Interesting!

By "hit a wall" do you mean power can't overcome drag?

My T120 is still pulling at 120 MPH, so I guess it's earned its name.

 

My bobber is definitely speed restricted, many times now it is pulling quite well till it shows 115mph, then you can feel the power being cut 5th or 6th no matter
ECU is capping speed, bike is stable just seems Triumph are protecting us from ourselves.

 

I test rode a Bobber a few weeks back and was taken by the low gears I was using. When I got back on my R I was struck by how zippy it felt. Not sure I know what causes it but for sure my R has far more grunt than the Bobber I rode.

I wonder if they are going to stick a pair of upside down forks on a Bobber, tune it properly and call it the Bobber R in a few months?

 

And the Thruxton RR should give us at least 140hp and 160hp with exhaust mods.

 

:smile2::smile2::smile2:



I think the Bobber is a little heavier than the Thruxton, along with a drop in power that would do it, wouldn't it?

 

i haven't dared 100 yet so if she's limited at 120, i won't notice

 

Thruxtons make about 20% more top end power than the HT engines. Stands to reason that given the same gearing, they will go faster. Not 20% faster as wind resistance increases with the square of the velocity, but say 10-15% faster which would put you in the 110-115 mph range. The Bobber is also considerably heavier.
And don't forget that motorcycle speedos are notoriously inaccurate, particularly at high speed. Could be the Bobber is just more accurate than the Thruxton. :wink2:

 

NO I am telling you it IS limited, you can feel the power being robbed at 110 - 115
I have decatted modded exhaust, opened up induction side & fitted PCV it is stronger than stock
rpm's gear or gearing, wind resistance or weight, obviously all have their effect but they are not the problem, it does not run out of steam, it is stopped.
Any one else here actually push their bobber ?

 

Some of the japanese home market 400s were speed restricted on some of them it was just a pin inside the speedo making a contact and hence a brick wall at 120ish . You could try to find some way of persuading your speedo to lie to your ecu .

 

Other way around the Ecu tells the speedo,

 

Where are you guys riding 120-130 mph?

 

Down hill...big hill.

 

Chasing-down the truth about Bobbers and Triumph mindset !

Hi All,

You are absolutely correct. My June 2017 Bobber, after being lovingly run in and now fully ons-ong is absolutely limited to no more than 115 MPH.

I can bomb up to that speed in any of 4th, 5th or 6th gear and the bike pulls strong and clean up to that point and then goes all fluffy and not a jot faster !!!!

I am a VERY unhappy bunny and am now chasing an official position statement from Triumph MC via the dealer I bought my in all other respects (apart from being a bit weak on the brakes) fabulous Bobber that I thing is generally great...

My case will be that I bought a bike c225Kgs and c79 horsepower and similar lb/ft torque or thereabouts, and I am enough of an engineer and ex-racer to know that that combo should be good for well into the 120s, maybe 130 with me flat on the tank with my drop bars and all !!!

When selling me a bike at £13k with extras, and not having the decency to tell me it was speed limited (I would have no case if they advertised that fact - just as the auto makers do with all their 155 MPH speed limited stuff - or not, when it isn't, if you see what I mean ?).

Furthermore, by their governing inside the ECU it does indeed prevent me from tuning my bike and going faster - which is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY TO GO ON ABOUT THINGS IF ONE IS SELLING INTO A HISTORY OF BOBBERS, TRIUMPHS OR MOTORCYCLES FOR TIME IMMAMORRIAL !?!?!?!?!

Triumph, just WHAT do you think you are doing ?

NB: Bike absolutely rock steady at 115 MPH and wanting to gallop another 20 MPH if only it was allowed to !!!! GGGGGGrrrrrrrrrrrr

 

Simple. Anything over 115mph on a Bobber without a giant stupid windshield will end with this result. Getting pulled off by the wind. 1 out of every Bobber owner would perish. #TheMoreYouKnow

 

I have to disagree, I have ridden naked bikes waay faster than that sitting bolt upright, even my Thrux R with western bars showed 135
the blobber is rock solid at speed, my plan is to zip tie the abs sensors away from abs rings & give it the beans to see if it will go faster than the miserable 110 or so it does at the moment. Yes I know abs & tc will not work but this is only for testing I am hoping not to throw any fault codes, if this does work I will get abs rings made with 10-15% less holes to fool ecu into thinking it is traveling slower speedo can get an overlay with correct speeds on it.
This is only my theory, if it works great if not then so what, I have to try, that's just me.
When I have finished working on the cylinderhead it should have enough power to beat my TTR

 

Spoken like someone who has never been the other side, nor knows their history..... TE Lawrence.... Geoff Duke....heck even Norman Wisdom..... don't be scared, just keep your eyes level and the throttle pinned.... and don't skimp your arms for weetabix.... all can then come naturally

 

I figured that part where I typed “1 out of every Bobber owner will perish.” would be more than enough to demonstrate how completely opposite of serious was that post intended.

Personally, I find zipping through traffic at an average speed of 120mph not nearly as fun on my previous(s) Speed Triple, Ducati Monster, or even current Thruxton-R... As it was on any & all my full fairing jet-ski looking sport-bikes I’ve owned previous to them.

I don’t really ride like that anymore. So I don’t mind that no matter how skinny I am, my body is still a wind-sail for anything over 75mph. I love my current bike, so I’m not complaining... It’s quite possible I just have a bit of sand in my kid-hole, but I don’t enjoy riding naked bikes much above 80mph due to the wind-sail effect, for prolonged periods of time. I’m glad the bike can easily achieve those speeds if & when I do feel like riding like a crazy person though.

Stay safe, cheers.

 

I agree. Want to do 130 mph, buy a Street Trip and find a track.
The Thruxtons are exceedingly stable. One of the reasons I liked it enough to buy it. Felt a lot like my old Duc STs. At high speeds the Ducs steered like a truck, but on the street the were unflappable. Thruxy feels much the same.
The Bobber is a different animal. I'm sure some compromises come with that swingarm cage complete with a steel fender full of unsprung weight.
If Triumph did limit it, they probably had a pretty good reason. I'm not sure they did though. I think the Thruxtons only make something like 87 hp at the rear wheel. And they have the "high power" engine.
Weight, aerodynamics, altitude, gearing etc all play a part, but a 500lb bike with a 200lb rider making 75 horsies doesn't really strike me as a 130 mph bike.

 

Well, I assumed that an assured 100% death rate atop a Bobber above 115 MPH was declaration of some kind of glass ceiling meant for girls or something. I'll admit that without undertaking some calculations (the formulas for which I'll ask some aero engineers I can reach, in the coming week or two) I can't give an accurate estimation of what the weight/resistance/drag/power numbers will predict for a stock 2017 Bobber with drop bars, a small jockey and a prone position, but what I can absolutely assure you is that with the rate of acceleration remaining right before the "Oh Dear ! My World has gone all fluffy right when I was enjoying the almost rapid wind in my hair (well ok, visor, even I am not that foolhardy) sets in, that its easy good for another 10 MPH....

The 'scandal' (well, let's say, severley unexpected and unnanounced and I think jolly unfair practice) as I see it is, not warning people that its limited before purveying the not inexpensive joy to their new fathers and mothers. I await the Maker's response with humble, but determined and impassioned interest.... were I to find they are content to corrupt the legend that is freedom in biking to hot rod post purchase, then I will have to seek other compatriots with an ability to download the ROM code from the ECU, so I may parse the code and find the offending lines of oppression before re-uploading the code and seeing what a 2017 Bobber can GENUINELY do.... but that is a faff, expense and dilemma I should have been given the choice of whether I wanted or not, BEFORE being parted from performance money that ironically was from a dealer called Performance Triumph (not their fault, they are decent chaps, they didn't engineer nor set product policy nor edit the sales literature) when what I have been denied I believe is the performance promised to me, or darned well alluded to me when I saw the bike, checked its specs and assessed what it likely would be capable of.... or so I thought....

It does still remain the sexiest 'stock' bike in the park mind ;-)

 

The reports I've read say the 136bhp Explorer tops at 130mph same for the T1050 & T800, are they all governed from the ecu. The Tigers all have a lot more power & only the Tex has more weight than a Bobber.

 

Wonder if the guys on the Harley bagger sites have discussions about the bike are speed limited to 98 mph?
It?s a Bobber for crying out loud, not a Speed Triple.

 

Yes it's a bobber, MY bobber & if I want to ride it fast that is down to me.
Most bikes I have I tune up, the bobber is the slowest, even my air cooled Bonnie can beat it.
I have a few bikes some have double the stock power one trebled speedo runs out of digits.
If people do not want to modify their bikes or ride fast then that's all good, I'm not telling them they bought the wrong bike.
I like my blobber have got it looking almost right & added some power, am just sorting some more power for it & will try & get around this speed thing.
That's what I do, for crying out loud

Saddlebag I do know a bit about torque/power (one of my bikes has 300ftlb) & wind resistance increases.
I have taken many bikes flat out & usually you can feel them slowly running out of puff, the blob is different it is pulling quite hard then suddenly the electronic throttles are closed a bit by the ecu. This is not power issue or wind resistance, they are both gradual.

 

I've had a complete love / hate relationship with ECUs ever since experiencing my first one. They definitely give us far more reliable and long lived engines, but they sure do take the personality out of the machine. It's like having 29 valves per cylinder, which make lots of power, but doesn't have the killer exhaust note of the old 2 valve jobs. This is going to be a bitter pill for me to swallow, and not because at 57 years old, I need, or even want to go 135. It's just that in a world full to busting of "good for me" rules and regulations, couldn't they leave top speed on my motorcycle for me to decide? It's a motorcycle for heaven's sake, not a Volvo. How many of us by a particular brand or style of motorcycle because it's safer than the competition. If that was the case, Hey Triumph, put some brakes on the bobber. Even if it was something I could have done after the fact, I could live with it, but this whole idea of being hand cuffed to this and that by an ECU is getting ridiculous. I've had my bobber over 100 several times and have not noticed it falling on it's face like other speed restricted vehicles, but maybe I was never close enough to the magic mark. I guess the elephant in the room would be the 130mph clock if indeed the machine is limited to 110 or so? Ha, I run old vacuum tube HiFi amps, so maybe I need a magneto on my Triumph? Wouldn't it be more an issue of speed ratings on tires that would be the limiting factor on these modern engines?

 

I had a thought about this topic as I was working on a winter modifying parts wish list. I am definitely going to change the final drive gear ratio on this bike. Even with as much low end pulling power as this rascal has, more is always better to me. I think they have the gearing way high from the factory because mine even wants to buck a little in first if I want to go very, slow, like at idle. The thing that relates to this topic is, if the bike is indeed speed governed, and that's not a factor of engine RPM, then lower gearing is almost a no brainer right??? I would think that if all these assumptions are correct, the perfect world would be for the engine to red-line right at the governed ground speed in 6th gear. Then you could get better burn outs or power wheelies, if you can figure out, and remember to turn off the traction control. What I would need help with, is figuring the sprocket changes to make, to hit that top speed / engine red-line mark. I've been told that the engine pulley has a damper, similar to many boat propellers that takes up a little shock, which seems like a great idea to help out the chain, sprocket, and other things to live a longer life. That said, I guess it may make sense to concentrate on just adding teeth to the rear. After 600 miles, my chain is way plenty sloppy, and the factory boys have the back wheel almost all the way out already, so I might get lucky and not need a chain (or link at least). So, does anyone know the math to figure how many teeth I need,or has anyone messed with this type stuff to make a good educated guess? Certainly wouldn't need to be exact, as I'm in no way a rider that could take advantage from getting the last drop of performance, just don't want to leave pulling power on the table. Thanks a heap.

 

If ive understood correctly the speed is measured from one of the ABS rings, I wonder if you could fit rings with fewer teeth, that way the bike would think it's going slower, when it tops out it would show the same speed on the speedo but be going faster. Obviously you'd have to fit rings to both front and rear with same proportional reduction in tooth count.

 

Did you read my post # 27 on page 3

 

Gearing is nothing to do with the electronic closing of the throttles at designated speed. Being able to redline in top would make lower gears much lower than practical, you would end up not using first at all, & changing up too quickly & fuel consumption would fall through the floor.
I ran a Triumph 42 tooth rear sprocket & loved it,faster acceleration but could still do the ton in fourth, but could really do with a touch longer chain to centralise wheel in adjusters, I am changing engine sprocket for a Thrux R one that will be like adding a couple of teeth to the rear which I will change back to stock.
If you want more 'kick in the butt' this is the easiest way to get it.

 

NEWS FROM THE FRONT !

BTW: Very well said that man Jaymanaa. I tried to say better myself, but don't thing I did.

Anyway, have exchanged a few emails this week with Triumph HQ, raising and defending my 'formal complaint'. In a nutshell, Triumph try to ste the following in response:
1, Whilst not directly admitting, they did not rebtt my ECU-limiting assertions
2, They claim it is in there for 'safety reasons' to prevent an incorrectly laoded machne becoming unsafe at speed (what paff !)
3, They further claim that "most manufacturers do it" , and, ....get this..... "that it is common knowledge that it is done...."
4, They assert that if I had been concerned of a speed limiter, I should have enquired before purchasing (cheers guys, thanks, nice one)
5, They refuse to change their sales literature or sales presentation to make these hidden facts transparent to consumers
6, They threaten me with a reminder of the Defarmations Act should I defame them (what with - the truth ???)

Right now, I am mulling my next step. Are there enough like-minded souls hereabouts for us to form a knitting committee, and raise the issue with a decent publication, MCN, Bike, Ride ??? to pick this issue up for us as an issue of substance and a genuine 'threat' to some of our key principles as bikers ???

I am happy to put in the lead effort here and be the test bed, but is always beneficial to check the sanity of this proposition with at least twelve good (wo)men and true !?

Cheers to all !

 

:rofl Do you seriously think Triumph gives a damn about your crusade to break the law?
If you want a faster bike - buy one, there are plenty out there. Why bother to engineer a show bike for the Starbuck's run into something it doesn't want, or need to, be?
Knitting committee is the right term for such manly devotion to breaking the law and defying fiscal and engineering logic.

 

Sorry, missed that bit

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

 

 

The thing about speed limiters on bikes is that like steering dampers, they are generally there for a reason, not because someone at Triumph decided to curb your enjoyment.
If the Bobber is speed restricted, my guess would be it's because they find that at higher speeds than that the heavy rear sub-frame gets less stable, and during testing they presumably experienced situations where it became dangerous.
I mean seriously, 130mph on a bike with no fairing and a sit-bolt-upright seating position? I don't believe the bike could get anywhere near that without significant modification, and I can only get a few mph more down the straight at Philip Island on a fairing fitted Thruxton R!
So if you want to complain that they fitted a safety restriction that prevents you modifying the engine to take it past what they gauged to be a safe speed for the geometry, go for it. If you then think you know what might have caused stability issues above 130mph, resolve those issues (and tell Triumph), then perhaps you might have grounds to complain.

I guess it's like complaining that the rev-limiter at 7250rpm. Why? I sometimes want to go above that? What if I change the valve springs? I suspect you're on a hiding to nothing.

 

Remember the Suzuki TL1000s it had a dangerous instability problem mainly with smaller lighter riders , Suzuki tried different things to remedy , a man I know fixed his with the judicious use of an 8mm drill bit to realign the shock mechanism . Instant fix little effort from a man in a shed with many years experience , just saying the factories don't always get it right or know everything .

 

I hope he shared the solution with Suzuki.