Mickly

I’d leave myself open to being sued for misrepresentation as my riding is frequently described as rude !!

Speedtriple is 46mm - Single sided swinging arm. Even the mobile tyre guy was happy to borrow my socket when I needed a replacement tyre and had no way of getting a loose wheel to a shop. He’d not long set up and still needed to build his kit up for the more obscure sizes. He did the balance for free in exchange for the use of the socket. Not had to use it very often though.

As the Trophy I’m dicking around with will hopefully become a Cafe Racer I was thinking that I don’t need the high speed of the original but more umph ( technical term ) upto about 120mph as I wouldn’t wanna go much faster on it. I was contemplating getting a new rear sprocket with a couple more teeth. The same could be achieved by having a smaller rear sprocket So which is the best solution and why?

I put my old Speedtriple on a portable dyno at a show. It’d got a 3:1 Zard freer flowing pipe and suitable tune. The power wasn’t up by much ( can’t remember the exact figure ) but the guy running it commented on how smooth the curve was without and dips or spikes, just a nice upwards curve with a short but gentle drop off just before the rev limiter kicked in, Reinforcing what I had felt on the road. However having some mechanical sympathy, hearing it revving it’s tits off in a metal box had me wincing a bit !!

A road going version of this - I’d like to add the additional caveats: No need for an MoT and no interference from the police

Unicorn tears are absolutely the best chain lubricant - prove me wrong.

I nominate myself It being such a lovely day I decided to go off on a long bimble on the Speed Triple. Ended up at the Ponderosa Cafe, then took a long winding route home to Cov via Whitchurch. All good so far - only encountered a couple of muppets. On getting home and reviewing my unplanned route I realised that I could have easily bagged a few further TMBF tags ....... DOH, what a complete nob !!

I’ve watched this back over a couple of times. Ignoring the threatening language of the biker and focusing on the driver I’m left wondering if the car driver is visually impaired? He didn’t see the biker originally and doesn’t look even vaguely like a man who’s about to deliberately smash up someone’s bike. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was looking to see if the angry biker was coming after him and didn’t see the bike. He doesn’t look quite right. I hope not, it looks like a taxi

It will rust away in there. I would stick 25mm polystyrene all round the walls, ceiling and door with spray on glue, then 4mm hard board to protect it. All the tiny gaps need sealing up and a draught excluder round the door. Then fit a thermostat and heater. The thermostat has to be set above the dew point, Google for dew point forecast map. The bike MUST be put away bone dry so if your commuting during the winter ignore all the above It’s we’ll ventilated, I put a cover over it and have not had any problems with rust. The only downside is that the up and I’ve door is a bit noisy for early starts.

You got room for something like this? Counts as garaged for an Insurance point of view This is the lair of the mighty Speedtriple.

And a rider competency test. The horses should also be tested and licensed to ensure they can cope with modern traffic without becoming a swivel eyed 2 ton accident waiting to happen.

I’ve got hand protectors on the Speedtriple but without the lights. Protects my hands from wind chill and worst of the rain. This allows the use of summer gloves for a longer time. And helps with the poor circulation I’ve got in my fingers.

Cleaner but not clean enough!!

Or how to knacker up a cheap but perfectly usable electric sander. So I was browsing the web for some info and found a vid of a guy who had created a DIY parts tumbler. Following ( kind of ) his lead I screwed an old sweet tin to the plate of my sander, held the sander in a vice, put some cat litter in the tin along with a few fixings I need to clean up prior to plating , put the lid on and taped it shut. Switched the sander on and it all started vibrating like a goodun. I watched it for about 1/2 hour while having a tidy up then left it (the guy on the vid left it over night) coz my ears were ringing, went back 2 hours later and the sander was no longer working, just buzzing. The parts are not clean and my sander is f**ked !! So lesson learned!! Let’s hope my home zinc plating experiment is more successful!!

They are Triumph OE parts - nuff said

I have 10 Dowty washers ( rubber with metal inserts ) that fit under the cam cover bolts on the Trophy. They were caked in a hard residue that I reckon was limescale, replacements are about £5 each. After a bit of research I created a mixture of white wine vinegar and lemon juice & left the washers to stew over night. This morning most of the lime scale had disappeared and what was left could be easily scraped out of the grooves with a cocktail stick. Rinsed and dried - job done Saved myself £50

At a previous address I heard a noise outside at about 1:00am, it was very close to my front downstairs window, looked out of the curtains to see a pair of feet disappearing through one of next doors small windows, I called the police and was surprised by the response (they were swarming all over it in about 5 mins). Next I had a knock on the door and a copper asked if I knew the person they had apprehended .... it was my Nextdoor neighbour. Very drunk and dressed in just his pants !! Apparently he have got shit faced, lost his keys and broke into his own house. He came round the following day and had a good laugh about it.

Haven't you just bought the wrong one ? Naahhh....manufacturers often throw the odd/random spare bit in just to keep us on our toes..... It’s mainly to due to reducing the complexity of their after sales inventory - having one part that can be fitted to multiple models and giving away some redundant features can be cheaper than handling and stocking all the derivatives ( I used to do this for a living) It’s alright for a fitter at a dealer who sees it all the time, but can be a real git for the amateur.

H’mm really? I am aware of someone who installed one of these for when they did track days, apparently it has been known for insurance companies to take down the plate numbers of those taking part to use in evidence in any future claims cases. I pointed out that it was only 2 screws to take the plate off but apparently that is too much hassle. So you may or may not see this as a legitimate use of a flip plate. He sold the bike after a few years before it needed a Mot so don’t know if it would fail or not. Don’t know if it’s illegal to have one fitted or just to use it on the public highway. I was talking about the website design job. Hahaha .. nice one

They deserve to go to jail just for that website H’mm really? I am aware of someone who installed one of these for when they did track days, apparently it has been known for insurance companies to take down the plate numbers of those taking part to use in evidence in any future claims cases. I pointed out that it was only 2 screws to take the plate off but apparently that is too much hassle. So you may or may not see this as a legitimate use of a flip plate. He sold the bike after a few years before it needed a Mot so don’t know if it would fail or not. Don’t know if it’s illegal to have one fitted or just to use it on the public highway.

Got a pinlock on my Arai Quantum, never had a problem at night. It’d be stupid if you couldn’t use it, as night time is when the temperature drops and condensation on the inside of your visor is more likely. In fact I took the visor off on Friday as I thought the pin lock was starting to look a bit passed its best, but after removing cleaning and refitting it, it was good as new. Who ever in Arai who came up with the visor lever release system should be made to fall on their sword. Every time I take the visor out I wince and pray I don’t snap anything.

So it was a 220 mile round trip avoiding motorways. A small do that’s great for locals, but a bit small for going so far, although the journey was great ( getting lost in Bristol city centre aside) parking was well organised and a fair few turned up. The bike show had a nice spread of models ( see pics ) Not much in the way of stalls to mooch around. Reckon it would have been good with a bunch of mates with a stop over so beer and bands could be appreciated.

Not quite sure what you mean but anyway, what I do do first is place the cover on the paper and draw round it with a fine biro . Then I take it off and scribble all over the jointing face with a marker pen several times and while its still sticky I put it back onto the paper using the drawn outline as a guide . This should make a print of the inner shape . Then I use a bit plastic tube dipped in paint to mark all the hole positions. Next I punch out all the holes using a sharpened locator dowel . Lastly I carefully cut the whole thing out with a scalpel . If the gasket has all straight edges I skip the printing stage and just use a ruler to draw the inner shape and a bit of the old gasket to draw around the wavy bits where the holes go . I'm sure there are other ways of doing this but I just kind of made this up as I went along. Cheers Bob, I’ll give it a go when I’m ready - the best place to buy decent gasket paper is?

It’s on this weekend and it’s free entry, anyone know if its worth a look? Slowlyspankymonkey - it’s in your neck of the woods, any good?

How do you hold the gasket paper in place while you are profiling it? I’ve been looking at the price of some of the Gaskets I need for the Trophy and it’s made my wallet quiver.