The Thruxtonized Thruxton

Well, this project started back in August of '09, with purchasing the parts for making my 2006 Triumph Thruxton look like a vintage Thruxton, only with an electric start, quieter, less vibration, no overheating, and no leaking fluids. Norman Hyde provided most of it, with a rework done brilliantly on the fiberglass and the tank paint and graphics by Kevin Miller, at http://www.millerpaintandgraphics.com/ . His superb workmanship is evident. He easily earned my continued business based upon his stellar results here.

The clear windscreen was a nightmare that I will not re-tell, but the good news is that it's on, and it's perfect. Everyone knows the supplier, who's a very very nice man, but he couldn't keep his promises, until, um, FOUR MONTHS later. To his credit, he finally got the job done, and well. The moral of the story is, purchase the raw fairing and windscreen from ONE person, IN PERSON, and insure that it fits before handing over the bucksheesh. Thanks to Brian for wisely suggesting the well nuts (rubber outer with a T-cross section with the metal threaded part floating inside). It allows the clear windscreen to adjust well but not be overstressed where the fit is tight.

What's new over what what was stock? Front fairing and brackets, windscreen sidemarkers (Kevin craftily added the flat spot on the fairing to make these fit just so), front fender, front alloy fender bracket, seat, upholstery, tank, tank strap, rear fender, rear light/license plate assembly. I also added a thermometer and clock mounted tidily on the triple clamp up front and have added rear sets. The rear sets get rid of the annoying hinged footpegs which drove me bananas. And I just had to flip the clamp on the shifter shaft on the transmission and presto, a perfectly aligned GP shifting 5 speed, just like on the Thruxton, just on the wrong side.

The mirror is a NON-lane split RCS billet framed convex mirror, just like on the Triton. Of course the dingalings at Moto Corsa only sell the LANE SPLIT version - and lane splitting is illegal in the US. If I tell them this fact, they'll just get confused, think I'm an ass, and forget, so they sell that lane split one forever. Anyhow the RCS mirror is "design overkill" but, hey that's just what I needed. You can pick up the bike with the mirror - it's just that strong stable and sturdy. On my Triton this mirror is an absolute minimum necessity.

The fiberglass is from Norman Hyde (thanks Norman!), and although the fiberglass needed reworking and and painting by the brilliant Kevin Miller, it's an overall great retrofit. I planned on this setup the moment I bought my Thruxton in 2007. I'll say out loud that it needed work, so be prepared to work the fiberglass or have someone do that for you. The rear seat hump was all oblongy and outta round, so that took work. The rest was minor. The brackets and hardware were great. I was not initially happy with the rear license plate/turn signal assembly but in the end it all worked out. It took some fitting, filing, and mods, but the final result is great.

I repeat myself, but the tank paint job is spectacular. The lettering is slightly raised and is perfectly done. Kevin has his patented process here. This tank has NO orange peel, and has depth and all that jazz. Plus he and I went over the colors and schemes a LOT to get it right. He was a delight to work with in this area, which can be the one where arguments flare up. Not with him. He was perfect that way.

Future work? I still have the pesky issue of having the correct silencers on the back ( Unless Norman Hyde has mercy on me and provides the correct silencers, otherwise these will be one-off silencers and surely very spendy) , and will probably go to swept back pipes, and then delete the air injection on the exhaust port, but that'll be it. (O.K. there's the air intake removal and you have to re-jet the thing once the new pipes and silencers are on and the air injection is removed. Oh, yeah, there's the alloy chain guard all designed with more air than metal. Eventually better tires and shocks will be on the bike, but hey let me use what I have on it up first! ).

Thanks again to cousin Tim on assisting on the original dry-fit of all the stuff before it went to body and paint. It made the re-assembly a low-stress breeze.

Enough said for now.

Jeff