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

It was absolutely delicious, @Eldon! We go to The Keg relatively frequently (maybe quarterly or so) and not once have we had a bad meal or even a mediocre one.

 

That's a great question, @Mrs Visor. We typically only ride in the city at night so don't really have much of an issue with critters. But if you get out on the edges of the city they definitely come out. Deer, javelina, coyotes, rabbits... I have family in rural Minnesota and it's really a problem there. We have arrived home from trips at dusk and are definitely on high alert then. And on a lot of the trips we do, we find ourselves riding through state and federal parks that are quite forested. Then we have to be on high alert no matter what time of day it is.

 

Just back from Tenerife (which went as well is it could have done). Anyway, some work planned for today including adding a Quadlock clamp mount, fitting an Optimate charging cable, adjusting the Option 719 footpegs and seeing if I can work out what’s wrong with the Healtech switchable servo buddy that been fitted (only two of the three valve adjustment options seems to be working).

 

Took full advantage of the lull in the weather - it’s been raining biblically the last few days and from the forecasted temperature I reckon the gritters will be out tonight. Today however was dry, sunny and the roads clear of leaves as they’ve all been blown/washed away. So this will be the last outing of the Fireblade this season. I’ll wait to SORN it at the end of the month (just in case something miraculous happens weather wise, but not holding my breath).
The Tiger I’ll keep road legal through the winter and hope for the odd decent day to get some miles in.



All cleaned and ready to put in to hibernation

 

The gritters were out here last night, I saw them when I was out and about for work.

 

There was a marriage proposal on today's Sunday group ride! No, not to me as I'm already very happily married, thank you. Our friends, Chris and Cassie, made it official. I do believe it was a surprise though I suspect Cassie was suspicious since a bunch of their other friends who don't typically ride with our group showed up at the gas station at the start of the ride. We rode over Gates Pass and out to Saguaro National Park to the Red Hills Visitor Center. We've had tons of rain the past few days so things green up quickly around the desert when that happens. Lots of sand on the roads, too. (That part is not so great.) Anyway, it was a fun day and nice to get to ride with the other guys that came on the ride, all of whom we know and most of whom work at the local Harley dealership.

Some of the group's bikes parked at the visitor center looking west across the desert



Chris and Cassie





Steve with our two bikes



We had a fairly big group of ten so thought we could squeak in for breakfast at a place not too far from the visitor center. Nope. They were packed and told us there'd be an hour plus wait. So after chatting a bit in the parking lot, our group splintered with about half the folks heading back home and the other half deciding on Denny's for breakfast.

The place we DIDN'T eat. It's called Sky Rider because it's at a small regional airport northwest of Tucson.





We have eaten here for breakfast in the past but for some reason I never noticed this bit of airplane art until this morning.



The "usual suspects" at breakfast at the local Denny's restaurant





I don't think the temperature got above 60ºF on our ride this morning so it was scarves and heated vests all 'round. Yep, lightweights......

 

Didn't get above 60, and you went for a heated vest, that's a heatwave over here.

 

LOLZ at heated vests

Lovely story, @Sandi T

 

Well, I did forget to add that I didn't turn it on today, @Bikerman. So it was just a regular old puffy vest. I do like to be prepared! "Just in case"

 

I'll let you off then.

 

That's crazy! However, I suppose when you're used to lovely baking hot weather it must seem very chilly. I recall when I lived in Belize that temperatures around that mark felt positively freezing!!

I love the view out over the desert and hope that Chris and Cassie have a very happy life together . You'll have to buy a hat!

 

Temperature is so relative -

I remember being in Massachusetts one September years ago (or somewhere up that way on a driving holiday!), walked into a store in my shorts and t-shirt and the woman said "Scottish, right?!"

Go to a hot place like Australia, New Zealand or Florida at the end of summer, the weather is still warm and sunny but the shops are full of woollen jumpers and winter coats!

 

Went for a run on the 175 Yamaha and it came home in a trailer

 

Well, I decided to take off the Pro Race aftermarket end can as I really didn't like it. The stock Akras clearly haven't been used, and they're now on the bike whilst I mull over getting either the Unit Garage end can that I put on Tangerine Dream or the complete UG exhaust system. I'm angling towards the latter at the moment. Oh, and I popped on an Evotech oil cooler guard as well.

I still have front and rear spindle bobbins to fit, but things took longer than I anticipated so I'll do that next weekend instead.

 

A well overdue spa day for the Blade today; I still need to scrub the new tyres in however had too much to do today to justify going out on it all day, so I gave it a wash instead because the last time I rode it was in absolutely biblical rain and mud. It's not brilliant (a keen detailer I am not), but it is much better. Helumt gave the Multistrada the same treatment, seeing as he had been on that last ride with me .

 

Been there done that on a Honda H100 back in 1984..... pushed the thing 9.8 miles, clocked on the speedo, to my Grandads

At least you had a trailer, and possibly needless to say, I do also have one now.

 

A 65 mile local wander around yesterday, on and off road, using the Kove.







A wet day, very slippery in parts with lots of puddles but only one crash. This made for a tricky recovery due to the lack of grip underfoot on the wet clay, plus the left handlebar was into the clay up past the switches effectively nailling it to the floor

Simplest answer once home, as all my left side was plastered from rolling in the mud, was to lightly jetwash the jacket and pants on the drive along with the bike.

 

Finally finished the Harley Sportster project. After putting it all together it started right up. Been riding it almost a month and fine tuning the carb and timing, but pulls strong and sounds great. Raw and obnoxious compared to the Triumph and Guzzi, but that makes for a good balance.
IMG_6973 by Marco Wikstrom, on Flickr
IMG_9603 by Marco Wikstrom, on Flickr

 

Been busy with this little machine, it came to me in a bit of a sorry state, no pressure, filthy, and a few broken parts. New parts ordered and fitted, including drilling out the frame to fit larger rubber feet, it is now running as it should. I would not recommend anyone using one of these on a car or bike, though, as it stripped off old spilt paint on some flags when I tested it. Unable to ride my bike for 6 to 8 weeks, as out of action so to speak, and I will have to wait to scrub in my recently fitted S23s.

 

Nothing serious I hope