revtothelimit - motorbike forum

More of a retrospective of the first 12 months of ownership and fiddling than a journal of a new bike and ongoing updates.

Back in 2019 after nearly 10 bike free years, life started to open up a space to allow me to be selfish again and get back to my passion for motorcycles.
After such a long break I was aware that not only were my riding skills well below what my ego would admit to, but also the whole environment in what I was familiar in operating a bike was likely to be different.
Combining this with not wanting to commit too much cash to a ‘hobby’ after a bit of internet research I took the plunge on a new Husqvarna Svartpilen 401.



I loved this little bike, a great way to literally get back in the saddle, but most importantly it reconfirmed my love of bikes, but also opened up a new biking dimension for me in terms of doing some light mods.
During my 10 years out the whole world of simple mods for bikes had opened up tremendously, the range of parts available and on-line info had really grown.

As much fun as it was the little Husky was not really best suited to where I was in terms of what I wanted from biking.
It was all a bit frantic and almost demanded to be pushing along, or going for the gap, great a few years back, but now I was looking for more of a relaxed ride, taking in the scenery, enjoying the journey.

So in March 2021 I swapped the little Husky for a 2 year old Triumph Street Scrambler.





This is how it arrived.

A nice 3500 mile bike with some decent factory fitted mods:

Alloy sump guard.
Factory option V&H tail pipe.
Heated grips.
Headlight grill.

One of the reasons I went for the bike and this particular version was that they have a good following and are well suited for a bit of home modding.
Many of the parts are quite basic versions like non LED lighting and plastic mudguards, built to a price yes, but also I’m sure that Triumph had in mind these would be swapped in many cases.

I new there were a few things I wanted swap and remove so I was really looking forward to not only riding my new bike but also spending some time with tools in hand.

1st jobs were to tidy up the rear end, change the standard tail light, number plate bracket and indicators.
I am not a fan of the heavy look at the back of the bike so was looking to open this up a bit.

Off came the whole assembly and only the rear mudguard was refitted everything else went.
I didn’t like the various tail tidy options that were available so decided to go my own route.
Using a Motone Eldorado tail light, some indicators I’d found on line with some brackets to mount them on the top of the shocks.







Along with a slightly smaller plate the back end went from this



To this

Turning attention to the front end, I fitted the same indicators using some nice anodised aluminium adaptors to fit the new smaller 8mm single post units to the existing twin post mounts on the bike.




I also fitted a bracket to raise the front mudguard, not as simple as i first thought. Post ‘19 bikes had the rectifier moved from the bottom yoke to behind the radiator. This meant that the holes used by aftermarket raised mudguard mounts don’t exist on my bike. I managed to pick-up a bracket that someone had fabbed up to use the available aftermarket raiser mounts on a post ‘19 bike, so up went the mudguard.
Well initially a cheap mini black and white Union Jack mudguard went on, and quickly cam off again.



So after the 1st afternoon of ownership I had done a few simple mods and was quite happy with this

That’s a good looking bike

Yeah good looking bike that

It's cool, but it would be cooler if Steve McQueen was trying to leap a barbed wire fence on it.

KungFooBob wrote: Sat Apr 02, 2022 10:54 pm It's cool, but it would be cooler if Steve McQueen was trying to leap a barbed wire fence on it.

Iswydt

The front mudguard was starting to bug me, as I mentioned the Street range of Bonnevilles are the cooking versions with some parts built down to a price. The plastic front mudguard on the Street Scrambler is the same as that on the Street Twin but the Scrambler has a 19" front wheel whereas the Twin has a 17", this means that the mudguard curve is different to the arc of the tyre, and once seen it always jumps out at you.



With a limited budget I took a chance on a generic aluminium one off ebay.
At the same time I replaced the black plastic rear mudguard with an aluminium one I was given that originally came from the 1200 Scrambler.
This was not a direct fit as I hoped and needed a bit of adjustment to fit and it also had some large holes that needed filling up somehow.
I used some 2mm reinforced rubber sheet to fit between the frame and the mudguard to fill in these gaps whilst attempting to keep the factory fitted look.



The reason I needed to careful with what I paid for the front and rear mudguards was at the same time I splashed out on some upgrades for the suspension with some YSS rear shocks and progressive fork springs up front.



The ride was greatly improved, much smoother over rough surfaces and gone was the harsh feel of the stock units that would kick you off the seat at times and get its knickers in a twist on mid bend bumps.

I really like it mate, like lots

Looks sweet.

I like the stock tail light better though!

Looks good

Is the front mudguard on back to front?

Druid wrote: Tue Apr 05, 2022 7:58 pm Looks good

Is the front mudguard on back to front?

Thanks gents.

The mudguard is the same symmetrical, no front and back on this one, that rolled in lip as on both ends.

ajlog wrote: Tue Apr 05, 2022 8:42 pm The mudguard is the same symmetrical, no front and back on this one, that rolled in lip as on both ends.

Are the mounting holes central, it looks like it needs to come backwards with the front ending just forwards of the headlight.
But that's just my taste, it's your bike

MrLongbeard wrote: Tue Apr 05, 2022 9:04 pm

ajlog wrote: Tue Apr 05, 2022 8:42 pm The mudguard is the same symmetrical, no front and back on this one, that rolled in lip as on both ends.

Are the mounting holes central, it looks like it needs to come backwards with the front ending just forwards of the headlight.
But that's just my taste, it's your bike

Looks the same geometry as the factory fitted one to me.

Count Steer wrote: Tue Apr 05, 2022 9:15 pm Looks the same geometry as the factory fitted one to me.

Mayhaps you might be right and it's just the angle of the photo throwing my eyes out

MrLongbeard wrote: Tue Apr 05, 2022 9:47 pm

Count Steer wrote: Tue Apr 05, 2022 9:15 pm Looks the same geometry as the factory fitted one to me.

Mayhaps you might be right and it's just the angle of the photo throwing my eyes out

Nope. On second thoughts I think you're right. Looking at it again the steering looks straight and the mudguard slightly longer at the front of the forks than behind. It's my eyes that need testing.

Count Steer wrote: Tue Apr 05, 2022 10:08 pm

MrLongbeard wrote: Tue Apr 05, 2022 9:47 pm

Count Steer wrote: Tue Apr 05, 2022 9:15 pm Looks the same geometry as the factory fitted one to me.

Mayhaps you might be right and it's just the angle of the photo throwing my eyes out

Nope. On second thoughts I think you're right. Looking at it again the steering looks straight and the mudguard slightly longer at the front of the forks than behind. It's my eyes that need testing.

Yes the mudguard does have more in front of the forks than behind, It's something I am still not 100% happy with, even the idea of the high mount I'm not convinced by.
I'm toying with the idea of looking for something similar but longer then experiment with high and low positions.

ajlog wrote: Wed Apr 06, 2022 8:55 am

Count Steer wrote: Tue Apr 05, 2022 10:08 pm

MrLongbeard wrote: Tue Apr 05, 2022 9:47 pm


Mayhaps you might be right and it's just the angle of the photo throwing my eyes out

Nope. On second thoughts I think you're right. Looking at it again the steering looks straight and the mudguard slightly longer at the front of the forks than behind. It's my eyes that need testing.

Yes the mudguard does have more in front of the forks than behind, It's something I am still not 100% happy with, even the idea of the high mount I'm not convinced by.
I'm toying with the idea of looking for something similar but longer then experiment with high and low positions.

It's probably a 'function and form' thing. Your brain expects it to be longer at the back 'cos that's always the way it's been in order to protect rider/bike. With the very short ones it's probably not really relevant.

That’s pretty much how the bike remained for most of last year, with nearly all my rides just for pleasure at weekends.

I have always liked the look of shotgun style pipes on the Scrambler but with the bike already having a decent V&H slip-on and shot gun slip-ons costing anything from £250 to over £500 for a pair I’d figured I could live without.

Then over the winter a set of custom shot gun pipes came up on one of the Facebook groups and I managed to pick them up for £70.
Then I added some generic internal baffles from eBay to keep the noise similar to the V&H.





Happy with the look and the noise, they are not as loud as they look. The catalytic converter exists in the remaining mid section of the pipe and this covers a lot of the noise attenuation, then with the baffles in each pipe they produce a classic old twin blatt blatt.

Apart possibly from the mirrors it's right up there with the coolest bikes on the forum.