Featured What you been doing with your TRIUMPH today??

@Bikerman: Thanks! Nobody can stop us!

 

No photos…..But I took the Speed Triple for its second service. So I actually rode a bike again…First time since September last year when I went to do the Factory tour.
It felt good but a little alien. Decent weather but I couldn’t mess about as my wife was collecting me from the little independent garage. About fifteen miles. New Michelin Road 5’s being fitted as well. Due to lock downs I hadn’t bothered getting the bike serviced over the last two years, it’s only done 3.5 k miles but hopefully we will do some more miles this year….

 

Wash, polish, chain clean/oil and adjusted the rear shock to see if it softened the ride after an instructor advised rear shock harden the front ???
Well it worked great. I put 2 full turns on the matriss mono (leaving another 25+) and it was smooth .

 

When you're next up there instead of turning right on the A4212 for Bala carry on up to Ffestiniog then take the B4391 which will bring you back out on the A4212 about half way to Bala. Once in Bala you can take the B4391 again if you fancy going on to Lake Vernwy

 

Good call @littleade we've been that way a few times

 

After watching a dozen YouTube videos over the past few days I got around to fitting a longer brake hose. My cunning plan was to use the brake lever to pump fluid out of the reservoir, via the bleed nipple into a vacuum pump bleed kit that didn't have the sucky bit attached. Then after changing the hose I used a syringe to push air into the 'bleeder' container which forced fluid back up into the new hose until it started seeping from the banjo bolt on the master cylinder that I'd left loose.



After tightening up the bleed nipple and banjo bolt a pump of the lever produced a tiny air bubble, after a dozen more pumps there was no air and brakes felt firm and good to go. However I then proceeded to bleed the system and change the fluid as it was due anyway.

The hose I'd bought was a bit too long and I had to use up an inch by making the loop under the tank bigger than necessary, that's as big as I could go without it showing.



To avoid fouling, I also needed to use a couple of penny washers under the mounting bracket for that hose connector, bringing it a little further away from the frame.

I now have lots of slack and clearance on the brake hose.





Next job is the clutch cable, which is making the front look asymmetrical (and also has zero slack for any future handlebar adjustments).

For anyone wanting to extend brake hose on a Speedmaster or Bobber (and possibly other Triumph bikes). Here are links to the parts I used...

https://www.venhill.co.uk/3-60184ls.html
https://www.venhill.co.uk/m10x-1-point-25-convex-male-adaptor-stainless-360125as.html
https://www.venhill.co.uk/625mm-line-with-18-bsp-swivel-nuts-3h0625.html
https://www.venhill.co.uk/10mm-copper-washer-10pack-c101-10.html

Length of hose required will depend on setup, I reckon to match OEM Bobber hose line you'd want 550mm and for Speedmaster, 625mm.

P.S. For completion, here's the torque settings I used...

Banjo bolt on master cylinder is 25Nm and adaptor that screws into connector under tank is 15Nm. I got these from Triumph's instructions for their own cable option kit, and are higher than what Venhill's instructions say. (Note, I used the original Banjo bolt not one from Venhill).

For the swivel nuts on the hose I used 12Nm as per Venhill's instructions and used 8Nm for bleed nipple as that seemed a common figure for these things found online.

 

Had a run through to a bike meet in Brechin with a few mates to see the new trike dealer that's just opened. not my photos but nicked them from someone else


I'm at the back pointing at some old cars that were rusting away


Lovely Triumph




As Brechin is not far from the start of the Cairn o mount road i was hoping my mates would take that road home, it's only about 50 mile longer but they didn't fancy it. i decided to go that way anyway as it's too good a route to miss, took a photo of another AA box, that was the only time i stopped on the way home

 

That trident is a bit tasty!

 

Went for a sunny, albeit cold ride today. Just a quick two hour trip, as I had other things planned in the afternoon. I went to Val-Dieu abbey again, but is was too crowded to enjoy a quick cup of coffee. So I just took these quick pictures and continued my ride.

 

@littleade , yes I have done that one but for a good while. You’ve reminded me that it needs a re-visit next time I’m out that way

 

Had bimble out on the thruxton. Called for a cuppa Broxton tea hut and there were quite a few bikes out.

I then headed off to J&S in Delamere. There were loads of bikes there and I spotted this thriumph with a cool decal set...

 

Sounds like you had a good day . I have had a look on my local bikesafe site and put my name down for a course. There is a waiting list, but it does not say how long the list is. We will see.

 

Yes sadly there are to few young riders, which unless more take up riding our numbers will significantly reduce over time.

 

Ride out to meet friends from Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire for the Bottesford Easter Egg run.
About 500 bikes and donating Easter eggs for children and families in need around the area.
Only 1 degree when I set off at 7:30 and wishing those Triumph heated grips were a bit more effective!

 

Yeh, but remember when we were young...and knew it fuckin' all?

 

Solo spin out for a couple of hours, I'm not one for riding in groups, I can go out with lifelong friends, we started out on pushbikes aged about 7 and grew up together moving on to motorcycles, on the rare occasions I'm back in Somerset we usually meet up for a spin out and it's just like old times-I trust them implicitly but honestly I just don't trust other motorcyclists I don't know, a hangover from a catastrophic accident I was involved in over 40 years ago, I've ridden in huge anti helmet rallies in the 70's and 80's with hundreds of other bikes through London and riding up to brands and other race meets, but these days I prefer to just ride with Mrs W on the back.

 

I concur with that. An old riding friend of mine passed away in 2017 in his mid eighties and I've rode alone ever since but don't make any preconceptions about his age. At the time of his passing he had almost 30 years on me, owned a Fireblade and up to the onset of his illness, he could ride it! I still miss him.

 

Me and Mrs W are going to the Distinguished Gentlemens ride in May, I'm genuinely nervous about that one but it's for a great cause so deep breaths...

 

Big breaths are better than deep ones, I read it on the internet...

 

On the Internet eh? Must be true then