It followed me home dear, honest...

I’ve been struggling a bit with the carbs on this one (see separate thread) the upshot at present is it’s now got mk1.5 Amals (as fitted to the Harris Bonnies) and they seem to perform very nicely, and they look better too!

I fitted a Tri Spark to it and it definitely improved starting, it’s now a confident one kick affair.

I managed to get a good test ride in today, I think it may still be a tad rich on the needle, so I’ll have a look at that next.

At least it’s starting to sound, and go, like a Bonnie should!
It followed me home dear, honest...
It followed me home dear, honest...
It followed me home dear, honest...
It followed me home dear, honest...
 
Nigel - It looks very nice indeed.

I'm sure you will keep us posted with progress.
 
I agree, good looking bike.
I'd also leave the mk 1.5 carbs on and keep the other things in a box !
sam
 
Thanks Sam.

We’ll have to see re the carbs. The mk11s SHOULD work fine, I ain’t finished this fight yet...
 
Nice looking bike Nigel. I know that this isn't much help, but I have to say that the Mk 1.5s on my T140 run flawlessly although they have only done about 7,000 miles.
 
Reggie said:
Nice looking bike Nigel. I know that this isn't much help, but I have to say that the Mk 1.5s on my T140 run flawlessly although they have only done about 7,000 miles.
Click to expand...

I don’t suppose you recall what jets, slides and needles they had?
 
Hi Nigel, regarding the jetting / slides etc on my Harris Bonneville, all I did when I got the bike was replace like for like as knowing its previous owner, it is a near certainty that they were never changed from original, but unfortunately I haven't kept the old replaced parts for reference and my Bonneville currently resides at my sons address and so I can't whip a carb off and check.

What I have done is look on Amals site and found all of the information except the needle type and position.
Harris 750 Bonneville.
Main jet; 200.
Needle jet; 106.
Slide cutaway; No. 3.
Pilot jet; 20.

If you want me to I can go to my sons house this week and take a carb off, have a look and let you know?
 
Needle is "Standard" (4-stroke) "99-1036" according to the Harris Bonneville parts book.
 
I’d forgotten that I had a Harris Bonneville parts book until you mentioned it LAB.
I’ve just had a look, having found it, and it says that the main jet is a 270! I’m fairly sure that that will be incorrect, but just thought I’d mention it.
 
Reggie said:
I’ve just had a look, having found it, and it says that the main jet is a 270! I’m fairly sure that that will be incorrect, but just thought I’d mention it.
Click to expand...

Yes, I noticed that. "270" would be single carb TR7 main jet size (so Harris Tiger).
 
Martin, thanks for the offer but I don’t want to put you out unless I’m really struggling.

My new mk1.5s came jetted as per your list above, so that’s presumably a pretty good starting point.

I’ve tried them and they were good. But they don’t have the correct air box adapters, which I guess is gonna mess with the carburation somewhat, I’ve now got these coming so that will put them to totally stock, ergo hopefully correct, set up.

As tested they were great barring a ‘hiccup’ or ‘stutter’ when opening up from around 1/2 throttle.

I’ll still compare back to back with the mk11s though, just to see which feels the best on the bike.

I’m out of shed action for a couple of weeks though so will update y’all in due course.
 
My D, the main jet is 200. Needle jet .105, starter jet is a 50. experimented with 25 for warmer climates, back to a 50. I'm guessing NY climates are similar to yours. Love your new pet. They seem to do that. Just make sure you feed it everyday.
 
Fast Eddie said:
Finally picked up the Bonnie t’other day. Whilst I was there, I guy walks in who’s having his Triumph engine rebuilt by the vendor... a certain Jamie Whittam! He was one of my racing hero’s back in the 80s and 90s!

Anyway, I’ve now done the basics, fitted some peashooters (they look and sound just perfect on these bikes IMHO), removed mirrors and indicators, and a bit more faffing around.

Am very pleased with it so far, hopefully I can get some miles on it before the roads get salted!

View attachment 7230
Click to expand...
That’s a lovely looking Bonneville Nigel
 
Thanks, glad you like it. I do too. Just gotta get it running as good as it looks now...
 
dantriumph said:
Nice bike Nigel.
Surprised no-one has mentioned a 13mm mastercylinder yet. I've got one on my outfit and even with standard disc and caliper it great. Had 13" Norvil disc and alu Lockheed on before I fitted the sidecar, that was a 2 finger job.
Andover used to have 13mm masters as they're the same as Mk3 rear, but it looks like they're out of stock. LP Williams are also out of stock.
Dan
Click to expand...

Dan, I wasn’t aware of the 13mm master cylinder mod for Triumphs until your tip off, thanks for that!

I have now located one and am awaiting delivery.

I tried EBC pads, with everything else stock, and it improved the brake noticeably, but it’s still a tad uninspiring in this day and age!

Like I mentioned previously, I have already invested in a Hyde 12” disc kit with alloy caliper and braided hose, so, when the 13mm master cylinder arrives, I’ll get stuck in and fit it all at once. Looking forward to some one finger braking!

I need more than one finger for the clutch though... It’s heavier than I’m happy with, so a Featherlight cable and 7 plate clutch will be going in too. I came close to going the hydraulic clutch route as the cNw one I fitted to my Commando is SO GOOD! But I couldn’t quite bring myself to re do all the switches and wiring at this present time. So that’ll go onto the ‘when I get a round tuit’ list...
 
I put a few more miles on t’ Bonnie today. The LPW 7 plate clutch is working perfectly, and the lighter operation from backing off the springs and fitting a Featherlight cable is really nice!

But the main excuse for taking it out was to test the front brake mods:

I fitted a stainless steel 13mm master cylinder and a single stainless hose, thus removing the myriad of unions and pipes and joints that is standard:
It followed me home dear, honest...



Then on t’ other end I fitted a replica Lockheed caliper and Hyde 12” disc kit. The alloy caliper is 3.4lbs lighter than the stock job, so if you change the front and rear that’s half a stone lopped off!
Thankfully the Hyde bracket is a lot nicer than they used to be, ‘HYDE’ is now machined into it rather than being cast in. As my front end is black, I painted the bracket black and it’s hardly noticeable now.
I had to tweak the mudguard stay to clear.
At first, on the road, I thought it was a tad underwhelming, but after a few miles to scrub in, it got better and better and now has a nice bite to it and very nice ‘feel’.
It followed me home dear, honest...
It followed me home dear, honest...


The other thing I did recently was swap the bars. The stock US bars just weren’t quite right for me. So I fitted the US bars I took off of my Commando, they have a bit less rise and a different angle to them, they compliment the stock seat and footrest arrangement nicely for back lane ‘bend swinging’ kinda stuff.
It followed me home dear, honest...


Although I thought it was smoother than my Bonnies of old before, I balanced the front wheel whilst it was out, now it’s even smoother! At 70mph I’d say it feels as smooth as my Commando. At 80mph some vibes start to come through, mainly through the seat and less so, through the bars. But at anything over 70mph the riding position is rather hard work to be honest.
Acceleration through the gears between 3,000 and 5,000 is brisk and addictive. And very smooth. It only starts to lose its smoothness above that.
I guess my Bonnies of old spent more time at 7,000rpm than I’ll be doing on this one, maybe that’s why they used to vibrate more!
I’ll try to do less spannering and a little more riding with it now...
 
EBC HH.

But some Federal Mogul race pads came with the Hyde kit, I’ll try them soon to compare.
 
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