Triumphrat

ohiorider · 08-10-2006

I was looking at a beautiful photo one of our forum members had posted. It was a lovely Black and Red T100, that had had the the blue pipes polished to a tasteful copper color starting just where they bolt to the cylinder head. Nice!

And then it kind of hit me. If there was one thing Triumph could do cosmetically to future Bonnies, it would be to hide the armored hoses going between the cylinder head and the oil cooler.

I did the VanGogh thing ...holding my thumb up to the screen to block out the oil cooler lines, and lo and behold, the downward sweep of the pipes that typifies Britbikes began to dominate the picture. Take the thumb away, and it was evident the silverish oil lines curving upward were competing with the downward curve of the pipes.

I understand the bike is air/oil cooled and requires an oil cooler, but I wonder if in a future design Triumph could do a few things to clean up a basically great retro design .... namely take the kink out of the exhaust pipes, and hide the oil cooler and associated oil lines a little better. Pipes on a Britbike (to me) are the accent stripe of the entire side view of the bike.

And for the purists ..... just leave those d***** single wall pipes with their blue/purple/black colors. I now know there is a cleaner that makes them look vintage.

Bob

Jerkyboy · 08-10-2006

I would like to see a more convex lens on the head light. The flat lens on my 01 just doesn't get it. Also if the shocks were more of the solid casing type instead of all chrome springs and without that butt ugly cap on the top coil, with maybe heaven forbid, stainless allen head bolts anywhere actually, and maybe some handle bars just a little bit longer with a little bit more rise. Also how about a gas tank that doesn't have a huge ugly seam at the bottom. I know how about actually suppling a Tach as STANDARD equipment. Maybe aluminum forks. Also how about horns(paint) on the tank instead of the solid paint all the way across the top part of the tank. Other than that it is what it is, but you did ask. Not that any of that would change the ride but Meridian did set the standard. I'm not going to even mention the head pipes, that would look really cool with finned retaining clamps.

mecscc · 08-10-2006

The steel braided oil line is the FIRST thing your eye settles on with a Bonnie Black. It is even the first thing you look at in the promo literature.

I have threatened to paint it black with high temp paint. But I don't know the long term effect of that on the hose under the steel braid. Tempting though.

Monte :-D

ohiorider · 08-10-2006

Quote:

On 2006-08-10 18:19, Jerkyboy wrote:
I would like to see a more convex lens on the head light. The flat lens on my 01 just doesn't get it.

Your list is certainly longer than mine. However, there's a quick fix for the shape of the headlight. For better lighting than stock, I installed a Sylvania automotive sealed beam headlamp. There is a lighting thread somewhere on this site that was begun several months ago. I purchased the headlamp at AutoZone for approx $25. This replaces the H4 bulb, stock Triumph reflector (really bad) and the "flat" Triumph lens

The lamp is a Sylvania model H6024 ST. The result - lighting is far better than with the stocker.

An unexpected result was a comment from my Bonnie riding buddy when he saw it. He immediately commented about what a nice profile the new headlamp lens gave to the front of the bike, and how fresh the shiny silver reflector made the bike look. I held up the old lens assembly next to it, and had to agree that he was right.
It installs in just a few minutes. What's the downside? You lose the small 'parking' lamp.

Bob

[ This message was edited by: ohiorider on 2006-08-10 20:24 ]

ohiorider · 08-10-2006

Quote:

On 2006-08-10 19:46, mecscc wrote:

I have threatened to paint it black with high temp paint. But I don't know the long term effect of that on the hose under the steel braid. Tempting though.

Monte :-D

Hi, Monte - yeah, I'd worry about what paint would do to the hose under the braided covering, too.

Bob

toocaffeinated · 08-10-2006

While I don't have a problem with the design - I thought that the title of this post was hilarious :razz: :razz: :razz:

mecscc · 08-10-2006

Geez, TC, don't say that, you'll just encourage him!

Monte

BTHUMPER · 08-11-2006

Geezz, so here I go to buy a new headlight, will it never end?

ohiorider · 08-11-2006

Quote:

On 2006-08-11 08:09, BTHUMPER wrote:
Geezz, so here I go to buy a new headlight, will it never end?

Short answer - probably not.

Bob

FattRat · 08-11-2006

Odd..... I haven't had any desire to change out the head lamp. I stuck a PIAA in it, and all was fine. However vanity seems now to prevail, I want the prettier (and "better"?) Sylvania. Go figure, not for the better light distribution, but for cosmetic reasons alone! I would never have given any thought to a nice convex bulb until reading about it above.

About those oil lines..... hold on, I'll be right back. Gonna see if I still have those black dealies out in the garage......

Hmm.... stuck 'em on, looks okay. They're 3" long pig tail type wraps, hard plastic; took three of them each side to wrap the silver oil lines. They don't completely cover the Silver, but as suggested above the oil lines are not as conspicuous.

Here ya go,
what da'ya think? Will they stand up to the heat?

[ This message was edited by: FattRat on 2006-08-11 09:20 ]