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

Got to keep your steeds happy there Mrs V, as important as regular maintenance.

 

My first decent length ride out on the NS400 since my shoulder Op at the end of March.

Great fun on the little stroker, though I doubt Greta would be too impressed with the blue haze I observed in my mirrors as I wound the power on exiting corners.

 

Just got back from classic honda restoration last week and there's two ns400 in for complete restoration, cracking bikes.

 

Lovely warm, sunny commute on the Blade today whilst my Street Triple was in the bike shop getting its new tyres fitted .

 

How many miles had you done on the OE tyres?

 

About 8500 - they were actually still OK as in not on the wear bars, but the rear had very, very slightly started to square off a bit which is to be expected I would have thought at that mileage. I want to try different tyres, so am getting front and rear whereas there was plenty left on the front OE tyre. The ones I have gone for (Dunlop Roadsmart 4) do an SP version as well for lighter and sportier bikes so am giving that version of them a go.

 

Test road a KTM 1290 Super Adventure, and experienced a cop in a BMW being a cock.

 

We came across a cock cop in a BMW last year on a tour of Scotland, I detect a pattern.

 

I tend to favour Dunlops. I have Qualifier 2 on the Ducati (exactly the same sizes as the Street Triple). They were cheaper than the Roadsmarts when I changed them two or three years ago. Also the last year Ron Haslam’s Race School operated they had moved over to Dunlops road going tyres, I assume Roadsmarts but they performed admirably, enough so that knee down was achieved without trauma.

One thing to note for the Qualifier 2s and I guess any other tyre available is recommended tyre pressures. The Duke and the Striple go 188 and 168 kg dry, respectively. The bike manufacturer’s recommendations for the front tyre pressure are within 1 or 2 psi. The recommended pressure for the rear tyre is 36 and 42 psi respectively. These recommendations are also reflected on the Dunlop website. When I asked the techy at Dunlop why the lighter bike should have the higher pressure he was at a loss to give me an answer. Having ridden my Ducati on the lower pressures for the last twenty years it’s not difficult to understand why I ignore Triumph and Dunlop and run the lower pressures on the Striple.

 

I use 36 rear on the Street Triple. From research before deciding on my new tyres, Ron Haslam's Race School used the Roadsmart 3s which have now been superseded by the 4s that I have. I have put about 500 miles on them since I had them fitted on Tuesday and so far like them very much. I am yet to see how they fare in the wet (but am more than happy to wait to find out.....I am enjoying the gorgeous sunshine we're having after such a wet spring!!!).

 

Hi @Baza can you expand any on this, especially pressures for road use?

I run 42 psi on the road on my 765 with mixed one up and two up riding but I have used 30psi rear on track on previous bikes.

 

The pressures I have quoted are all road going. If you check what Triumph quote for rear tyre pressures on a lot of their machines you will find 42 psi crops up time and again for bikes of differing weights and performance levels.

One of the criteria in selecting my new bike was that it had to be lighter than the Ducati for ease of manoeuvring it around, seated on it or standing alongside it.

Below you will find screenshots from the owner’s manuals for my two bikes. If you do the maths you will find that I have been running the Ducati with a tad more pressure than recommended at 33/36 psi. The differences are even more than I have been quoting. The tyres on both machines are exactly the same size front and back.

Ducati front 30.5 - 32 psi rear 30.5 - 33.4 psi

Triumph front 34 psi rear 42 psi

The other conundrum with bike tyre pressure recommendations is that they very, very rarely give figures for carrying a pillion or heavy luggage. Yet the additional weight of a pillion passenger compared to the overall weight of machine and rider is far more significant than, say, carrying two extra passengers in my car. Yet the car manual will advise higher tyre pressures

For example a pillion rider with kit weighing say 85 kg is over 30% of my machine plus rider weight.

The same calc for my car carrying 2 extra passengers. Each weighing 75 kg works out to 8%. Yet they give increased tyre pressure recommendations.

Conclusion : we are ill advised by the manufacturers of our machines and the tyres fitted to them.

 

Out on the bike, we had an umarked police car and ambulance go past us (the opposite way we were going) at a great rate of knots, and we pulled over accordingly. We carries on and I have overtaken a car following a van and we are next to a transit van, again overtaking it, when another cop car appears going the opposite direction to use, also overtaking cars on his side of the road. None of which did anything to get out of his way; slow down, or pull over. Because I am overtaking the van and the car is behind the van, my only safe course of action was to complete my overtake asap and let the cop car go past. Bearing in mind the road is very wide and even though I am overtaking the van, I am still on my side of the central white lines.
Cock in the cop car starts flashing his headlights at me and; heaven forbid, had to ease off to let me get past and out of his way. He wouldn't have had to break or swerve to get around me. As he gets close to me and I am in front of the van and near the verge, he is then shaking his fist at me. I have no idea what he expected to do; knock on the van drivers door and ask to get in?

 

Yes, whilst we all recognise and accept that emergency service vehicles have to make best speed from time to time they cannot expect all other road users to take to the verges when they are on blues ‘n twos.

 

A nice warm sunny BHM for a change so decided to tax the Berg (been SORN for a while) and head out for some green laning among the hikers and hill walkers if only to assert my right to be there! Not confrontational but firm and resolute. Stopped for fuel and two YZF450's pulled in. Thought nothing of it until I realised they were Police. One of them glanced the Berg over while I was inside paying for fuel but that was it. I was out on the Triumph yesterday and noticed a few Police cars at the start of one of the moorland tracks popular with bikes and 4x4's.

 

It does annoy me the way they drive, I know they have a very difficult and important job to do but I do think they become effected by a "red mist" type of thing. I have read of so many incidents were people have been killed by speeding police cars.

 

Slow reply to your post, @Mrs Visor. Sigh. It would be great if you and Helmut made it to Arizona. Mr. Sandi and I would love to take you out and about to see our "cactus forests" and mountains and all the things I love about the Sonoran Desert. And there's already a lot of heat for you to soak up. Daytime temps are now regularly in the high 90ºsF.

Yes, it was disappointing that there wasn't a women's ride but I've about given up on a women's group getting going. But I'm not too terribly disappointed as I have great riding buddies in my hubby and in my men friends. And, like you, I'm somewhat "selectively sociable" (what a great term). Also like you, I don't want to ride--or drive, for that matter--around all the crazies on the roads these days. I do have to say, I'd really love to ride with you, though, Mrs V!

 

Slowly getting the AJS engine back together

 

Very nice, lots of shiney.

Dad had a 500cc AJS and I vaguely remember being appointed torch holder whilst he removed the sprung hub rear end and replaced it with the back half of a Matchless with those overly large jam pots!

 

That looks fabulous