Tec 202 Camshaft - Street Twin 900

Good to hear, although with regard to Tec it seems that it's caveat emptor save for their cams and fork internals.

 

A bit late for this but T120 rims are a direct fit to Street Twin/Cup. Then you can take the advantage of having double front discs also, just get T120 right fork slider and the brake stuff. The second picture is T120 wheels W/O the right disc on place.

 

When you say 'just get T120 right fork slider and the brake stuff', how easy was that? I admit I haven't looked (yet) but I would imagine that finding a T120 front wheel with disc, a fork leg and calliper in good condition wouldn't be simple..or inexpensive. But maybe they're out there.

 

Hi, I bought the TEC 101 camshaft in 2022 before the TEC 202-model was released. The 202 is a Stage 2 camshaft, but they are both for the same chassis numbers AFAIK.

I recently got this answer from TEC when asking them:
"The stage 2 cam has slightly longer duration for better performance, we're dropping the stage 1 cam as the stage 2 gives better power."

However I guess with the Stage 2 cam you lose some bottom torque, and I don't want that.

I didn't finish my installation of the camshaft last year, but will do it soon.
One thing you didn't mention is that this camshaft needs a tune or remapping to get the most out of it. It's not very easy to do plug&play, so that is probably why TEC says it's not necessary. But it will make a difference.
I have the TuneECU app and have been doing some investigations. I just hope there is someone out there that have done the proper mapping already, and is willing to share their file. It's not that hard to do an upload/flash of the ECU. I already did it, derestricting my bike from A2 license. Or else the tuning map has to be custom created for the bike and camshaft. There are some interesting youtube videos on this subject.
Finally there is DNK Tuneworks. They can provide a custom map file, or mail-in ECU service.

The company Raisch in Germany sell their performance camshaft with the Power Commander and their own tuning map. But the price is way up there.
They say this on their website:
"In addition to the assembly of the camshaft we recommend further tuning measures such as a larger air passage, cat replacement pipe, sport exhaust and of course a new engine tuning. Some suppliers sell camshafts with the information that the motorcycle would adjust itself. These statements are absolute nonsense, since the electronics only have a very simple control circuit (jump probes) in the exhaust system and also have no mass air flow meter in the intake system. Therefore a mapping adjustment is necessary (Power Commander, ECU Flash). If you want to have it Plug & Play, you can use our ready made power kits."

 

It's a little frustrating that different companies give you contradictory information about a product, in this case TEC vs Raisch. TEC say the bike automatically adjusts to the new camshaft, whereas Raisch say that's nonsense.

I agree with Eldon, my bike has covered over 8000 miles, including a recent 5 day tour of Normandy (D-Day beaches, memorials etc), without a hitch and I'm happy with the way it performs.

Has anybody fitted a Power Commander to a Street Twin?

I would be interested to know if there is any substance to the claims made by Raisch. Obviously there would be no point asking anyone at Triumph.

 

One of my sons has a 900 Thruxton and like your Street Twins has circa 65 bhp/PS which has always struck me as woefully low. My2001 900 SuperSport in standard trim is 79 and going even further back in time the 58 Bonneville produced 48. If you do the calc to find the output for every cc you will find the 66 year old Bonnie outperforms the current 900 Street/Speed Twins. What are Triumph playing at?

 

Definitely, I remember when I was riding the Tbird I could lift the rear wheel off of the deck by grabbing the luggage rack fairly easily. My Striple and SS not a chance in hell. Or is that down to my advancing years?

 

The consensus is that the engine can adjust itself for minor changes like air filter and mufflers/slip-ons. But bigger changes like decat with x-pipe and certainly a different camshaft is outside of the limits for the engine electronics to compensate for. This will result in less performance and too lean mixture compared to an ideal fuel and ignition map. A nice guy in USA has done his research on this, both on the 900 and the Speed Twin 1200 (and other Triumphs). The factory mapping is focused on emissions and fuel consumption, so there are benefits of doing this better even without a camshaft upgrade. He has posted a lot of youtube videos on the Triumph tuning subject, and using TuneECU to improve performance. He even sent me his TEC cam tuning file, but it's for the Street Cup with twin clocks so I don't think it will work correctly for my ST. I would have to copy the values over to the correct map, probably not too hard to do.

 

Our Street Twins has 55 hp stock (2016-2018 models). But the torque numbers are extremely good, so at normal driving speeds it isn't underpowered at all. Triumph increased peak power to 65 hp from 2019. A 66 year old Bonnie hasn't got a chance against modern high torque engines. But they are not meant to be high revving engines for high top speed bikes. And of course brakes, suspension and handling is in a different league too.

 

Yes, the criteria when I bought the Striple were less aggressive riding position, lower seat height (under 800 mm), lower weight and some electronics, particularly ABS. As it was I didn’t even test ride it. As soon as I sat on it and could flat foot it the deal was done. Didn’t even know about the quickshifter until I collected it I certainly got far more bike than my earlier aspirations were hoping for. And for 10% off of list.

 

Being pretty much IT incompetent I would have no idea how to alter the mapping for an ideal fuel and ignition map even if I wanted to. I can appreciate that the engine electronics were never designed to compensate for significant changes, such as a camshaft swop. Why would they be? I doubt Triumph expected many, if any, owners to start messing around with serious bits of engine, Triumph would probably assume they would buy a more powerful bike.

I know the ST engine runs lean, you can feel it on start-up, but generally I'm happy with the way the bike runs (except for throttle snatch, which is annoying, especially when compared to my three 30yr old Hondas, which are sooo smooth).

However, if it can be improved with not much effort or cost I would be interested.

 

If your bike has a fly by wire throttle the answer is probably yes. My son’s Panigale had the same problem, evidently they are known for it, there is a kit consisting of some small spacers that need to be fitted into the twist grip. TMF did a video on sorting his Panigale out, worth a watch.

Also when son sorted his out he had to borrow my set of security bits to disassemble the throttle housing as the screw heads have a triform “slot” not hex or Torx or cruciform. So ensure you have the right tools to do the job.

 

I actually meant improving the bike's running by changing the mapping. But thanks for that suggestion, I shall look into it. Anything that can make the throttle smoother is welcome.