Yesterday I finally took the time and effort to remove the reflectors from the fender struts of El Gordo, my new Fat Boy. About a week ago I removed the reflectors and adhesive residue off my forks with a hair dryer, fishing line, and some lighter fluid. And a lot of elbow grease. Interestingly, it took very little of either time or effort this time around. The fender reflectors were attached far less securely than were the fork reflectors, contrary to what I was expecting. I still used my trusty pink Revlon hair dryer to initially soften the adhesive then got the removal process started with a bit of fishing ling. But then both reflectors pulled right off because the adhesive was merely some double sided sort of "puffy" tape. In fact, they pulled off so easily that I suspect they'd have come off by themselves or nearly so when summer's searing heat rolled around here in Arizona. Mot of the tape remained on the fender strut but I could roll it off easily with my fingers leaving just a bit of adhesive to remove with a bit of tea tree oil. I have @capt and @Dartplayer to thank for their recommendation of using tea tree oil to remove adhesive residue in @Fork Lock's thread on debadging tips. I'd been using lighter fluid at the recommendation of the service manager at my local Triumph dealership. Last week I saw a small bottle of tea tree oil at Trader Joe's while grocery shopping so I bought it to give it a try. I'm a convert! Although there wasn't much residue to clean up, the tea tree oil did the trick and smelled a heckuva lot better than the lighter fluid.
Whoops! I guess my thread about removing my reflectors should technically be in the What Have You Been Doing With Your Non-Triumph! But I guess removing reflectors and adhesive residue cuts across motorcycle "cross-cultural". Besides, El Gordo kind of thinks he's a Triumph since he sleeps next to one in the garage.
I took the Speedmaster out today for a jaunt into the city. Had to drop it off at a buddy's shop in prep for a bunch of work we're getting done on it. Forgot what a simple ride it is. Way more forgiving than my Speed Twin. Sorry, no pics at the moment.
Hey @Sandi T . I note that you have a sore thumb from photo one above. My recommendation is to try rubbing some tea tree oil on it………..# Follow me for more medical tips #
Took the Rocket out. Think I may have bought the wrong bike for the things I do Oh well, "it ain't gonna melt" as someone once said.
A bit 'o mud is nowt to worry abaat. It'll wesh off wee a hose pipe dead easy. Gimme mud o'er salt laden road crap any day!
Good attitude about mud, @Pegscraper! I need to adopt such an adaptive mindset. I do find it a challenge to have anything but an intense dislike of mud living here in the desert. On another note, I'm actually starting to understand this "unique" language of yours a bit. Of course, context (and @Sleepy Owl's photos) help.
Its quite horrendous when you work out not running the bike in the winter. Say I have 10 good riding years left when I can move that weight around. Take off bad weather in UK and you are down to a maximum of 7 months riding per year. Only 70 months left if I rode every day in the next 10 years. Nope, that bike will outlive me so its getting ridden at every opportunity and as said, bit of water and its clean again for the next day. Saying that, its GS day tomorrow lol
Now that both my bikes are ceramic coated all over like yours, i am taking them out a lot more during the winter months than i used too, i still give them a good hose down with cold water just in case there's any salt on them
Never felt it but was taking it a bit easy. Wasnt expecting it to be quite so bad down there in all honesty
Today it was that time again. The weather has finally again allowed the journey to the office by bike. At the weekend we had storm with speeds up to 155 km/h on the mountains and up to 130 km/h in the flat land with additional snow. Today, on the other hand, it was almost pleasant to ride. Temperatures at about 5-6 degrees Celsius and "only" wind peaks up to 70 km/h on the highway. Real "Siberian Tiger weather" for a ride.
Had the first real run out on the new SS, felt like popping my Triumph cherry all over again! Spent the last few days adding the bits recovered from the old bike, sump guard, levers, engine bars etc. Had to make a new rack as the old one was missing when the bike was recovered. Although it's basically the same bike I noticed some changes under the skin from the old 2019/20 model. There is much less wiring behind the headlamp and the ECU under the seat looks slightly bigger and has grown an extra multi pin plug. This may have something to do with the Euro5 emissions "upgrade". I read on the TEC website that any form of tuning "add on" including the Fuel Booster plug will no longer work with 2021> Euro5 spec Triumph models as they run "anti tamper software" which will bring up a MIL light on the instrument panel? If that's true, I'll wager it's a requirement of the Euro5 rating that owners can't (easily) screw around with the emissions. I've no intention of tuning it so, for me personally, it's not a problem. Now to get some miles on it's back.