise.........."there ain't no more gains by adjusting the carburettor"

...........hello???????

dazco · 10-29-2005

Quote:

On 2005-10-29 05:13, cafestyle wrote:
Maybe it's time to realise.........."there ain't no more gains by adjusting the carburettor"

...........hello???????

Either in this thread or the one i posted at BA you'll see i ALREADY said that ! However, that doesn't mean it's optimized. That just means the airbox tweaks are done. It can't used any more air maybe because of the cam gind. But whatever it is i still intend to get the jetting spot on now which should optimise the mods i did to the airbox and exaust. Besides, i happen to LIKE messing with it...HELLO ?!!

Digger2 · 10-29-2005

DAZCO,
Assuming you've changed to TOR's or some other pipe and if you have the airbox mod with the bottom hole cut and a UNI filter, the setup with TBS needles is 125 mains and no shims on the needles. If your airbox is stock, TBS needles work great with the stock 120 main jets and about one shim. Anyway that's what I found and I verified it all with one of those computerized air-fuel ratio loggers. Main advantage of the TBS needles is that they get rid of the sluggish response in the 2000-4000 rpm range, which I found I just couldn't stand. I wouldn't give up on the TBS needles yet, when you get them right the bike just seems to leap out from under you.

Dinqua · 10-29-2005

Daz,
Have you seen this before? Print it out for a great reference.