Featured What you been doing with your TRIUMPH today??

So glad the weather improved enough for a little ride therapy, @Fork Lock. That rooster is pretty funny. May your friend recover well enough to ride his Dyna Wide Glide.

 

Had a nice run out over Strines, first time for a while in dry, warm(ish) weather in blue skies and unbroken Sunshine, almost forgot what it looked like! A bit of run off in places but mostly dry, more or less salt free roads. Quite a few bikes had the same idea, lots of nods and waves except from twat suits on ditch pumps who are obviously far too aloof to acknowledge a peasant on a Triumph it seems. Otherwise pretty quiet roads.

 

I had a little jaunt out today, seeing as I am on my first night shift of this set at work tonight and the weather is nice. Just the 90 or so mile loop that I do fairly often in Wales when I want a little fly about on good roads. Loads of bikes out today!! .

 

Happy following yesterday’s ride that the replaced hose had resolved the slight coolant leak I’ve changed the oil & filter whilst the weather was still reasonable.


Was going to put the K&N back in but on opening up the airbox the filter I fitted September 23 (but only about 2,500 miles ago) still looked in very good order. Gave it a knock over a sheet of paper and virtually nothing came off it. Likewise the bottom of the airbox was very clean (I did vacuum both whilst it was out, as you do) so put the OEM one back in

 

Been there, done that, aligning trades needs a magician

Good luck.

 

Nice.
Came across an ICE road triangle last night and then x2 bends later slid on some mud crud

 

Staying upright I hope bud

 

Yep just a rear slide with an ar5e nip

First negative of this bike noted;
The headlights are exceptionally bright, excellent in fact and the beam isn't too high. Cars often flash as the suspension moves but a quick flick of full beam warns them off of leaving their full beam on
The issue is the top of the beam is flat with no left, kerb side, flick up. On corners, especially left handers on country lanes, the actual visual focus of the corner is into the darkness as the headlights light the hedge in front

I think the slide was just a flattened blob of mud, but it was enough of a warning to knock it off in the dark and slow down.

Obviously, from a manufacturing perspective, the headlights are then multi-country as described above and it doesn't matter which side of the road they are sold in. Sort of makes sense but not ideal.

 

I had a similar thing on an urban tiger Fireblade I was test riding on a York ring road roundabout when there was lots of construction going on many years ago, definitely heightened the senses only a well placed foot stamp on the ground saved me and my bank account

 

Shutting the throttle in panic mode is usually the death knell.
Keeping the throttle open, or even accelerating, usually helps but its something you can only learn riding offroad as you are fighting your own natural instincts.

If the above doesn't work, inevitably it means you just crash faster

 

"heightened the senses" ... I'm gonna steal that phrase, @Helmut Visor!

 

Today the weather was cool but mostly dry, so I had a little 132 mile trip out. First I went to Revs on the Fosse which was pretty busy:

I then went over to The Piston Club, where I had a nice chorizo and black pudding scotch egg for my lunch and back home again.

 

Woke her up from her hibernation.

October to April is my busy season, this year was busier than normal and winter has been wetter than normal. Consequently after being serviced at the end of September she went into the garage (with a full tank of E5 petrol because I feared it might be the last time that year), plugged in the battery tender and there she has stayed.

So to prepare for up coming rides (The next Biking Bishop's, Biking Missionary Fund ride will be on Easter Saturday details to follow) I thought I'd move the oil around the engine, fired up on first button, left on tick over until completing the three fan cycles. Set tyre pressures while ticking over. The cold must have soaked into the engine because it took half an hour before the first fan cycle.

My first ride this year will be scouting the route on Saturday afternoon, next one probably marshalling the BBBMF ride unless I get a break before Easter.

I feel the season beginning .

 

Gave it a clean yesterday to get all the salt off it from the weekends run, and had to change one of my led indicators as it had packed in. Luckily I had spares that I was going to put on another bike.

 

I did till today 2.000 kilometres on my Rocket in 2026. I love to ride it, but I hate the actual temperatures. In the morning about 1-3 freezy degrees celsius and in the late afternoon up to 17. I am looking forward for higher temperatures in the morning. The daily morning office rides are not very delightful at those temperatures. The next highlight will be the "daylight saving time" when we loose one hour in the morning again. For the next month the morning rides will be in the complete dark again.

 

I always feel a bit aggrieved when the clocks change and the mornings are darker again, like we have taken a step backwards (but like the lighter evenings of course). At present, we finally have an end to the relentless rain (the wettest winter on record, apparently) and our temperatures are also about 1c in the mornings, but we had 17c yesterday afternoon and 16c today and bright sunshine, so no complaints here!!

 

Today Helmut and I both took our Triumphs out.....we went to the Silver Fox Cafe as it's a nice route there and it's always a welcoming atmosphere and then the Oily Rag which I always say I'll stop bothering with each time I go - it's a nice little place, good coffee, friendly owners, but I always feel as if I'm intruding on a private function a bit with the regulars.

After that we went for a nosy at the new Motorbikes 4 All site in Newent, which is enormous and still very pile 'em high. There's a big clothing and accessories bit taking up the whole top floor which is worth a look and there were loads of people there mooching about as it only opened a week ago (was previously in Malvern).

 

That looks a big old place! Nice to see somewhere opening rather than shutting down.

 

It is - this one has moved; it was beyond crammed at the old place. I wouldn't buy a bike there based on the experiences of people I know and reviews and the state of most of the machines on display, but it's useful to see loads of different makes and models under one roof and the shop was pretty good - loads of helmet, clothing and accessory brands.

 

First ride of the year, testing the route for this year’s BBBMF ride-out with Bp Mark and four others. Glorious day to be bimbling around the lanes of Cheshire. Turns out I wasn’t as rusty as I expected, but good to get a few miles of rust off.