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

New boots required for NS400. There's not a great deal of choice, as the front wheel is a 16 incher and the rear is 17",but only 120 wide, the width of most bigger bikes front tyre these days. Lol I've stuck with BT46's, On the basis of 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it'

 

What lovely memories; my childhood memories of UK campsites centre around one in Lynton, Devon. The cottages looked very nice as well as the camping pods and shepherd's hut they had there for glamping.

 

I used to live in Dorset until I moved to the north east four years ago. I was a regular at West Bay and frequently went on rides to the north Devon coast. The Lynton and Lynmouth coast road is wonderful.
When I last camped at Cwmdu ten years or so ago they were then in the process of building the new shower and toilet block and were just getting started with the glamping pods.
Back in the '70's things were very different.. The men's urinal was a high concrete enclosure like a water tank with no roof and no lights. The walls were black with algae and the floor was always awash with rain water. The cubicles weren't much better but at least they had a corrogated iron roof. Of sorts. There were only two showers which didn't always work. Mother was appalled.
I bet it's beautiful now.
I hope you got to ride the Black Mountain pass on your Hyper. I did it at 7:00 am on my KTM 990 SMT while all the other riders were still eating breakfast in the cafe at Llandovery so I had the place to myself. I had to stop after about six return runs as I'd boiled my rear brake fluid trail braking round the hairpins.
I'm very lucky to live in the north Pennines now in County Durham and I have mile after mile of roads like that on my doorstep.

 

I am very close indeed to Wales, so it's my most frequented place I would say on the bikes. There are so many good roads - I rate some more actually than the Black Mountain Pass, but it's still incredible. It's been 40mph average for a good while, but the cameras are currently put of action, having been cut down.....

 

That sounds and looks like a lovely two nights away, @Mrs Visor! All but for the wind and rain, that is.... Good thing there was a pub nearby.

 

Working on the camper van:

Doubled the size of the solar charging system and battery storage - new lithium batteries, new solar panel, and a fancy new MPPT charge controller. I did this to account for the extra power needed for the new refrigerator/freezer. No more messing with an ice chest. Now we can have margaritas, cold beers, and ice cream while camping in the middle of nowhere, and never have to go into town for ice!

I wasn't going to do any of the above until the next year or two, but prices are bound to go up as tariffs rear their ugly head, thanks to the orange man in the WH.

Today I also replaced the automatic transmission fluid and filter for the van. The differential oil is also due, so will get to that in the next day or two.

 

Can’t wait to see all that when you drive your camper van to Tucson again with Mavis, Marco! Now it’s time to finish that sportster project. Photos please!

 

I've been having a play with the air forks on the NS400R. One of those 80's gimmicks I think. The NS400 is loaded up with them. Anti dive forks ~ TRAC ~ Torque reactive Anti-Dive control, ATAC ~ Auto-Controlled Torque Amplification chamber. Weirdly, the ATAC is only fitted to two of the three cylinders.Going back to the air forks, Its basically a way of pressurising the system so I suppose we'd call it pre-load now. The trouble is the system is only recommended for a maximum of 6 psi, so If you get over zealous with the pump you could blow the fork seals. I use a push bike hand pump. Even so, with such low pressures its hard to get the settings just right. I'm using 3 psi at the moment and it feels just about right for my weight. I suppose you could put a heavier or lighter grade oil in too which would do a similar thing. I guess all those fancy systems kept the decal makers happy. Lol

 

Had another go at my Ducati today. I thought it had a knackered starter sparg because it won't turn over with a charged battery. I put the KTM battery on it today, which is fully charged and has more cranking power than the Duc's. It turned it over but only just and not enough to fire it up. But t shows the sprag must be engaging. Then I added a booster pack to the party. It turned it over but very slowly and eventually it started.
Is there such a thing as a lazy starter motor?

 

May be corroded connections resulting in a lot of resistance. Clean all the connections between the battery and starter, and any grounds that may be involved.

 

So my mate has bought a Ktm 690 adventure for offroad jaunts with me, we both still have Triumphs.
Yesterday presented a free afternoon and the plan was for a maiden run out for him off tarmac.



His being a Ktm obviously means it has err character (faults/foibles). Electrics don't seem a strong point and the starter solenoid failed.
Have you every tried bumping a 690 single?
Experience told me not to bother trying and so a " magic key" was employed for the rest of the day. Seat flicks off and a tyre lever stuck across the heavy wires and problem solved although filling up at petrol stations involved a push off the forecourt to literally spark up elsewhere

 

I'm on my other phone now so have more pictures.







And a pint of shandy in Kettlewell to finish.

"How much!!"
X2 pints of shandy and x2 bags of crisps.... £18.35

 

And no, in the top pic is not my mate having a pee although it does look like it.
Sadly in 2019, a local lad to me, known by my eldest son, lost his life here when he crashed into the gate.

 

Going to take the starter off today and check it's condition then clean every connection from the starter earth backwards.
It has upgraded copper leads fitted and it was starting fine when it came back to me serviced after a long lay-up. I'm suspecting there's corrosion in the starter motor. It was OK so if I can get away with sticking to lead acid instead of going lithium that will be a bonus.

 

@Eldon it looks like you had a cracking day out!!

Today I took my Hyperstrada and accompanied Helmut to AP Workshops to have his Tuono serviced, stopping at The Piston Club on the way back, 168 mile round trip. Not the most scenic of rides by a long stretch and traffic was really heavy but it was still nice to have the day together.

 

We did, focus of the day was my mate enjoying himself and he said he had.
He's an accomplished "trackdayer" and can show me the way around Cadwell etc. He knows them quite intimately having crashed at most circuits

Offroad with rocks and other slippery stuff

It was a good day with plenty of p taking especially the throw it on the floor, my legs weren't long enough
Err yours are 2" longer than mine and I'm still stood up

 

Going downhill yesterday, about 40 mph offroad with a number of jumps, one in particular was a heavy landing with bash plate contact on the floor

I thought I'd best take a look tonight and inspect any damage
And before you say it, did I tell you I'd lost 7 kg?

Umm might have to ramp the suspension up a bit to avoid more battle scars......

 

Sunny at Loch Lomond today... by the way, that is not my tent!