I really, REALLY like the way you work with CNW.
Asking feedback from owners instead of making something and trying to convince us we need it.
As for me... My 961 is 4 years old now and i rarely use it. It's more fun to ride my '74 850.
I really like the look, and it seems wrong to me to pay a lot of money for a bike like the 961 to change that look.
Apart from the mirrors, i left mine standard.
From a technical point of view, there are many small improvements to make. And i would be interested in these when someone makes them (and reasonably priced)
• chainguard (mine cracked, was replaced in warranty and cracked again so i removed it. I'll strengthen the tabs and have it powder coated)
• front headlight shell (poor design, shattered in pieces with only the very small impact of falling at low speed, i replaced it by a metal shell)
• exhaust (system is heavy, expensive for what it is and mine also cracked at the rear (crossover) mount).
• sprockets (took a month to order a countershaft sprocket, and total cost of sprocket/chain kit was over €400, about $450)
• airbox (mine is troublefree so far, but most of them are having problems as mentioned before)
• tank (the plastic tank is a poor design and many, including mine, started to leak in less than 2 years. Was replaced, but will it happen again?)
• seat and pillion pegs (i like the option, but dislike the look of the Norton dual seat. For the few times i take a passenger i rather change the seat to a bonneville style seat and ride the rest of the year with my nice looking solo seat. Removing the seat is as much work as removing the seat cowl)
• you joked about it, but if there was a complete kit to convert the 961 to carbs, i would actually be interested. At one moment i was so angry at the bike that i wanted to try it myself. Removing the complete ecu, adapt a ducati ignition system and carb it. Turned out my ECU was shot. Luckily within warranty!
• Another one (includes option above if you want) i would be interested in (don't shoot me) is a kit to adapt a modern triumph twin engine in the frame. One more thing i thought about when i was angry, and before the first (britalmoto) conversion actually was reality. The triumph engine is easy tunable and dependable as hell. My thruxton has over 100.000 miles without being stranded one single time. Might be interested to see how their next generation engine (2016) turns out.
For me, this is what i want the bike to be. Looks and handling of the 961, ease of maintenance of a modern carbed bike, spare parts availability/price, dependable and a million options to various levels of tuning.
Not trying to bash the 961 here. I am proud of my bike, and will ride it occasionally, but i am not hiding it is far from perfect. Hey, that does make it a 'real' commando, yes?
Dimitri
The britalbike 961/triumph thing:
