’09 T-100 First Ride Report….
Hi Everybody,
Today was the day. After too many hours of rewiring the lighting on my bike and delayed gratification, I took it out for its maiden run in 37 deg. F albeit very fair skies. Everything was new…helmet and jacket…went with a Joe Rocket Sonic 2.0 btw and love it. Tried two different Triumph jackets and neither were comfortable. After testing and debugging the wire harness well into last night…took the day off and installed the rear fender this morning with Lucas light and all the lights worked including running lights which are relatively bright…a good thing for safety. Rolled it out, turned the key and the bike fired immediately…after a couple of months of just sitting on the trickle charger. Hardly spun the starter and didn’t even set the fast idle…no need. First impression was…I didn’t change the pipes as the bike is more quiet than my car even though I installed TORS…lol. I expected the TORS to be a bit louder. After letting it warm a bit…blipping the throttle…throttle response is immediate….just perfect…like right now…no hesistation…much more finely calibrated than my Vegas…which begs the question…should I go for the re-map for the TORS. The motor fired dead even on both cylinders to my ear so a very good start. After a couple of minutes off I go. Clutch is light and linear. Riding position is really great on this bike. My first impression is…I fit perfect on the thing and I am not a small guy. As discussed previously I came off of a Victory Vegas and the lightness and handling of this bike is in another world….fantastic. This has to be the easiest motorcycle to ride I have ever ridden. Brakes felt good…no untoward sounds.
I have ridden a couple of carbed Bonnevilles and Xchopper who owns an ’09 50th Anniv. Bonny among many other motorcycles said it best. He has never felt a better EFI or smoother shifting trans. Tall praise and on the money. I completely agree. The driveability of this bike is exceptional. The throttle to engine control is almost like a rheostat on an electric motor. I didn’t get on it too much…btw I don’t believe in sparing the rod in break in to the nth degree…got to make sure the rods get stretched to break in the whole bore
but no excursions to red line…lots of deliberate varied RPM for adequate top end lubrication. With the TORS I would on occasion get a light back firing…not serious but could hear it at times so the re-map is likely in the offing. I did have to accelerate a bit hard out of a couple of turns however to feel the spirit of the bike and it pulled well however without the violence of my Vegas…much smoother. The thing is you can drive it into the corners so much faster and with confidence…no comparison…about as different a handling experience as one can imagine…both being on two wheels. Last note is…the gearing feels short to me. Had the bike going 70 on about 2-3 occasions and it tachs 3500 at 60 and was trying to grab another gear as is often mentioned…so I will likely change the sprocket in front to knock down the RPM on the open road at a modest loss to low end grunt.
In summary…love the bike. It looks good…is super easy to ride…even the stock seat sans strap is comfortable to my bum…and my weight is neutral on it with the stock riding position. The bike has a gentle spirit but makes nice sound at higher RPM and pulls good enough...well for this year anyway I thought the TORS would be louder but coming off a super loud bike, it is a nice change to ride without ear plugs or staying out of the throttle around cops. For anybody considering a version of the ’09 Bonny or Thruxton...I say life is short and go for it.
Best to my fellow Rats…
George:
Couple of pics before pulling it out of the garage:
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Hi Everybody,
Today was the day. After too many hours of rewiring the lighting on my bike and delayed gratification, I took it out for its maiden run in 37 deg. F albeit very fair skies. Everything was new…helmet and jacket…went with a Joe Rocket Sonic 2.0 btw and love it. Tried two different Triumph jackets and neither were comfortable. After testing and debugging the wire harness well into last night…took the day off and installed the rear fender this morning with Lucas light and all the lights worked including running lights which are relatively bright…a good thing for safety. Rolled it out, turned the key and the bike fired immediately…after a couple of months of just sitting on the trickle charger. Hardly spun the starter and didn’t even set the fast idle…no need. First impression was…I didn’t change the pipes as the bike is more quiet than my car even though I installed TORS…lol. I expected the TORS to be a bit louder. After letting it warm a bit…blipping the throttle…throttle response is immediate….just perfect…like right now…no hesistation…much more finely calibrated than my Vegas…which begs the question…should I go for the re-map for the TORS. The motor fired dead even on both cylinders to my ear so a very good start. After a couple of minutes off I go. Clutch is light and linear. Riding position is really great on this bike. My first impression is…I fit perfect on the thing and I am not a small guy. As discussed previously I came off of a Victory Vegas and the lightness and handling of this bike is in another world….fantastic. This has to be the easiest motorcycle to ride I have ever ridden. Brakes felt good…no untoward sounds.
I have ridden a couple of carbed Bonnevilles and Xchopper who owns an ’09 50th Anniv. Bonny among many other motorcycles said it best. He has never felt a better EFI or smoother shifting trans. Tall praise and on the money. I completely agree. The driveability of this bike is exceptional. The throttle to engine control is almost like a rheostat on an electric motor. I didn’t get on it too much…btw I don’t believe in sparing the rod in break in to the nth degree…got to make sure the rods get stretched to break in the whole bore
but no excursions to red line…lots of deliberate varied RPM for adequate top end lubrication. With the TORS I would on occasion get a light back firing…not serious but could hear it at times so the re-map is likely in the offing. I did have to accelerate a bit hard out of a couple of turns however to feel the spirit of the bike and it pulled well however without the violence of my Vegas…much smoother. The thing is you can drive it into the corners so much faster and with confidence…no comparison…about as different a handling experience as one can imagine…both being on two wheels. Last note is…the gearing feels short to me. Had the bike going 70 on about 2-3 occasions and it tachs 3500 at 60 and was trying to grab another gear as is often mentioned…so I will likely change the sprocket in front to knock down the RPM on the open road at a modest loss to low end grunt.In summary…love the bike. It looks good…is super easy to ride…even the stock seat sans strap is comfortable to my bum…and my weight is neutral on it with the stock riding position. The bike has a gentle spirit but makes nice sound at higher RPM and pulls good enough...well for this year anyway
I thought the TORS would be louder but coming off a super loud bike, it is a nice change to ride without ear plugs or staying out of the throttle around cops. For anybody considering a version of the ’09 Bonny or Thruxton...I say life is short and go for it. Best to my fellow Rats…
George:
Couple of pics before pulling it out of the garage:
