Triumphrat

akenaten

Hi. I have a 2007 Bonneville T100(creamsicle)and I have a couple of questions.It's been 20 years since I've owned a street bike.
First, what's the best way to tell how much gas I have in the tank?The tank on this bike (internally) is of a strange design.
Second,is it really necessary to turn off the fuel petock every time I park the bike? The owners manual says to do it but I've never done that on any of my previous bikes.
So far I love this bike.I think I made the right choice.
One more thing: what's the idle RPM supposed to be on this machine? :-D :-D

[ This message was edited by: akenaten on 2006-10-15 18:37 ]

road_dog

Newbie,

Congrats on your new T100 creamsicle. Now to address your questions:

#1 Fill the tank up (but not inside the neck) and start gaging the mileage with your trip odometer. Assuming that your breaking her in fairly easy and getting decent mileage, somewhere between 110 - 120 miles you should hit reserve. Reset the trip odometer each time you fill up and use it as a fuel gage of sorts.

#2 Yes! Not exactly sure why that is myself. But, my dealer has stressed this to me to the point that I remember most of the time now. If they drive my bike from the front of their store to the back (or visa versa) they always leave the bike w/ the petcock in the "off" position.

Gotta go... I need to check and see If I turned mine "off" now! Son of a #@&#%!!!

Oh yea... set your RPMs to 1,000 while the engine is at operating temperature.

__________________
Phil (road dog)

RedBird

Fuel Gauge: Fill the tank to the "lip" where the neck gets small...reset the odometer trip meter and use it as your fuel gauge. Plan on filling up by the 100 mile reading for the first couple of thousand miles...after that push it to 125 and see if you have to go to reserve. After 5 or 6 thousand miles you should be able to go to 150 miles before going to reserve; however, gas mileage seems to vary a lot so get to know your bike.

Fuel Petcock: Always ride with it in the on position--not the reserve position so you will have a little fuel left for reserve should you run out. I shut off the petcock when I park at the end of the day. When I stop during the day's ride, I leave the petcock on.

The idle rpm should be around 1000 rpm--mine seems to run best at 1100 rpm. When it was new the idle rpm was set closer to 1500 rpm until the first service. I would recommend setting it higher than 1000 for the first 500 miles...after that I would recommend 1000 or 1100 whichever seems to run the best. I do NOT recommend running these engines less than 1000 rpm. These are high rpm engines and don't like being lugged. I keep my rpms above 3000 in 5th gear.

Breaking in: Your bike will respond noticeably better after 500--800 miles and after the first oil change to the full synthetic oil. You may also notice a difference after 2000--3000 miles and again after 4000--5000 miles. Don't baby it, but watch the rpms and DON'T ride it at a steady speed on the freeways until you have at least 1000 miles on it, IMHO. I recommend using downshifting with the throttle closed for braking purposes to help with the ring seating.

Good luck and good riding,

Larry

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Larry
2003 T-100 (790cc), NARK, NH Togas, 8100 rpm rev limiter, 158 main jets, 42 pilot jets (less than 1 turn out on pilot screws), stock needles--no shims. 13 A/F ratio from 1100 rpm to 4000 rpm; 12 A/F ratio from 4000 rpm to 6000 rpm; 13 A/F from 6000 rpm to 8100 rpm.:D
2007 Tiger 1050--White:D--SW-Motech crashbars, Skidmarx rear hugger/chain guard, Calsci +7 windscreen.

rodburner

I guess I should feel lucky. I`ve turned my tank OFF exactly 2 times in 15,000 miles. Once to install the AI removal kit and once more to install the Allen head carb screw kit.

__________________
" A man is only as old as the women he feels" G Marx

RT

I turn tank off each time I park the bike for the night. My problem is remembering to turn it back on.

Had to make a tag to hang on throttle..............LOL


Gas mileage. As noted by others would start looking to stop around 100 miles when running around town.

Congrats on new ride

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Confused and Prone to Wander

vertwrks

Why to turn your petcock off........should one or both of your needle valves in your carbs for some reason fail to shut off the gas your carb float bowl would overflow and potentially the overflowing gas could run into the engine via the intake valve. If this did happen and you tried to start the engine since the gas would not compress when the piston came up (called hydrualic lock). This could bend a connecting rod which is bad. Also if the gas was in the combustion chanber long enough some would seep by the rings into the lower end mixing with the engine oil diluting it and if run like this cause premature engine wear.

I try to remember shutting mine off but am old and forgetfull....

Most newer bikes have a vacuum petcock. There is a vacuum liine from an intake manifold to the petcock and the petcock only allows gas to flow when the engine is running and vacuum is supplied to the petcock opening the vacuum valve.

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04 Bonneville w/904 kit, 1mm over valves, ported, ARK'd, Bub's, HSR 42's, F3 forks, kyb rear shox, F3 clip ons, Brembo M/C, 6 pot caliper, 17" Excel's, this & that

Jimi_X

Always turn my petcocks off (1 on each side of the tank) on my 68' chopper. Have turned my petcock off on my 2001, 4 or 5 times usually when removing my gas tank or re-jetting. I know what it says but my 68' has Amals and by eyeballing it , it is obvious if the carbs overfill the gas will run into the cylinders. On the 2001 Bonnie, I guess it's possible if you parked facing downhill, but on level the fuel would have to run uphill to enter the cylinders. I guess it still might prevent the fuel pouring out into the airbox and all over the floor. Six years and counting. Has never happened. On the plus side, I've never had that embarrassing (and sometimes dangerous) flame out on a freeway because I forgot to turn my gas on. The book says turn it off.

[ This message was edited by: Jimi_X on 2006-10-16 09:18 ]

johnsime

I started out by turning the fuel off as the book says but always forgot to turn it back on - I'm only a weekend rider.
After 3 near accidents running out of fuel at the first road junction I decided to leave it on. What's going to happen if you leave it on?

I get about 50 -55 mpg so , yeah, about 110-120 before it goes on reserve. But, word of warning - fill up after 100 as , if you ride a little harder, you may only get 90-100 miles and it's really dangerous when it starts coughing when you're in the fast lane of a motorway and you're there reaching down for the fuel switch. It happened to me this week - not very funny.

[ This message was edited by: johnsime on 2006-10-16 11:23 ]

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Ride & Smile
TOR/Re-Jet -Air Elimination-Eliptical mirrors

JMV2006

Welcome akenaten. I also was out of riding for 20 years and just started 3 month ago.
I’m absolutely thrilled with it!

I fill with the bike in the center stand up to the bottom of the neck.
I ALWAYS set the fuel to OFF whenever I switch off the engine. To start I reverse the procedure. Second nature by now!!
Iddle RPM sould be close to 950 (cold)/1050 (hot)

I have ridden 2.500Km (1.550 mls) in my bike and my fuel consumption has been:
Best: 45.1 mpg / 129 mls to RES
Worst: 38.4 mpg / 110 mls to RES
Average: 42.7 mpg / 122 mls to RES

__________________
Joao M. Vidal
- 2005 Triumph Thunderbird Sport
- 2006 Triumph Bonneville T100
- 2008 Triumph Sprint ST

road_dog

Ask question here. :hammer:

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Phil (road dog)