Alan's Triumph 2007 Speed Triple

I've set up a new gallery on the site to hold all my long termer pics in one place. Click here to see all the goodness!

8 August
July started off as a bit of a quiet month on the Triple front. I was supposed to get her up to Cadwell Park for the SB trackday, but this all fell apart like a cheap suit when our mighty Sprinter van holed a piston (yes!) on the M40, shitting all its oil out the dipstick tube, and making a nasty mess of the hard shoulder. The ensuing 6 hour farrago of getting home via an AA flat bed meant no Cadwell antics for me, booh!
Back in the office, someone phoned up and offered to fit a nitrous kit to one of our long termers. Then pulled out. But the seed of the idea was sown in my head, so I called our good mate Sean Mills at Big CC, the full-on mega-horsepower tuning shop in Wokingham. After briefly considering (then dismissing) the idea of a turbocharger (would take too long, need a lot of time and money spending, Triumph might object), he agreed on a nitrous plan.
As all good Smokey and the Bandit fans know, nitrous is basically a bottle of gas, which when sprayed into an engine together with extra fuel, gives a big extra chunk of power. The modern way of doing it is pretty clever, using a 'dry manifold' setup. This means you simply spray the gas into the inlet manifold directly from the bottle, then trick the bike's fuel injection computer into adding more fuel to suit.
Sean reckons the system will add about 40bhp to the Triple's output. Which will mean 160 bhp at the tyre, give or take, which should help her keep up with the GSX-Rs on the straights of Oulton at our next trackday...
More info and pics when I get the beastie back!

Burgman 650
In the meantime, I've been piling on the miles with the Burgman 650. I know I'm beginning to sound like a stuck record, but Suzuki's mega-scoot just keeps taking the punishment and doing the job. Through the mean streets of South London, it's unbeatable and unstoppable. Not a day passes without the sleek, shark-grey lines of the 650 ambushing and dispatching another commuting superbike, like a Cornish great white (yes, I know it was only a porbeagle, but you get the idea...) There have been a couple of minor niggles of late - the oil level warning was coming on when on the sidestand, so I topped her up with some synthetic Rock Oil XRP. She'd managed to use a fair bit, using about a litre in 2,000 miles, and it's definitely worth keeping an eye on the level. The window is a little hidden away, but is visible through a hole in the fairing on the left hand side. Topping up needs the centre panel removed - one screw does it easily. Since then, I've still had the occasional oil level light flashing, despite the level looking okay in the window.

I've also discovered a top Burgman website - www.burgmanusa.com - which is jammed with useful info for the 650, 400 and 250 versions of the Burgervan, including some incredible mods. Would you believe a Burgman with a sidecar? Or a trike conversion? Check it...

10 July
Wow. Hasn't the time flown? I've been away a fair bit of late, including trips to Cyprus, Alsace and Italy. So the Speed Triple's been a little short on love. Not totally though! The service book got the all-important first stamp at just under 500 miles, courtesy of the fine chaps at Carl Rosner Triumph in South Croydon. They did the first oil change, sorted the loose steering head bearings, and fixed a dicky indicator. The last problem was total operator error actually. I'd fitted a neat tail tidy from R&G Racing, and had managed to ineptly short out an indicator wire. Duh.
There's still a bit of a niggle on the fuel light though - my warning light comes on really early, around 40 miles. Then it quite often goes away again. Anyone else had this?
R&G also sent me a full set of crash bobbins for the Triple - two sets of engine protectors, some bar-end sliders and axle sliders front and rear. It's all dead easy to fit, and should protect the Triple from the worst of any damage should she topple off her stand. Or, as is more likely, when I finally flip a wheelie.

Check the Gallery for more pics of my Triple

30 May 07
The dyno is up - here. Be amazed with my mighty flat torque curve!

29 May 07

Well, there are a few jobs done on the Triple now. Nothing dramatic: a tank bag, a foam air filter and a dyno run! The tank bag is pretty cool - it's by German firm SW-Tech, sold by MotoHaus in the UK. It's a neat little horseshoe-shaped ring that simply bolts onto the fuel cap surround. Then a handy tankbag just clips on and off. Easy peasy!

Also easy was changing the air filter. The guys at Pipercross sent me a washable foam performance filter, and it was a simple case of unbolting the tank (four bolts, one conector, a QD fuel pipe and two breathers), unscrewing the lid and swapping over. The Pipercross filter has a slightly larger filter area, so may boost airflow slightly. It's washable though, so a good, economic mod.

Finally, I made it to the guys at Carbontek in Whyteleafe, South Croydon for a dyno run. Simon and the lads whisked the Triple onto the Fuchs dyno, and the result was a very healthy 128.8bhp at the crank. I'll get the dyno scanned and put up ASAP for your perusal...

21 May 07
Well, the miles are creeping up on the old Speed Triple, and it's all bedding in nicely. The gearbox is getting less clunky (it could only go one way), but the fuel light is still a little wobbly in its operation, coming on at 30 miles then going away again.
Various work and home commitments mean I've still not hit the 250 mile mark yet, but this will change this week - I'm taking the Trumpet up to the Midlands for a test on Wednesday. I've just received a Pipercross air filter in the post, which will be going on when I get a chance.

20 May 07

I know I said the Burgman was going back, but I've managed to hold onto it for another wee while. And I used it this weekend for a job it is utterly, utterly suited to: going to the airport for a trip home to Glasgow. Me and my significant lady, Alison, got from South London to Gatwick in about 40 minutes flat. Parked up (FOR FREE!) in the Gatwick bike park, stuck the lids under the seat, bags out, and we were in the terminal in minutes. In its own way, it was as perfect as taking a Ducati 999R around Mugello at flat stick pace.

10 May 2007

Summer's here, and it's time for Suzuki's Burgman 650 to go back. And it's been replaced by another, more dynamic urban monster. Triumph's Speed Triple has been my favourite naked streetfighter since it was launched two years ago, and I'm extremely happy to have it for the year. It's an utterly mental mix of torquey, growley three-cylinder engine and virtually-supersports chassis, wrapped in an extremely evocative, brutally handsome styling package. When we've tested it in the past, it's been able to cut it on the track, in the stunting stakes, and in day-to-day living. And for my normal biking life, I reckon it's going to be near-perfect. I spent about 95 per cent of my time on a bike in the traffic of South London. I'll do a few trackdays this year, and for the occasional long blast to France or the likes, I'll just have to suffer. Or trick someone else to give me their faired sportsbike.

There are a lot of plans for the Trip in the offing. But at the moment, it's a case of getting the running-in over and done with. The bike came with 2 miles on the clock from the lovely guys at Carl Rosner in South Croydon, and the sticker on the tank tells me I have to stay under 3,500rpm till 100 miles, then below 5k until 300 miles. First service is at 500 miles, then I can start to ramp up the revs. 100 miles came up pretty quickly, but when your daily commute is 15 miles the odometer creeps round slowly. Plus the weather's been a bit on the shitty side, precluding the obvious rides to the seaside and the like that would get the miles up.

But even keeping to the lower reaches of the tacho, on a very tight new engine, I'm loving KX07 EPU. That grunt is devastating around town, and even going steady, you'll still find yourself doing loads of neat little micro-power-wheelies everywhere. The gearbox is pretty stiff, but getting better, and now I'm past 100 miles, it's all settling down nicely. There are a couple of tiny niggles - the fuel light is a little erratic, and is coming on very early. And the steering head bearings are a little loose now they've been bedded in with some miles and the odd small wheelie... Both these things will be nailed by the clever chaps at Rosner's when I book in for the first service...


Feb 2007
Burgman 650
So what's a Burgman 650? Well if you've been to Italy you'll have seen millions of them, because the maxi-scooter class (as it's know) is huge over there. The 650cc Burgman, 600cc Honda Silver Wing and the 500cc Yamaha T-Max all sell in truckloads, bought by medium-distance commuters who need a bit of oomph to get into town, then scooter-like practicality in the city.

They're nowhere near as popular in the UK, which is a bit of a shame I reckon. Because they're more practical than those two mental old women off 'How Clean Is Your House?'. Loads of space under the seat, stacks of weather protection, especially the legs, and easy, twist'n'go power. Around 50bhp in fact, and enough for an indicated 118mph on the M23 downhill stretch... The downside is the price though - nearly £6,000 is a lot of shekels, even considering the high equipment levels. That includes, on this 'Executive' model, a pillion backrest, ABS, chrome-plated highlights, an electrically-operated windshield and the best bit, electrically-powered folding mirrors.

The engine is a bespoke parallel-twin, with fuel injection, liquid-cooling, four-valve heads and a clever, computer-controlled auto transmission. In basic 'D' drive mode, it's a simple twist and go. Hit the 'Power Mode' button and the change-up revs increase, it holds gears for longer and is generally more dynamic and faster. Finally, in 'M' manual mode, the tranny switches between pre-programmed ratios at the push of an up or down button, with a gear indicator on the dash keeping you in the picture.

Round town it's fast away from lights and manoeuvrable, if a little large for really hardcore traffic splitting. Under the seat holds four big bags of man shopping (beer, crisps, exotic biscuits, expensive coffee etc) as well as a big Abus lock and a clear visor.

2006 GSX-R750
Anyway. I'm the lucky guardian of a Suzuki GSX-R750 for this year. It's a pretty awesome bike, that's got more heritage and history than just about any other Japanese bike. From the first 'H' model released back in 1987, right up to the current K6, each version has built on the basics of a light, track-ready chassis with a strong 750cc engine and high-spec suspension and brake setups.
In 2006 that now means a claimed dry weight of 163kg, and a measured power of around 140bhp at the tyre. Riding it back to back with a previous K4/5 version, you'll find a lighter, sweeter-handling bike, with a touch more top-end power, but a little less grunt through the lower midrange.
So far, I've managed about 2,200 miles on the mean black GSX-R. We've not strayed too far from standard to be honest, although more mods are on the way.
First bolt-on was a full Yoshimura Cyclone race system. This was a pretty easy fit, although there's a couple of niggles. You lose the pillion pegs in favour of a silencer mount bracket, and there's a bit of Dremel trimming required on the fairing lower. It's also a pretty standard-looking pipe, so you lose a bit of the 'stubby' GP styling from the standard design. Result is a good bit more noise, and, with a Power Commander tuned in, an extra 5bhp peak power…

The Yoshimura pipe stayed on for a couple of months before being replaced with a full system from Micron. This was a slightly better package actually, with a stubby MotoGP-type silencer that retained the pillion pegs, and no fairing trimming required either. It's loud mind, with a throaty bark that'll win you no friends at the local Neighbourhood Watch committee. Power was within a gnat's chuff of the Yoshimura too, although low-down running was a bit poor. I didn't bother altering the Power Commander map from the Yoshi settings though, so that low down roughness could certainly have been dialled out with some dyno time.