NJMP Thunderbolt with HOD Northeast

After replacing my broken front sway bar, I wanted to go back on track to try it again so I could see if there was any performance difference so I decided to head back to NJMP Thunderbolt once again, this time with Hooked On Driving NorthEast.

NJMP Thunderbolt - 8/22/2026

The day started with some heavy rain and I was anticipating a wash out all day but we lucked out and the track dried pretty much after the first session and it stayed dry the rest of the day with mostly overcast conditions. With the new bar in place and rear bar reconnected, the directional change was definitely faster. I settled for 28psi all around on my 255/40R17 Bridgestone Potenze RE-71RZs and that made the car feels pretty balanced at all speeds. 

Once I got comfortable that there was sufficient grip out there I was able to push hard and improved m personal best by almost 1.5 seconds from my last trip less than a month ago. I'd say we're moving in the right direction. 

I had also wanted to mount my Solo2 DL away from my windscreen and found someone who used a general purpose quadlock adhesive mount on a Solo2 mount on his bike so I gave that a try and it worked wonderfully with the Quad lock mount already on my car for my phone. 

Solo2 DL mounted using a quad lock mount

New PB for Thunderbolt: 1:33.97

New Mirrors, Dynamoto Stand, and Viper Seat

I really like bar end mirrors but the factory bar end mirrors that go up look a bit like bug eyes to me. I wanted something I could place under bar but still be visible so I opted for Motogadget mo.view spy 50 mirrors. They're definitely small but still offer enough visibility to be functional.

Motogadget mo.view spy 50 mirrors

Motogadget mo.view spy 50 mirrors

I also wanted to make it easier to move the bike around the garage without the risk of hitting any of my cars or dropping it so I got a Dynamoto stand for dual swing arm bikes. Paried with the Motone axlerod bobbin kit, it worked perfectly and I can very smoothly move the bike around wherever I want.

Dynamoto omnidirectional stand

Lastly, while I love the look of my Motone Rattler seat, I missed having a dark brown leather seat that the bike came with. I picked up a Motone Viper seat in tobacco brown as an alternative when I want that brown bench seat look. It's very comfortable I think I like how it contrasts on the bike.

Motone viper seat

Final mods for Bonnie...For Now

I'm finally done with all the modifications I wanted to make to Bonnie, at least for this year. First up was installing the factory heated grips. They're pricey but the best part is that they connect to the wiring that's already in the bike that not only heats the grips but also shows the status on the clock display.

Factory connector for the heated grips

Left side grip installed and connected

Switch for the heated grips installed

Next up I wanted to address some of the handlebSar ergonomics. I was getting a little bit of shoulder pain on long rides from reaching forward so I got 20mm Super Corse handle bar risers. I was also slightly bothered by the non-centered location of my phone when mounted on the handle bar quadlock mount so I bit the bullet and bought the billet aluminum quadlock handlebar clamp mount. It's an expensive piece but is beautifully made and perfectly centers the phone mount. Noting here that the bottom bolt for the clamp was torqued to 30Nm and the hex bolts for the clamp was torqued to 24Nm.

Thornton Hundred quadlock handlebar clamp mount

Quadlock anti-vibration and wireless charger

Super Corse 20mm handle bar riser

Riser installed

I've got a Dynamo Moto bike stand on the way to make it easier to move the bike around the garage so I needed rear bobbons for the stand. The Motone Axlerod bobbins are perfect for this. It goes through the hollow axle and has the added benefit of keeping dirt and gunk out of there. 

Moton Axlerod bobbins

For a little dress up with some functionality, I got a Moton oil cap and shift peg as well as a British Customs retro chain guard.

Motone oil cap

Moton shifter peg

British Customs Retro Chain Guard

Lastly, I still want a rear grab bar but the factory one I installed a few weeks ago blocks the brake light so I got a Motone grab bar instead which is curved up to not block anything. Oh yea, my new license plate arrived too ;)

Motone rear grab bar

While I was at it, I also adjusted the rear preload. The manual for the Fox shocks indicates that 0 preload is for an average rider (around 170-180lbs) and 7.75 turns for a 2 up ride situation. Since I weight 250lbs without gear, I set the preload to 6 turns. Overall the handling and comfort of the bike improved a lot and so did the ergonomics.

Maintenance Update:

Mileage: 684

- Factory heated grips

- 20mm handlebar risers

- Thornton Hundred Quadlock handlebar clamp mount

- Motone axlerod bobbins

- Motone oil cap

- Motone rear grab bar

- Motone shifter peg

- British Customs retro chain guard

- Rear springs adjusted to 6 turn preload

New Front Sway Bar

After the unfortunate sway bar failure I had at NJMP a few weeks ago, I ordered a new Karcepts 1.25" front sway bar to replace it. I realized that if the car handled well with no bars I didn't get to get as crazy of a bar as I had before so I went down the the more normal "big size" front sway bar and only set it to the 2nd hole from full soft.

New front sway bar

New bar installed

Obviously the rear bar was now reconnected as well and I left that at full soft. We're heading back to NJMP in 2 weeks so looking forward to see if this makes an improvement or not.

Also, I noticed at that event that my AC was no longer blowing cold so had SJF refill the freon and now the vent is pumping out 50F ice cold air at full blast.

Maintenance Update:

Mileage: 70,295

- New Karcepts 1.25" Front sway bar

- AC refilled

Bonnie’s First Service

I’ve been having so much fun on Bonnie that I logged 600 miles in just 3 weeks even though I only ride on the weekends. That means the engine is finally broken in so I took it back to the dealership for its first service.

First dealer service

Maintenance Update: 

Mileage: 608

- First service

- Oil Change

Flyscreen and Fender

I wanted something to keep the bugs off the clocks and my phone so I picked up a Dart Piranha tinted fly screen. I'm pretty sure it's useless for anything other than that since apparently even the slightly larger ones just redirect air to your helmet instead of your body. I kind of prefer the fully naked look but a short fly screen like this still looks proper on this bike.

Dart Piranha fly screen

Dart Piranha fly screen

Also, with the tail tidy in place, the front fender looks disproportionally small so I replaced it with a shorty matte black aluminum fender from Brogue Motorcycles.

Brogue Motorcycles shorty front fender

Maintenance Update:

Milage: 596

- New Brogue Motorcycles short front aluminum fender

- Dart Piranha fly screen

Remus Exhaust and Tail Tidy

Now that the suspension is sorted, I wanted to take care of some cosmetic and sound changes. While the standard pea shooter exhausts are classic and sound pretty good stock, I wanted to change it with something that had a slightly deeper tone and upswept so I can clear the axles to install some Motone Axlerod bobbins later.

For the exhaust I opted for a Remus slip-on muffler setup from Austria. I'm not really looking for a performance gain here since I'm more than happy with the factory power output so this was just a cosmetic and auditory enhancement. Since I don't anticipate having any passengers I also took the opportunity to delete the passenger foot begs for a cleaner look since they had to be removed to install the new mufflers anyway.

Remus exahust installed

Remus exahust installed

Next up were some lighting enhancements. I removed the giant rear fender and light assembly with a British Customs tail tidy with cateye brake light. For the turn signals, I went with Brogue Motorcyles classic LED turn signals in the rear which I soldered to a A&J Cycles plug-n-play wiring kit and mounted using their shock mounted brackets. For the front I went with the same Brogue Motorcycles classic LED kit but they offer one that had the correct plug-n-play connectors for the 2026 T120 model. Since the LEDs offer less resistance than the factory halogens they flash too quickly. Thankfully Triumph already solved this problem and you can reconfigure the lights using the cluster to take into account LED lighting but setting it to mode 2. 

Briths customs tail tidy with cateye brake light

Tail tidy and rear shock-mounted turn signals installed

Front turn signals installed

Another thing that I wasn't too happy about were the factory levers. I felt they had too much play in them and were also unequal looking left and right. I replaced them with some much nicer fully adjustable Motone black aluminum clutch and brake levers and not only do they look great but they feel perfect too with no excessive play. For added decoration, I replaced the factory plastic brake reservoir cover with an aluminum Triumph logo one. 

Motone black brake lever

Motone black clutch lever

Finally, I replaced the silver clutch over plate with a black Triumph Motorcycles one to give it an even more blacked out look and also replaced the clutch guide with a Triumph black aluminum one.

Black Triumph Motorcyles clutch cover

I even got my new Triumph gloves which are super comfortable and look pretty good.

New Triumph gloves

Maintenace Update: 

Mileage: 241 miles

- British Customs Tail Tidy

- Brogue Motorcycles Class Extreme turn signals front and rear (shock mounted)

- Remus slip-on exhaust

- Motone black aluminum brake and clutch levers

- Triumph aluminum brake reservoir cover

- Triumph Motorcycles black clutch cover plate

- Triumph black aluminum clutch cable guide

- Rear footpeg delete