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The end of this story
Mar 9, 2018
Here it is nearly 4 years later and I notice I did not finish this story!
Turns out the bike became a bit of a pain to keep running properly. A trusted friend suggested I remove the airbox, change the jetting in the carbs and feel the added power. I like to fiddle so I did. Not a great idea. It usually was fine, but sometimes it didn’t run great. The wiring harness I created was holding up, the sprockets change I made was just right, but I tend to become antsy and start looking for the next thing.
“Listen to the sound of that triple!” the announcers exclaimed. I was watching last year’s Isle of Man TT and the Supersports category has several entries of 675cc MV Agustas and Triumph Daytonas. Hanging out in motorcycle forums I’d heard quite a bit of talk about the magic sound of the triple. The mechanic up the road® reminisced lovingly about the Triumph Trident and I got to thinking… Were any of these modern triples computer controlled with fuel injection? After all the troubles I’d had with ignition points and carburetor jets, I couldn’t help but wonder if a modern triple might be the way to go. See. For a while we had a 2006 900cc Kawasaki Vulcan. It’s a computer controlled, fuel injected bike that was 100% reliable. Any weather, any temperature – starts every time, runs perfectly.
Research showed Triumph powered its resurrection from the collapse of the 70s with 3 cylinder, modern bikes. Turned out a person could pick up a 15 year old 955cc Triumph Daytona for about the value of this Kawasaki cafe racer. The thoughts would not go away! I’d considered myself a ‘Triumph guy’ – had their patches on my jacket from the days of building the Street Trackers and now I wanted a Triumph Triple – computer controlled with fuel injection please.
Discovered there were a handful of 1998-2005 Triumph Daytonas within a 500 mile range for $2000-3000. I put this little red ripper on Craigslist and it was sold within days! Delivered it to the new owner in Portland and came home with bunch of trouble – complete with a happy ending (four blogs later ; -)
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