What Have You Being Doing With Your Non-triumph Today?

I was eating too many mince pies and quality street so went down the garage and made a TRIBSA door knocker (Triumph T140 piston and a BSA A65 Lightning conrod)



All ready to screw up to keep the postman entertained

 

Is that the big end knocking or the postman??!!
What a cracking job!!

 

Fitted a Hitchcocks single seat and rear rack to my Bullet 500, great quality and perfect fit.

 

I miss my Bullet 500 - the one bike I regret selling.

 

I fancied fitting a single seat set up like that to my Bullet, but it didn't look totally applicable to my Electra X model, so I never did. I fitted some chrome bits and pieces (from Hitchcocks, of course).... then I sold it!

Looks like it was a similar dark green metallic to yours.....

 

We rebuilt this engine with a new crank and mains a while ago but then, for one reason or another, the project got pushed to one side.
Fitted a new piston the other night and now the engine lives.
Ooh the smell and noise of a two stroke..... lurvely
Might just have to get myself one

 

I got the Blade out for the first time since mid - November today and Helmut his Tuono. We went to the Baffle Haus for a quick trip this afternoon as I am on nights.

It was lovely to ride the Blade, I have been riding the Striple whilst the roads have been wet and mucky recently, just because it has traction control and ABS (and doesn’t have immaculately - painted fairings!!).

 

Sounds sensible but then when does riding motorcycles and sensible get mentioned in the same sentence

With caution, there's nowt wrong with taking the Fireblade out this time of year

 

No definitely not, I ride it all year round. The only very noticeable thing this year has been the sheer amount of mud and gravel on the roads, never known anything like it. I always imagine the gravel chipping the paint and mud getting inside the fairings (I know they can be taken off .....but....) .

 

Glad to know you got the Blade out for a spin, @Mrs Visor! I'll bet it was a happy bike. I think you've mentioned (probably pics too) Baffle Haus before. Hmmm, is it related to Waffle House? The name similarity is uncanny.

 

No Waffles there @Sandi T . Baffle Haus has a clothing shop with some horribly nice things in, serves a small menu, cakes and really nice coffee. I have been going to their original venue "The Cedars" for years but they have just opened a new one about two weeks ago "The Old Post" which I have yet to explore.

 

Oooh, that place looks wonderful, @Mrs Visor! I loved your description of "horribly nice things". That so sums up so many motorcycle related gear and goodies, doesn't it? Looking forward to hearing about "The Old Post" when you get an opportunity to explore there. Happy New Year to you and Helmut!

 

I did a little ride with my riding buddy, Leila, today. She's the friend to whom I sold my 2021 Harley Fat Boy a couple of years ago.

It was a gorgeous day with a bit of chill to the air when we started out but warm by the time we got back home. Today I opted to ride my Street Glide. It's got fairly close to 10,000 miles on the clock so is due for a scheduled maintenance which I need to have done before we ride to Las Vegas for the Mecum Vintage and Antique Motorcycle Auction at the end of this month.

We rode to the small town of Mammoth, Arizona which is about 45 miles north of Tucson and had a delicious Mexican lunch at Mi Pueblito, a favorite destination for our weekly Sunday ride group.





It was pretty quiet when we arrived but the place soon filled up. Steve and I were going to ride there yesterday for a New Year's Day ride but the restaurant was closed so we went to the Oracle Patio Cafe instead. Glad they were open today.



''

90 miles on the day and 9,545 miles on my odometer. I bought this bike last year on Valentine's Day.

 

I haven't done those sort of miles per year what with the choice of household cars etc since my 20's, well done

ZZ Top, umm haven't listened to them in a while either but maybe appropriate to me, sharp dressed man, and all that

 

Mo and I ate there on our way to see you guys in November. The food was excellent!

 

"Sharp dressed man"....yep, I've heard that about you @Eldon. Or maybe I read it on the bathroom stall wall.

Re. mileage, I figured out my total miles for 2024 counting all three bikes (plus the miles I did on the 2020 Street Glide before I sold to my nephew about a month and a half into the year) and it was 14,800 and some change. Heck, I only have 3K more than that on my car and I've had that now for five years this month!

 

Yes, in my previous job I was responsible for two sites, so doing between 78 and 105 miles per day commute

20,000 was easily done per year and a real pain

Now, I do 2 miles per day, x3 days per week

I racked some miles up on a Skoda Fabia but always fancied a Mercedes AMG 63
One day I put £45 in fuel into the Fabia. The " bird" on the other side of the pump put £20 into the...... yes you guessed...... 63

Be lucky if it got off the forecourt in the UK with twenty quids worth

 

Our weekly Sunday morning group ride took us up to Florence, a town about an hour north of Tucson. Our destination was The Irish Cowboy, an Irish pub that serves breakfast, too. My bike of choice today was my H-D Street Glide. There were seven riders (six guys and me...what else is new?) aboard two BMW's and five on Harleys. The only other Triumph rider in our group is riding very little these days and hasn't ridden with us in months (health-related issues )

We got parking "RIF" as Steve calls it (Right In Front) the Florence mural across the street from us.





The two-lane road to Florence from Tucson is pretty much a straight shot. But with sunny blue skies, good friends, and rocking tunes, it's a very relaxing ride. Well, until Steve passed a big truck. I had to wait for awhile to pass to rejoin him. But, hey, it was a great opportunity to "open 'er up" and check out triple digits ever so briefly. (103 mph in case you're wondering). This road, Arizona 79, is always the one we take when we have to ride to or through Phoenix--we avoid going up Interstate 10 as much as we possibly can.




A bit about Florence... People mostly think of it as the town that has a big prison (which it does--a VERY big one). But it has other things going for it--including The Irish Cowboy.












It was in the 30'sºF when we got up this morning and 45ºF when we headed out from our garage to meet the group. This was the temperature when we arrived back at our garage around 1:00pm-ish. A beautiful day and a beautiful ride with friends!

 

Had a little foray into North Yorkshire this morning to collect some items, unless you drove a good 4X4 you wouldn't get that far. I took a Ford Ranger and it performed superb. I was a little surprised to see how many family saloon cars had been abandoned due to being stuck, some had been completely covered in snow, a few hamlets were shut off, people unable to get out. Be careful out there, I carried plenty of emergency kit, enough to last a few days at least, and assist anyone that was stranded.

 

Having grown up in Minnesota, I do NOT miss that white (and gray and brown) stuff, @Iceman! Nor the temperatures that produce it. The first couple of your pictures appeal to the "romantic" version of a white winter while the others show how it really is.