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The WILD RAT
(modifications) |
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The Wild Rat (her name and registration tag) began her life in
May 1997. Prior to that she lead a pretty uninteresting life on the local
showroom floor. I've been riding for a number of years, but got hit hard with
the riding bug in January 1996. I purchased a Harley XL Custom and proceeded to
put 10,000 miles on it the first year. About that time, Kim, my wife said that
she was going to take the rider safety |
course, and start riding as well. The
search then began for a second bike for her. I then changed direction as I
reasoned that as I would be doing the majority of the riding, I should get the
second bike for me, and Kim could ride the Harley. I then began the search for
a sportier bike for myself. I had long envied the Buell S2-T that my good
friend Greg Welsh had (usually as he was pulling away from my sportster). I
looked at the Buell's, but even used, they were several thousand out of my
price range. I then received a postcard from the local Triumph dealer offering
demo rides on Hinckley Triumphs. I took a 95 Trident out for the afternoon
and the rest is history. I loved the feel of the triple, but wanted a little
more protection from the wind, something suited to the longer runs I was
planning. I started looking at the Trophy's, but found the fairing to be a
little too much. I sat on the Sprint and fell in love.
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I was not happy with the handlebars, so the first modification
was the addition of a set of Gen Mar Risers. The extra height gave me a more
upright riding position, but I could still get low if needed. I also wanted a
place to strap things to - enter the Triumph cast rack. I almost choked when I
heard the price, but once I had it on, I couldn't live without it. It gave me a
stable platform to strap my knapsack to, while still leaving room for a
passenger. The next thing I wanted, was to let people know at a distance that I
was riding a British bike. Enter Todd Fisher at Fisher Custom Grafixs. I
ordered a second fairing and gave it along with |
| the
front fender to Todd. He created an incredible flowing Union Jack which seems
to ripple across the fairing. He also created the RAT Logo which you can see at
the bottom of this page. He masked the large 'T' to leave the factory British
Racing Green and did a wonderful job increasing the color depth of the rat. The
next addition was the Throttlemeister - my hat's off to the guys at Marker
machine for manufacturing such a wonderful product. It was easy to install and
and operates flawlessly. As I was now starting to put in greater distances, I
decided that the stock seat had to go, and I needed more storage than the cast
rack could provide. I shopped around for seats but found very little was
offered for the Triumphs. I decided on a Corbin as I had one already for the
Harley. I went all out and ordered the leather 'Canyon Sport' dual touring seat
in leather, with the passenger backrest. To finish out the touring mods, I
added the Givi dual 36 liter monokey bags. By adding the dual bags instead of
the triple, I did not have to add the gaudy top rack. When I pull off the bags,
I have a sporty bike, not a bike that looks like you just pulled some bags off.
Also, somewhere in this time, I decided I needed an alarm. I ordered the
Triumph alarm, but it was on perpetual backorder. I then started calling local
dealers to see if I could find one in stock and ended up finding a discontinued
talking Triumph alarm. It really rates a 10 on the 'neato' scale with a Brit
voice announcing 'Attention - this Triumph motorcycle is being stolen' ! (hope
to have a wave here soon). |
| Since
September 1st, I've added the following: Micron Racing Slip Ons, SOS priority
module and most recently 96 Trophy handlebars. The Microns give a very low
rumble to the bike - definitely turns some heads. I don't think I have much of
a performance boost from them, although I haven't re-jetted yet. The SOS module
turned my rear turn signals into running lights, thus increasing my rear
visibility. It also flashes the brake light when you apply the brakes -
hopefully this will catch the eye's of whoever is behind me. |
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I just finished adding the Trophy bars, and have not put a lot
of miles on them yet. They eliminated the Gen Mar risers, and also got rid of
the weird angle that was present on the stock bars - much easier on the wrists.
These bars, however do require a longer brake line for proper fit, so I added a
set of Goodridge stainless brake lines. These make the stock |
| calipers perform 100% better -actually feel like I
have some braking power. After testing the brake lines, the installer
recommended an upgrade on the front suspension. Added the Cartridge Emulators
by Race Tech - dramatic improvement - this bike just keeps getting more fun to
ride each day. Anyway if you haven't figured it out by now, I really love my
Triumph!! |
