Issue 135 : June - July 2004
SV to DL
Triumph Speedmaster
Into the Valley
Retro Rule
Where Eagles Ride
| |
|
SV to DL
|
Retro Rule
The new Bonneville has, as most will agree, a spongy front brake, lack of performance and questionable high speed handling at the hundred mph mark. Triumph has to some extent recognised this with the launch of their own Thruxton for this year. This comes with an increase in cubic inches to go with some classic sixties styling cues to match the classic model name. It is though, still a sanitised machine built to meet modern standards and legal requirements and lacks the soul of some of some of the original Triumphs. No doubt the Hinckley factory would argue that most people that buy one of the bikes in their 'Classic' range do not want rip snorting performance and handling. Help is at hand though for those who want a bit more in terms of performance, handling and braking; enter the Hyde Bonneville in Thruxton specification! The standard 790cc motor has had the barrels replaced with a 902cc set from Wiseco who have worked in collaboration with Hyde on the project. The result is 20% more power and torque. To make sure the power can really be appreciated the carbs have been Dynojetted and a pair of his own Thruxton style silencers have been added to extract that last little bit of power. To cope with this, the front brake has been replaced with a fully floating 320mm disc gripped by an AP Lockheed four piston calliper with sintered metal pads. This is fed by a braided hose to maintain pressure and feel even under hard usage. To make sure the front forks can cope, a fork brace now sits above the replacement mudguard and a steering damper helps keep things in line. The rear shocks have been replaced with some Ikon units with progressive rate springs and adjustable damping to improve the handling. Similarly the tyres are now Avon Super Venom's for better grip and increased longevity. Just to make sure nothing drags, the footrests have been replaced with a neat kit that lifts them up and back and these have been complimented with a set of 'Ace' bars to keep the ergonomics balanced. A top half fairing sits well alongside the replacement alloy tank and the Thruxton seat unit finishes off the look.
As far as riding is concerned, within five miles of Hyde's Warwickshire base, the grin on my face stretched from ear to ear. The traffic on the Warwick ring road had been almost a delight, despite the revised gearbox sprocket that had been fitted for my ride, effectively giving a taller first, but allowing the bike to reach the 120 plus mark! This was not to prove a problem at any stage during the day, even when trickling through sleepy villages in the heart of Shakespeare's country or up into the hills of Worcestershire. The motor is so well carburetted now that it pulled cleanly from 30 mph in top gear well past any legal posted limit. The motor is now far more flexible and torquey than it ever was and the bike can now be ridden almost totally on the throttle. The rev counter gives an indication of how lazy the motor is, but this is a bike with good feedback and you do not really need to refer to it much unless you are trying to extract the last ounces of power from the vertical twin. Even then the optional bar end mirror shows that the engine balance has been maintained as there is little in the way of vibration to spoil the view to the rear. However, playing tunes on the gearbox is a must just to hear the glorious cacophony of sound from behind you. Never offensive, it just makes the bike sound as good as it looks and encourages you to have fun. This is a bike that can certainly supply this in large portions, especially on the twisty country roads of the Cotswolds, where handling and engine torque are more important than outright top speed. On such roads, the Avons can be used to the limit, safe in the knowledge that the bike is not going to get into a weave or that anything is going to dig in and catch the tarmac! Thanks to the changes it is now a machine that inspires confidence and the front brake is a revelation, easily on a par with any Japanese mount sporting twin rotors at the front of a similar size! What Norman Hyde has done, is make a pretty mediocre bike into something that can be enjoyed and provide hours of fun without making it un-rideable or uncomfortable. In fact there is little to criticise this bike for, and thanks to the modular way that it can be assembled with parts being bought as required it can be built as finances allow. However, I would urge anyone to get the engine and carb kit along with the brake set up as a matter of course for their Hinckley Triumph twin! For more information on the parts and prices see www.normanhyde.co.uk Ian Kerr Hyde TriumphNorman Hyde worked for eight years at Triumph, Meriden followed by two years at Norton Triumph International in Birmingham, West Midlands. As Development Engineer he worked directly under Doug Hele, Chief Development Engineer whose immediate boss was Bert Hopwood. Chief Design Engineer was Brian Jones. These men largely shaped the British industry, with designs for Norton and BSA as well as Triumph. His involvement with the racing programme ranged from design of competition components, many hours of dynamometer testing, checking out inter-relations between compressor ratios, port sizes, ignition timing, exhaust pipe dimensions etc. and through to test days and race meetings. Before the Tridents he was carrying out this type of work on 500cc Daytona Twins and 650CC and 750cc twin racers. Other diverse projects with which he was either directly or indirectly associated include the OHC Trident, the Quadrant, 350cc Bandit, 900cc Thunderbird 3 (T180) and Norton Commando 8 Valve. He also took several world speed records on Triumph powered machines. Since the demise of the original Triumph firm he has been running his own business supplying parts and accessories for the brand (as well as building a few stunning machines along the way) and has now worked his magic on one of Hinckley's less than wonderful products. |
|
home | top
| |
Ian Kerr takes out Norman Hyde's uprated Thruxton. With 20% more power and torque it soon has him grinning from ear
to ear...
There are other minor mods on the bike pictured here, like replacement tail lights and indicators, as well as a rev counter kit, all coming from Norman's extensive catalogue. Certainly the bike looks right and from a distance could easily be mistaken for one of the original works machines.