I loved when I saw the bobbed BikeBrothers Bobber. Also MikeMAC's change to 7" headlight I found so right for the bike, Combining the two my modification program became defined.
What actually brings me to hammer down these words is the experience with the changing of tyres. First off, the Avons are simply wonderful. Let there be no doubt about that. In my eyes, a bobber should look more of a bobbed down bike thus I wanted it more old style. And that included the tyres. The Avons would look gorgeous on any bike. An the is the point, 'any bike'. When I saw the BikeBrothers set up I found the right style: back: Shinko, E240, MT90-16 TT 74H; front: Bridgestone AC03 G 100/90-19 TT 57H M/C TT.
The dealer believed I would make a big mistake to change and advised me against it cautioning me that the flat profiled Shinko tyres would be horrible to ride. I proved him wrong though. On winding roads here in Norway they were perfect and truth be told, I did not notice any difference from the Avons. I admit that I have not more then 1000 km on the bike so I can be wrong of course. But so far so good!
I had changed to the small rear fender and put on the Rizoma lights. The old cabling tube/hose was used for that change. It is however pretty thick and takes some space between the fender and the tyre, but still leaves abt. 1.5-2 cm room.
Last weekend I took a ride down the coast. Everything worked perfect. The new tyres were great with no feeling of negatives from the flat profile as predicted by the dealer. That actually surprised me as I was prepared for more active driving to cope. On Sunday going back I suddenly lost all the lights except the headlight, direction signal, marker light and break light. I found the 10A fuse in the back had blown and put in a new one. It lasted for 10 minutes. Back I got the bike to the garage, expecting the Rizoma mounting could be the cause. What we found though was a surprise; the culprit was the Shinko tyre. At speed it expands and rounds up much so it hit the cable hose on the fender, thus after many km it ate through the plastic and laid the copper bare to cause the short.
This also explains why a seemingly flat tyre could perform so well I expect; at speed the shape rounds and surface contact improves when leaning over.
The easy fix was to remove the original fat Triumph cable hose and tidy up the cabling into the profile of the fender. The problem is solved. So, for anyone else out there considering the same, be aware and make the adjustments and you shall be fine. I was earlier considering to put on an even slimmer and tighter rear fender. BikeBrother has them out shortly. But with the Shinko that would not be possible. And I love the Shinkos and will stick with them ;-) thus the fender stays.