Hey, just joined the Triumph Nation with a gloss black 2018 Tiger 800 XrX. Ridden most everything since I was a boy, now that Im older and can afford them Im fully investing in a stable of bikes. Looking forward to picking everyone's brain on the Tiger because its my first Triumph.
IIRC, back in the olden days, a Tiger was a Bonneville with a single carb (or a Bonneville was a Tiger with two carbs). Maybe it's because I've owned a Sportster or two, but I like the idea of a single carb. After all, the cylinders pull in sequence. The carb wouldn't feed both cylinders at the same time. Seems almost . . . inefficient . . . to have two carbs. Like the old Honda CB 750-4's with four frikkin' mufflers. The problem is that with a single carb, the air column has to change direction as each cylinder opens its intake. Air has mass, therefore it has momentum. This is supposed to be a drag at high RPM's with a single-carb setup. Still, you'd think that you could find a single-carb mod for a Bonneville. For us old timers who value low and mid-range punch over horsepower at high revs. I can't find any such thing. No single carb Bonneville kit. Why not?
Why not? Mostly marketing I suspect but 10 yrs ago emissions legislation killed off carbs on mainstream machinery anyway. The pre 1973 single carb Bonnie was the Trophy. The Tiger was the last of the Meriden variants when the somewhat badge engineered BSA equivalents were the Thunderbolt (a re-badged Triumph) and the 750 Lightning. In pure engineering terms the single carb is better off the line at the bottom end while the twin wins out at WOT and top end with better intake velocity and outright horsepower. Most vehicles sell on BHP not torque figures...... which makes the modern Speed Twin slightly anomalous.