Hi all. Not new to the forum as I've been lurking here for a few months. As I stated in my intro post I’ve found so much good information here that I never found a reason to register and ask a question. So I figured it was time to give a little back.
Little history, I’m fairly new to motorcycles. Never was really interested but a friend wanted to take the motorcycle safety course and asked if I wanted to join. I figured sure, it’d be nice to learn to ride. Once I did I was hooked and purchased my first motorcycle a couple weeks later. That was May of 2015. I still have that bike, a 2009 Honda Shadow Spirit 750 (Carmen) which I plan to eventually lower and bob but that’s another story for another forum. Anyway after learning to ride on that bike and avoid tragedy (so far knock on wood) at the hands of myself or other motorists I was itching to experience a different riding style than the cruiser.
One of my local dealers is cool enough to let customers ride their bikes so I went there looking to try the new Ducati Scrambler out (which after the demo I personally wasn’t a fan of). They also had a 2013 Thruxton there in green which I demo’d as well. I pretty much fell in love immediately and went home to do some research on the bike. I learned the brand and the bike have a huge following, were reliable and were extensively modifiable. This was the bike for me.
In January one of our local Triumph dealers was offering big discounts on their MY 2015 bikes and Triumph USA was offering vouchers for accessories as well. All these things added up to my purchase of Jenna, a 2015 Thruxton in black with 8 miles on her.
After purchase I immediately set to work getting the necessary 500 initial miles out of the way so I could perform the first service on her. Me being the type of person to not leave well enough alone when it comes to my vehicles, I had a lot of plans and couldn’t wait to start modifications and making the bike my own.
As of now she has around 2500 miles on her. Some of the things I love about her:
The look! The café look is right up my alley. There’s something timeless about what Triumph created all those years ago and still carries on with today.
The way I feel on the bike. After all why spend all that money unless you feel like a million bux while you’re on the thing.
Smooth torquey engine
Stable confidence inspiring handling. It’s no track bike and I’m not experienced enough to bring her to the limit yet but she never scares me and that’s important.
Extensive aftermarket. As I said, I have plans.
Great community. All of your experience is invaluable to me and a big reason why I made the decision to join your ranks.
Things I’m not so crazy about.
What’s the deal with the suspension? I’d call it harsh and barely adequate and from what I’ve read, most of you agree.
Fuel mapping. The Shadow being carbureted has nice smooth throttle response. I was expecting a modern company would be able to replicate that with electronics but that doesn’t seem to be the case here. The throttle is quite snatchey (is that a word?) at low speeds making smooth low speed cornering somewhat problematic for me at least. There’s sometimes a stumble if I blip the throttle before taking off. I’ve had to learn to roll on the throttle first before engaging the clutch to take off smoothly. Not a big deal but a little annoying.
Ignition key placement! Who’s idea was that lol?
And that’s about it!
Thanks to all of you I’ve already made several modifications to Jenna to bring her more in line with what I expect out of her. You all have been a ton of help to me without even knowing it and I hope this thread can help others who are looking to do the same. Sorry for the long winded post. Looking forward to sharing my journey.
Little history, I’m fairly new to motorcycles. Never was really interested but a friend wanted to take the motorcycle safety course and asked if I wanted to join. I figured sure, it’d be nice to learn to ride. Once I did I was hooked and purchased my first motorcycle a couple weeks later. That was May of 2015. I still have that bike, a 2009 Honda Shadow Spirit 750 (Carmen) which I plan to eventually lower and bob but that’s another story for another forum. Anyway after learning to ride on that bike and avoid tragedy (so far knock on wood) at the hands of myself or other motorists I was itching to experience a different riding style than the cruiser.
One of my local dealers is cool enough to let customers ride their bikes so I went there looking to try the new Ducati Scrambler out (which after the demo I personally wasn’t a fan of). They also had a 2013 Thruxton there in green which I demo’d as well. I pretty much fell in love immediately and went home to do some research on the bike. I learned the brand and the bike have a huge following, were reliable and were extensively modifiable. This was the bike for me.
In January one of our local Triumph dealers was offering big discounts on their MY 2015 bikes and Triumph USA was offering vouchers for accessories as well. All these things added up to my purchase of Jenna, a 2015 Thruxton in black with 8 miles on her.
After purchase I immediately set to work getting the necessary 500 initial miles out of the way so I could perform the first service on her. Me being the type of person to not leave well enough alone when it comes to my vehicles, I had a lot of plans and couldn’t wait to start modifications and making the bike my own.
As of now she has around 2500 miles on her. Some of the things I love about her:
The look! The café look is right up my alley. There’s something timeless about what Triumph created all those years ago and still carries on with today.
The way I feel on the bike. After all why spend all that money unless you feel like a million bux while you’re on the thing.
Smooth torquey engine
Stable confidence inspiring handling. It’s no track bike and I’m not experienced enough to bring her to the limit yet but she never scares me and that’s important.
Extensive aftermarket. As I said, I have plans.
Great community. All of your experience is invaluable to me and a big reason why I made the decision to join your ranks.
Things I’m not so crazy about.
What’s the deal with the suspension? I’d call it harsh and barely adequate and from what I’ve read, most of you agree.
Fuel mapping. The Shadow being carbureted has nice smooth throttle response. I was expecting a modern company would be able to replicate that with electronics but that doesn’t seem to be the case here. The throttle is quite snatchey (is that a word?) at low speeds making smooth low speed cornering somewhat problematic for me at least. There’s sometimes a stumble if I blip the throttle before taking off. I’ve had to learn to roll on the throttle first before engaging the clutch to take off smoothly. Not a big deal but a little annoying.
Ignition key placement! Who’s idea was that lol?
And that’s about it!
Thanks to all of you I’ve already made several modifications to Jenna to bring her more in line with what I expect out of her. You all have been a ton of help to me without even knowing it and I hope this thread can help others who are looking to do the same. Sorry for the long winded post. Looking forward to sharing my journey.