T140 progress and thoughts...

Thanks all,

This is a departure from the norm for me; no big pistons, big bores, big cams, big valves, big carbs, etc! No increase in performance, vibration, blow ups, etc!

My intent this time is to keep the performance as the factory intended, but make it a nicer, sweeter, better braked and better sprung bike to ride. I think I’m getting there.

Must be an age thing I guess !?
 
It’s Tommaselli/ Domino. I bought one for the Commando when I re-wired that. It worked well, so fitted the same to this.

You should be familiar with them Sam... 961s have ‘em too (but wired up differently for Euro4 ‘permanent lights on’).

Not cheap tho. But there is some real cheap shite out there, I must have thrown 3 or 4 cheap ebay jobs straight in the bin before I learned that lesson. So I was happy to pay a tad more for a good ‘un.

Bought mine from here:

https://www.discovolantemoto.co.uk/handlebar-switch-left-hand-2183-p.asp
 
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Hillbilly Bike said:
Yes, very nice....This is the Ducati 320mm disc and Brembo caliper on my T140D.14mm Brembo knock off master cylinder..The 41mm forks are 95 Honda 750 Interceptor..Nothing fancy but it stops like, well, a Ducati,lol.. What's interesting is the Ducati disc bolt pattern matched up perfectly to the stock Triumph Morris cast wheel with a spacer I made.

T140 progress and thoughts...
Click to expand...

Not trying to be pedantic here, but your front wheel is a Lester , not Morris
 
I have that Tommaselli / Domino left hand switch on my T160 and on my two of my Moto Guzzi's (one now sold) and really find it nice to use and also have the matching kill switch /starter switches as well.

They don't look great on the T160, but after having my indicators stop working on three consecutive trips to Europe due to a worn switch I bought these and they have worked without issue as you would expect. I couldn't bring myself to waste money on Sparx replicas.

Holland Norton Motor Works sells them for about £20 less than Disco Volante just out of interest for anybody wanting to buy some.
Fast Eddie said:
My intent this time is to keep the performance as the factory intended, but make it a nicer, sweeter, better braked and better sprung bike to ride. I think I’m getting there.

Must be an age thing I guess !?
Click to expand...

I'm already there. The 920 has just gone for an 828.
 
Why indeed! No doubt reliability issues involved. But every time Im on the 828I think "this is a nice bike too bad it isnt 100cc bigger".
Come to that I feel the same way when on my T150v and my Enfield Interceptors!
 
Reggie does lots of long distance touring, and his top ended was in need of a refresh, so it made sense.

Different horses for different courses...

And BTW, a Trident responds REALLY well to an extra 100ccs. With no downsides, provided you use a Neil Beadling (Nova Classics) kit.
 
Fast Eddie said:
It’s Tommaselli/ Domino. I bought one for the Commando when I re-wired that. It worked well, so fitted the same to this.

You should be familiar with them Sam... 961s have ‘em too (but wired up differently for Euro4 ‘permanent lights on’).

Not cheap tho. But there is some real cheap shite out there, I must have thrown 3 or 4 cheap ebay jobs straight in the bin before I learned that lesson. So I was happy to pay a tad more for a good ‘un.

Bought mine from here:

https://www.discovolantemoto.co.uk/handlebar-switch-left-hand-2183-p.asp
Click to expand...


This is good to know, I nearly purchased one of those cheap eBay sets.
I'll buy used GSXR or R1 instead.
That stuff tends to work forever and is pretty cheap to purchase.
The look is much the same as the Tomaselli. Plastic, modern!
The $17 Chinese eBay set is aluminium.
No sense having switches that don't switch though.
 
You’re right there Glen, modern Japanese stuff is pretty much top notch in this regard.

One has to be careful though, they don’t all have the functionality we require, depending on date and market etc, they might not allow ‘lights off’ for example.

I bought a Yamaha switch after carefully checking it did what I thought I needed, but it didn’t, it was obviously intended for a different wiring set up to mine. It’s now on my mates Yamaha !

Thats why I stuck with what I know worked for me.
 
Fast Eddie said:
It’s Tommaselli/ Domino. I bought one for the Commando when I re-wired that. It worked well, so fitted the same to this.

You should be familiar with them Sam... 961s have ‘em too (but wired up differently for Euro4 ‘permanent lights on’).

Not cheap tho. But there is some real cheap shite out there, I must have thrown 3 or 4 cheap ebay jobs straight in the bin before I learned that lesson. So I was happy to pay a tad more for a good ‘un.

Bought mine from here:

https://www.discovolantemoto.co.uk/handlebar-switch-left-hand-2183-p.asp
Click to expand...


I had to demand refunds on two Chinese left hand eBay switches because the right turn side on both switches didn’t work. Cost me a month plus of delay.
 
The ones I bought all actually functioned, they were just utter crap quality and I knew they would let me down at some point.
 
I discussed the sweet neutral selection etc with Phil at LP Williams who supplied the hydraulic clutch actuator, he said it “helps selection by giving a bit more lift without extra effort at the lever”.

Guess that explains it!
 
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Went out on the T140 today (great lockdown relief), I’ve put a few miles on the front brake now and knew it was getting better.

But I didn’t know how much better until me and a mate swapped bikes for a bit today, he’s got a low mileage, unrestored Harris Tiger with twin Brembo’s up front, which after sampling each other’s, we both agreed were rather inferior to my set up. So I think the front brake mods have to be chalked up as a success!

Interesting to compare the two in other respects, his has the lower CR of 7.9:1 vs my 8.6:1. And, of course, his is single carb and mine is twin. Both bikes engines are basically stock, both run Norton Commando peashooters.

His certainly starts easier, just a lazy prod on the lever is enough, whereas mine requires a more theatrical jump and swing !

As good as I thought mine runs at low revs, his was better. Smoother, cleaner pic up from idle and when pootling through traffic etc. Both seemed to perform the same up to about 4,000rpm. After that, his tails off and mine takes off! The performance difference above 4,000rpm is very substantial!

I’ll stick to twin carbs thanks...
 
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