Featured What you been doing with your TRIUMPH today??

@Markus your weather looks beautiful! Do you and your wife also do the Le Mans style race - start to get to your bikes? .

 

@Mrs Visor:
Truly!
We rush down one floor in our apartment house, crash through 2 doors in the cellar floor and jump over a small wall on our bikes to start.

 

A busy time since my return from holiday, firstly I had to have the Cerakoted header pipes re done, to say I was hacked off would be an understatement, I decided not to go with a Cerakote, I decided to have them Ceramic coated, I used a company called Camcoat in Warrington, I was recommended to them by a well known race team owner, a phone call to Nick who runs it, he explained in detail the process in preparing the header and link pipe, then each stage including Ceramic coating the items. I chose a colour to match as best I could to the paint scheme on the bike. I drove down to Warrington and dropped them off, Nick was fantastic he re arranged some work to get my job done with a 4 day turn around. Have a look on their website, this place is impressive (should have gone there in the first place). Anyway a big shout out to the staff for such a fantastic job, these people do some high end work for some prestigious outfits. I collected them and fitted the parts the same day, I am really please with the quality and looks of these, the inside of the parts have also been Ceramic coated. The next job was to have the bike re mapped on the dyno, I will post the results next.

 

@Iceman they look great, however having to have them redone is not good at all!!!

 

A full day on the Dyno, and what a transformation to the bike. Triumph state the 765rs puts out 120bhp, that is not the case, I knew mine was putting out 114 bhp when new, after some additions it rose to 118bhp, now I was never after pure top end BHP, but sought a more refined and smooth throttle response, the snatch throttle at low revs was a pain. I fitted a Rapid Bike Evo, this ironed out the horrible Euro emissions, but that is all. I wanted to unleash the machines potential. I removed the Rapid Bike Evo and had it re mapped on the Dyno. To say the results are impressive is an understatement, the revs have been increased by 2500, the oxygen sensor removed, temp reduced, along with a host of other mods, the bike pulls stronger with more torque, and it breathes fantastic. It is now running a shade over 122 bhp at the rear wheel, pulling just shy of 160mph on the dyno. The graphs show the differences pre and post tuning. I have put a lot of time and effort to get the bike at the point it is, not to mention the cost. But what a bike it is now. I have narrowed a new machine down 3 bikes, I will keep the 765rs given the time, effort and cost, also it is now such a fantastic all round bike to ride.

 

What are they?

 

Suzuki Katana, Ducati Monster 937SP, Honda CB Hornet 1000 SP, I have ridden the 3 of then now and still I am undecided, the Katana is vastly underrated in my view, the Ducati for looks alone, the Honda is a lot of bike for the money, not as exciting as the Katana or Ducati but great reliability and build.

 

A few jobs to complete on my sons Ducati Panigale 1299s, this machine has a lot of mods and extras, it is running 220 bhp on the dyno, it is a very easy bike to ride, weighing less than my 765rs. Also completed (pre holiday) work on my other sons Suzuki Katana.

 

Arranging its next couple of rides. Meeting a few lads in Pateley Bridge tomorrow morning before a ride to Johnny Baghdads for breakfast. Sunday morning meeting a few lads for a ride in the Yorkshire Dales somewhere. Just great to have better weather.

 

I was going to go out today in the day however ended up not doing so, so I went to the Silver Fox Cafe’s first bike night of the year tonight; they reminded me of it when I called in yesterday and it’s always a friendly place. So just 74 miles done on the Street Triple this evening - gorgeous weather again .


There was a Triumph for sale too....

 

For some reason all the Dyno photos did not upload on my post, so here they are.

 

Today took the Street Triple and went the long way round to The Owl’s Nest to include Llangyndir Moor as it is a lovely ride and LLangyndir itself is a gorgeous little place. I then came back to Hereford via Builth Wells and Crossgates as the A483 from Llandovery to Builth Wells is a particularly nice road, both in terms of scenery and in having lots of twisty bits. I was going to go onwards towards Newtown as that part of it is outstanding, however needed to be home in time to jump on the Blade and drop it off for a service and MOT.
160 miles done.

 

The local bike meet was busy tonight, plenty going on. Out for a ride out tomorrow, decide on the route in the morning.

 

Where is that held at @Iceman?

 

It's at Wray, second Tuesday every month, they have a classic car night as well, check out the website, it does get busy, hot food and refreshments on site using local produce.

 

They made her ass look big.

A couple weeks ago I posted about finally installing a proper set of panniers on the Speedmaster, Well the bags I had on her were large and the panniers made them stick out all the more. They were nice and had a ton of room, but they did make her ass look huge. So, I bought a smaller set of bags. The old bags were throw overs. The new ones attach directly to the panniers. There's less storage (a family of illegal immigrants could have lived in the old bags) but I really like the look, and that's what it's all about, looks, right? Actually, after going through the old bags I realized how much useless crap I was carrying. Paring things down to the bare essentials (waterproof jacket, heavier gloves, small tool kit, MC booster cables and a battery booster pack) there was just enough room. She looks quite svelte now.

I'll sell the old bags.

Old bags


New Bags

 

It warmed up nicely today and with the sunshine most of the snow from the storm earlier this week melted. I decided it was time to wake up the Tiger. I removed the battery tender and it fired right up, seemed to be running great but the check engine light came on. The fault code is P0705. It looks to me like the gear position sensor has failed. I ordered the kit from Triumph to replace the failed sensor. Should be here in a few days.

 

@Fork Lock:
The new bags look great! I had lots of fun reading your description of the old ones.

 

I saw the news of your recent snow storm. We had a relatively mild winter. Although we do get dumped on from time to time, this winter there were only three storms with measurable accumulation, the worst being four inches. The only real cold snap was in late January when the temps hovered in the teens for a few days. I was able to get out a few times, but as I get older, the low temperature threshold at which I'll ride has risen. Now it has to be at least 45 degrees for me to ride. I've been out quite a bit the past few days. Usually, here in Sunny South Jersey the chances of snow have dwindled by mid-March. However, one of the worse blizzards we ever had was in mid-April of '77.
I'm not putting my snow shovels away yet. I don't want to tempt fate.

 

Had one of those trips when you come come back thinking wow, what a day!

Fueled at Mallow (Co Cork) before heading up over the Ballyhoura Mountains (anything with steep sides and a few straggly sheep is called a mountain here) and on to Tipperary town for a coffee at the award winning Oh Sugar cafe, snug little place with a great atmosphere, OK, 'tis the daughters own but she's does a grand job.

Thence to Cahir and down to Clogheen for a ride out over the Knockmealdowns via the Vee, you'll understand why it's called that when you get there. Fanastic views across the Golden Vale, said to be the best farmland in Ireland, and then a twisty ride down to Lismore, though be careful of said sheep cluttering up the tarmac.

Past the castle that towers above the bridge and onto Tallow which is approached by a sharp hairpin, or you could take the shortcut, but that's far less fun. Tallow was busy but the road to Middleton lies just beyond the town centre looking like just another lane to nowhere, but take the turn anyway and enjoy the bends as you head south to another character filled town, even with a distillery within its parish.

Leaving Middleton we called in at Lee Honda for some advice about buying a few extras, didn't get it, they were to busy processing buyers rather than serving customers, so moved on for something to eat and then onwards to Macroom.

Macroom to Millstreet is always a sweet ride but the real gem was the old Butter Road road which heads up out of the town and swoops through the hills towards Nad, probably the highlight of trip. Past Nad and on towards Lombardstown, another grand Irish highway of modest proportion which eventually led us to the road home.

Near seven hours in the saddle but it was another epic day on the Tiger, really beginning to get a handle on the bike now, and enjoying every minute!