Manx Grand Prix 2011

We’re planning to attend the Manx GP this year to support Steve Robins entry, Rob North Rocket 3 – 850cc in the Senior Formula Classic race.

Steve Robins has been a Tri-Spark supporter from the beginning first using the systems on his own bikes and later recommending them, and even fitting some, for riders in the Brisbane area. With two spark plugs per cylinder, the racer will be fitted with dual output coils connected to the Tri-Spark triple adjustable control box. This is a sequential system that fires the coils only as needed so there’s no wasted sparks. This system has optimum coil saturation even at high RPM due to the sequential firing method plus an adjustable rev limiter and advance slope adjustment.

Steve commented “With the punishing 4 laps (and about 20 laps of practice) of the 60Km circuit at the Isle of man at extreme revs (between 7000-9000RPM for about 1.5 hours at a time ) every aspect of the motor and chassis has to have extreme attention to detail applied and the very best solutions available in the market to increase the chances of finishing let alone winning . Having used the Tri-Spark Ignition systems, Coils and Regulator/Rectifiers for some years trouble free and very successfully it was a no brainer selecting the ignition and other electronic components - Tri-Spark.
We have a serious line up in the Triple pit crew on hand at the Manx with Charlie Barnes, John French, Pat Brown (from Triples Rule), Gary Woodcock and of course Steve Kelly all assisting . We will be based in Ramsey and no doubt will have a few beers at the Trafalgar pub in the evenings so anyone coming over for the event make sure you look us up.”

Classic Twin for any crank angle

This Beauty belongs to a local Adelaide rider with a passion for racing. He asked if we could adapt the Classic Twin to fire at the 180 degree firing angle for this engine. We found a way to acheive this with some small changes to the unit and by moving the magnets on the rotor to the positions required for the engine.

We also have customers using this ignition on 76 and 90 degree Triumphs as well. If you have an offset crank engine this may be the ignition you've been looking for. Please contact us for further information. Note: this feature is only available on the latest version units.

Magneto Replacement Kit

There was a great deal of interest in our new Magneto Replacement kit that we launched at the All British Rally. This kit includes an alloy housing for bolting the classic twin system onto the engine where a three bolt flange mount magneto would normally sit.

This is a 12 volt system that also includes a twin lead ignition coil with the electronic ignition.

Introductory pricing $549 Australian for the kit.

View with the cap removed

Ignition Coil Q & A

Q: Brett in Australia asks “I’m installing one of your Classic Twin ignitions on my 850 Commando and I’d like to use a single coil with twin outputs. It has 4 ohm primary resistance. Do I wire it as per the diagram in the instructions but without the black link wire between the coils?”
A: The minimum coil resistance recommended with the Classic Twin is 3 ohms so your 4 ohm coil would be fine to use. As you said the wiring is the same as in the instructions but you eliminate the link wire shown between the 2 coils when using a single coil.

Q: Alan in California asks “is the voltage regulator is required when fitting our Classic Twin ignition system on a 650 Triumph.”
A: The regulator is a recommended upgrade to the charging system but is not required to get the new ignition system operational.

Q: Peter in the UK asks “I’d like to order a Tri-Spark kit for my Rocket 3. What coils do you recommend to go with it?”
A: We recommend our Tri-Spark 12 volt Power coils with the triple kit. They have the same dimensions as the Lucas coils that came with the Rocket 3 but with higher spec materials we get twice the spark duration over the Lucas coils.

Are all coils pretty much the same – no way!

A long spark duration is desirable for easy starting especially on cold engines where the fuel mixture is the most varied. High spark intensity minimises the chance of misfiring, reduced plug fouling and can make the most of high compression and highly tuned engines.

These coils would also be compatible with the original points ignition in the triples except the T160 which would require 6 volt coils with its original points setup utilising a ballast resistor.

Click here for further information about our coils.

Q: Stuart asks “I see on your web site you recommend 6 volt coils with your twin ignition (Classic Twin) but my bike has a 12 volt battery. Why is this?”
A: First up, the Classic Twin is a 12 volt ignition system designed to work with a 12 volt electrical system. The reason for the 6 volt coils is they are wired together in a series circuit and as such they present a 12 volt load to the ignition module. It’s simply 6 + 6 = 12. In series circuit the 2 loads add together to equal 12 volts. This is commonly done with other similar ignition systems.
If 12 volt coils were used instead, they would make a 24 volt load and would be under powered by the 12 volt electrical system resulting in a weak spark.

Coils Compared 4 volt 6 volt 12 volt
Lucas ( 17M4) 4 volt 1.0 Ohms primary resistance
Lucas (17M6) 6 volt 1.8 Ohms primary resistance
Lucas (17M12) 12 volt 3.6 Ohm primary resistance

Tri-Spark 4 volt 1.0 Ohms primary resistance
Tri-Spark 6 volt 1.9 Ohms primary resistance
Tri-Spark 12 volt 3.5 Ohm primary resistance

All British Rally Draw Prizes

We pulled the winners names out at 4pm on the Saturday of the All British Rally with the help of Richard from Montimedia (left in photo). Montimedia look after our web hosting and have been a great help with setting up our web site and ecommerce. We highly recommend Montimedia for any of your IT needs.

The winners were:

First prize a $200 Tri-Spark voucher – Tony Pocock

Second prize a $150 Union Jack voucher – Julie-Ann Brennan

Third prize a set of Tri-Spark coils – Stephen Edwards

Fourth prize a Tri-Spark voltage regulator – G. Hodgson

Congratulations to you all and thank you to all those who entered.

Customer Report

Great to get feedback from Phil Hollonds. He said, “ Good tips Stephen keep up the good work on the newsletter.

I ordered and received the Tri-Spark ignition and coils for my 850 Commando. What a huge difference it makes especially when I’m not getting any younger; kicks over first time, every time.

No more mucking around with points and timing, which is all great when you’re younger and new at it all but not now, I just want to enjoy it thanks.”

Glad to hear from you Phil and that we’ve helped make your riding more enjoyable.