Featured What you been doing with your TRIUMPH today??

I finally did my first proper adventure ride with a very good friend.
We went through parts of the South African highlands im Mpumalanga and really had a good time.
Biking there is just mediative - literally no one around.
Being an inexperienced rider I also managed to fall - literally after coming to a standstill in front of a proper rock.
Nothing done to myself but broke the clutch lever and the shitty lever covers which needed to be replaced anyhow.
In addition I managed to 'bike off' both aft turning lights - the broke off one after the other in one day just by riding over the quite proper dustroads.

The Tiger 800CX to me is a great bike. It rides beautifully and quick if you want and handles great on dust roads. But it is quite top heavy which can be kind of an issue.
My friend at least had 20 bikes before (the one before was a GS 1200) the tiger and was stunned by the performance on that bike - for what we do there it is perfect.

 

Rode out to Watlington (albeit yesterday), the little town that mum was evacuated to during the war. About 4 hours of riding with a 20-minute break in the middle, and I have to say that I only started to feel a bit uncomfortable during the last 15 minutes or so (I was using the Bonnie's comfort seat).

 

Looks like you might need tyres more like your mates

 

Yep, got to agree, match your mates tyres and turn the traction control off. Learn to ride a spinning wheel and you'll have loads more fun.
Nice pics and write up

 

One of those quick jobs that turned out not to be a quick job…..
Got a new rear disc to put on the Explorer, should have been wheel off, caliper, disc off and then back together.
Couldn't get one of the disc torx bolts out and rounded it off, then drove an Allen hex head socket into it thinking that’d sort it but also rounded it off like it was made of cheese!
They’ve been in for years and stud locked to were never going to be easy!
Get out of jail card was welding a hex head into the bolt to get it out. Followed by a trip to dealer for new fixings!

 

Hurray! So glad to know that you're getting out on your bike for some proper--and long!--rides again, @learningtofly. I hope you're feeling better and stronger every day.

 

Like @Sandi T said. Good to know your wheels are still rolling.

 

Hi Helmut, Hi Eldon,

Thanks a lot! You both are absolutely right!
I purchased the bike used and the tires were literally new.
So I decided to at least try it with the current tires. I'd say they performed better than my mate and I thought but obviously when it becomes a bit more sandy they start to suck.
The worst was humid sand ground with some clayish parts - the ABS came on literally every time I applied the aft brake a bit harder.
I am quite keen to get new tires next time - probably the Scorpion Race. They seem to be good if not in wet mud.
My mate took the Anakee Wilds basically only because they look cool. But they seem to be a very good tire offroad and even quite comfortable on tar.
Will keep you posted. Anyhow: I can only recommend to go to South Africa for offroad riding - it's just a pleasure.

 

Thanks very much, both. I won't pretend it isn't a challenge in many ways, and it really is quite life-changing. However, feeling sorry for myself won't make it any easier!

 

I managed to get 15.83 litres of fuel into my Triumph 765 last night
It's a theoretical 17 litre tank so it is possible to beat this ,but the criteria is you must ride it into the fuel station, no pushing .
Anyone got more in than that in one visit?

 

Glasgow bike night - plenty of interesting motorbikes, a good band too, but it was so wet on the way home, I was soaked!

 

Can't beat the summer days in our fair island. . Hope you enjoyed it none the less.

 

Well it was yesterday actually, I went to pick up a replacement Bagster tank bag as my current one's zip had bust. Fortunately I went past a random FB photographer near Squires on the way back, thanks whoever you are

 

Some asshole (which might have been probably me, leaning too much forward and doing it with the zipper of my jacket) put a horizontal scratch on the top of my Bonnie's tank.
It was about 5cm long and easily palpable - and that's before the 1000km inspection!!!

So yesterday I thought 'let's go to a smart repair guy and ask him how much it would be to redo the tank' having in mind to compare his price with a probable quote from the dealer doing the first service.
So I went to a company 10-ish km away and showed my mishap.
The boss touched the scratch and told me he cannot promise a lot but it might be possible to polish the scratch with only a little visible remainder afterwards.
I was invited to just quickly drive the bike into the shop and the guys started their work with a polishing machine.

It took them literally ten seconds and the scratch was 100% gone! I really couldn't believe it!
The boss even didn't want any money for that so I left 20€ as tip and thanked them for their great help.

I definitely know where I will bring my car for polishing now.

For info: the scooter at the back on the pic is a Vespa Pic Nic, the picnic-blanket is part of it ;-)
And the black reflection on the tank is a pipe on the ceiling - the scratch has been in the lower third and is invisible now.

Happy to have such good guys around! Keep on riding!

 

Good job - it's surprising what a good detailer can repair.

I know a guy who does these small dent repairs, using a weird mirror contraption and different levers - he has done many repairs for me on my own and some company cars, and the dents always totally disappear. Clever.

 

MOT day for the Tiger and it sailed through. It’s only got 30,500 miles on the clock, so hardly high mileage, but was happy with that.

 

Popped over to Triumph North London for an hour or so, and was quite taken by the Daytona 660, I have to say.

 

They are good looking, but your T120 black is much cooler. Or is the lighter weight appealing? And @Wessa's recent experience of high oil consumption with his Tiger 660 would worry me.

 

Oh, the T120 isn’t going anywhere. Just musing on what might sit alongside it,

Yes, the oil thing was a worry.

 

Extremes meet - out with my cousin's husband on his BMW S1000R, 165bhp v 40bhp, but it's not such a big difference on nice twisty A-roads!