I finally bought a 2013 T100. Wow, I have a long story. Some of you probably read my previous posts. I am originally from South Korea. Lived and studied in the US and Canada and got married to Brazilian wife 8 years ago. I moved to Brazil 2 years ago and I bought a Bonneville 2010. A day after I bought, bonnie stopped on the street 3 in the morning. Left it there and went home. I couldn't call anyone for help because I couldn't speak any Portuguese at that time. I went to pick up the bike next morning and it was gone. sigh.... Then I bought a 2005 Bonneville black one later and had it for 2 weeks. Enjoyed very much but the bike had a problem and no one could fix it right. There was no Triumph dealer at that time. So I returned it back to the ex-owner. So I thought that triumph wasn't for me. This time I bought a new R1200GS. I really liked it for commute and weekend trips but not the price.(It is about 38,000 USD here) This time, BMW Brazil made a freaking mistake by registering my bike as a BMW X1 Car. Documents came out as a BMW CAR!! They said once it is registered, it takes more than 60 days to fix. Once again, I returned the bike and received my money back. ah.... And Triumph Brazil finally has been opened with very good price compared to other brands. So, I finally bought a new 2013 T100 today. Now I want to build this bike to do everything, commute, weekend trips and long distance trips to Buenos Aires and Machu Picchu!! I am thinking about 4 things to modify. 1. Tubeless wheels. 2. Windshield. 3. Rear shock. 4. Tors. I think I know what I want for Windshield, rear shock and pipes. Triumph summer screen, ohlins shock and TORS. If I don't use Triumph pipe, I lose warranty. Tubeless wheels are only thing unclear for me. I know what wheels I want, Kineo wheels. I already researched through the forums but couldn't find the answer. I would like to know what size of rims and tires will be good for what I need. Road conditions here are not great, so I think 19 inch front wheel will be better than 17 inch. But what about the rear rim? They have size of 425, 450 and 550. I have no idea which size will be good. I kinda want little wider tires like 150. Is it a good idea to have 110 front and 150 rear? I want to make all-around bike like BMW GSs. Can you guys please give me some hints and advices?
I had a 2005 Thruxton and loved it.Triumph makes outstanding bikes these days so congrats. Unless your roads are really, really bad, you might want to try 50/50 dual sport tires on the stock wheels first and see how it goes. New wheels can be spendy and, unless you are dealing with deep sand or something, the Bonnies are fairly easy to handle. Low seat, not too heavy by today's standards. Scrambler may have been an option too. Tires can make a huge difference.
Tires will make the biggest difference for you as far as where the bike will take you. More so than any other mod you could make. A bone stock Bonneville is a pretty capable all-round kind of bike. The other things you mentioned will certainly be an upgrade over the stock set up, especially the suspension, but not having that stuff won't restrict you from doing what you want. I'm not sure I would go any wider with the tires than stock. It will affect handling. It's not just a question of having a rim wide enough to support a wider tire. It will change things like high speed/low speed stability, how much effort to "turn in". The bike may tend to "drop" into corners, a typical issue on bikes with much wider rear tires than front. How much of this it will do, and how far? Only way to find for sure is to try it out. If it were me ( and I know it's not, so go ahead and tell me to get stuffed if you like, no worries), I would put a set of Hiedenau K60's on it, 100/90-19 front & 130/80 (maybe 140 max)-17, add a skid plate, and have at her. Pictures please.
Roads have many holes and there are many off roads out of Sao Paulo which is where I live now. New wheels are quite expensive but I am worried about tube tires. I never had experience on them. I don't even know what to do when they go flat. This is the main reason why I want to get tubeless. Scrambler can be very good option but unfortunately we don't have it here.
You can get a set of Progressive 412's on eBay for less than $250. I have those on my W. If I had it my way, I'd get a pair of Ohlins.
In the US the standard Bonnie comes with cast wheels and tubeless tires. They should be a simple bolt on conversion for your T100 requiring no modifications. Another option, instead of turning your T100 into a GS, trade it in on a Tiger 800 or Explorer. You can probably buy a Tiger 800 for the cost of your planned T100 conversion.
I don't know about your new Triumph, but on my old BSA a wrench, two spoons, a patch kit, and bob's yer uncle.
Sounds like the best money you could spend would be on a set of tools and a $1000 beater bike to learn basic motorcycle troubleshooting and repair.
