After relocating the poorly located stock ignition switch with the freakin’ awesome Joker Machine Ignition Switch Relocater (see Mod #3) that I purchased from British Customs, I entered into an email discussion with Bryan Warren over at Joker Machine headquarters. I had no plans on doing any mods that were purely cosmetic but Bryan changed my mind. He sent over a few things that, after holding them and then seeing them fitted, made me think otherwise. I also had planned on only posting one mod a week, but this Joker Machine stuff is seriously cool, so I’m posting this the same day as my TEC 2-1 post. I’m not a fan of “bling” but Joker does a great job of staying on the cool side of bling.
For this post, let me focus on the EFI Carb Tops. Again, I wouldn’t have thought of purchasing these as they’re not a performance-enhancing product, but after installing them, they are definitely a cool-enhancing product and they alerted me to some of the seriously shoddy bits on the stock Triumph.
First let me clarify something. The 2014 Triumph Bonneville T100 is a fuel-injected machine. It does NOT have carburetors. To remain passionate to the 1960s styling though, Triumph makes the new Triumphs APPEAR as if they are carbureted. As you’ll see, the carb covers are merely hiding 21st Century wiring.
Okay, now that that bubble is burst, let’s continue. Triumph wants to create the illusion that these bikes are still carbureted but they then support it with some really cheap-ass sheet metal covers. You don’t notice at first glance, but once you pull them off, you realize that they are of the .99 cent discount variety – seriously cheap. That’s where Joker Machine steps in.
As you can see, the Joker Machine “carb” covers are seriously well machined.
Okay. Let’s get to installing them.
The cheapo Triumph covers are bolted down with some fairly soft Philips head screws, so be careful – the heads are easy to strip. You can try removing them with an offset Philips head wrench but, if like me, you don’t have such a thing (and don’t want to wait for Amazon to deliver you one in two days), you will need to remove the seat and offset the gas tank.
This is my third time removing the Triumph Bonneville seat and let me tell you, it SUCKS! I am over it and on the lookout for some type of quick release system. It’s ridiculous trying to remove the stock seat setup.
Anyway… once the seat is removed, release the gas tank by unscrewing its rear two bolts holding it to the frame. Those are the only tank attachments. Now, properly, you should probably remove the tank entirely but I didn’t want to undo the fuel lines. Instead, I made sure to ride and run down the tank as far as possible so that it would be light, and then that way I could shift it off the bike frame and not be afraid of its weight causing it to fall off. This is not the smartest way, but it’s the easiest and laziest. It worked for me.
As you can see, the stock stamped piece of shite is now open for removal. Use a Philips head screwdriver to remove the cover. As mentioned earlier, be VERY careful. The stock Philips screws are cheap and soft and the head crosses are very prone to stripping. Make sure that you have a good seat with the proper size Philips head and give it a crack. After that, you can safely unscrew it/them.
Pull it off, set it next to the Joker version, and marvel at the difference.
Even more so, what I really appreciated was that the Joker Machine mod uses 3mm hex bolts. Much higher quality and much easier to access and less likely to strip.
Okay, I think by now you’ve got a handle on this mod. It’s extremely straight forward. Go ahead and bolt in the right side Joker “carb” cover. Now move on to the left side. This is one of the simpler mods, so I’m not going to need to go into detail. Shift the tank over to the right side so that you can access the stock left “carb” cover with your Philips head. Remove it and place in the Joker Machine cover.
Now put back the gas tank, and affix it to the frame. Then reattach the seat via the stubborn rear end bolts. There you have it. A simple mod only taking 1/2 hour or so. Yes, it’s not performance enhancing but once you have the Joker Machine “carb” covers in, you’ll agree that they add a serous nice touch of class, befitting to a Bonnie.
Tools Required:
Philips head screwdriver
5mm allen
8mm allen
Company URL:
Joker Machine