Featured What you been doing with your TRIUMPH today??

Sandi,
I'll be happy to show you around if you make this far south of the border!
But, riding the Baja will likely give you similar experiences, and it is way closer

 

Today i was mostly getting an MOT!
Passed with no advisory, not bad for a 25 year old, the tester praised the beauty and build quality!
Bring on the sunshine!!!

 

Not my sort of Triumph but at least now your ready for summer.
That's a very nice Yamaha 490 that looks in excellent fettle.

 

Not your sort ?? ... what ???? Have a look at that thing poking out in front of the driveside muffler .. what more could anyone want ? That was basically the selling point for me ..sorta ! Nowhere near as nice as L62's, although the same year .. even been told by the uncaring that it " Looks like a piece of shit ! " Little do people like that understand a bet with mates is a bet ... and WE WON ... made 18 months without any form of a wash (apart from rain) or clean .... the bike that is !! Who cares what they think when it's carried you 600 + miles in a day and you can still walk .. a little stiffly... actually a lot stiffly to be truthful. Twelve years on tho' the only real letdown was the ignition pickup shitting itself .. quite common around those year models apparently, so I still think about marrying it sometimes. I go now to give it a cuddle.

 

So I must be the "CARING" type then as I was being polite.
At the end of the day it's all a personal thing and you buy what floats your boat, ticks your box etc. No doubt it's someone's pride and joy.

Now the Yamaha 490, ooh yes, how could ANYONE not like that

 

I had a "ride" on a 490 a while back and it bit me! A classic case of too much enthusiasm and not enough ability.

 

Today I took the clutch apart to find the knackered lifter bearing I suspected I had.

 

After a good clean following the weekend's covering of salt dust I noticed the plating on the rear sprocket had already thrown in the towel. Hard to see in the photo but the finish had turned very rough with pitting starting to appear despite the presence of chain lube. Post clean, the rest of the bike looked mint so I decided on some wheel silver paint to spruce up the sprocket. Call me Mr Picky but I've done this on several bikes before and it lasts way better than the the OEM plating.

 

That looks brilliant

 

So easily done.

Back in the day, my mate Darren and I swapped bikes for an hour.
He had a KTM 300 EXC which I'd been chasing on my KDX 200, wow what a handful on the pipe that was. Enjoyable whilst the fitness and energy was there but an unbelievable animal once tiredness set in.

 

I had a friend that had a kdx 200, I liked that bike. It was all I really needed for a trail ride. When I was in my 30s I had a kx500, way beyond my skill level. But man was it fun, once you got it started it would rip your arms off!

 

This is my old (2002) XR650R I bought in 2009 with less than 600m on the clock, to get back into green laning after a 15yr or so absence. With hindsight, not the ideal trail riding tool! Built primarily for desert racing which it did very well with several Baja1000 wins for Honda along with numerous other event wins. Affectionately called the BRP ( Big Red Pig) it was a popular bike for converting to road going Super Motard spec due to it's power delivery. It never really liked "sensible" trail riding and was an animal when let loose! I had it less than a year as it got nicked off the drive and wrote off.

 

As mentioned a couple of pages ago, I got my old America in the heated garage to get it in shape for the coming summer. It has just been too cold outside to go any further. I need to get it outside where I can clean it's chain and rear wheel so I can get it lubed and adjusted. Not happening. Been down in the low 20deg.F at night most of this week, and in the daytime it blows like crazy. No snow. Dry as a bone and COLD as the common grave of mankind out there. Guess I'll work on other things for a few more weeks. ...J.D.

 

Far too polite mate ! Was offered a burst on a mates XT ? years back, and after trying for an ankle break a couple of times he deigned (while sniggering) to point out the "window" that showed where it was ready for a kick. Enjoyable after that ... far more than the couple of 'off road' Matchy's I'd owned

 

A mate broke an ankle on an XT 500

Breeze past on rear wheel .....hey I'm here!

Next flyby didn't end well.

 

Few weeks ago I’d ordered a black headlight trim ring from Triumph for my Thruxton R, only to be told a bit later that out of stock and now discontinued. Can’t remember how much it was but certainly not cheap so I’m glad it made me think of a plan B.
Had the chrome one shot blasted for £10 at a local place, primed and painted this week with paint I’d already got and fitted today.

 

As the saying goes, "where there's a will there's a way", and if it saves money that's even better!

 

Pride goes .. etc The ol' joke "Look mum, no hands" ... "Look mum, no teeth" haha !

 

Postman arrived today with parts to fix my clutch, so I spent today putting bike back together with new lifter bearing (which had failed) and friction plates and springs. Everything seems to work OK and I've had engine running but not taken it off stand. A test test ride will have to wait for another day as I'm having a well earned beer

 

Day off work today, rain forecast from lunch time so headed out this morning for a few hours on my Street Triple; had a brilliant ride - I truly love everything about that bike .