Great detailed post about your annual service. Your reference led me to read about the "friendly races." Love that name. Looking forward to hearing about your racing when you get back!
Not actually today, but yesterday. Up at 06.00 and stuck x4 hours overtime in to complete an order, then we're off Mate comes and we decided A64 for an hour to kill a few miles was best way foward, 12.00 and the fun begins, me on a 675r ( his previous bike) and him on a 765rs. Jumped off the 64 at Castle Howard and it's going to be lanes from here. A few lanes and bumps later I realised the bladder was full After a quick stop progress was made maximising Calimoto's choice of back lanes. Food and drink required so a tee junction showed Hutton Le Hole right. I indicated right had more chance of lunch than left so off we went to the old schoolhouse cafe. Lovely homemade cornish pasties and scotch egg Honeycomb ice cream for pudding Up and over the moors to do a circular of Rosedale Chimney without actually using that road. Then back to Squires for more cornish pasties and ice cream, no not together, five minutes apart
Once back at Squires, which was obviously going to be busy due to the weather, look at those blue UK skies @Sandi T A wander after food and pop showed a few interesting bikes. This is a homebuilt and painted VFR 750. I spoke to the owner and asked him, is it an RC30 as a friend has a few and this is but isn't one? He went on to tell me it was once a VFR that he bought with the intention of making something nice. He's modelled it on an RC30 but with an Ohlins Aprillia front end. I admired his attention to simple little details like the petrol tank. Apparently RC30 tanks are rarely about and are priced around £6k which he said was a firm no chance. Consequently he had an idea and so set about cutting x2 other tanks up, I think he said one was an NC30, joined them up with weld and achieved the appearance he wanted. Very nicely done! Now this just struck me as lovely and clean, a very nice example And what about this beastie? A CBR 600 powered trail bike with twin petrol tanks and a host of other mods including what looks like a vfr single sided rear end.
I sometimes ride over to Squires for a brew, always some interesting bikes to look at. Decent bikers cafe that is,I like it there. Looks like a good day out @Eldon
Went for a ride out today with my younger son, set off from my house, headed up to Milnthorpe and then through the Lyth Valley, on through Bowness and then Windermere, on to Ambleside and then to Grasmere, up over Dunmail Raise great views of Helm Cragg and Helvellyn, then continued along the side of Thirlmere and on to Keswick, and on to Bowder Stone, Rosthwaite, Seatoller and on to Honister Pass, called at the cafe at the junction just before Whinlatter Pass for a spot of lunch, then over Whinlatter Pass and on into Braithwaite, then a reverse route back home.
Great ride today after the bike's first 600 mile service - 115miles over the Campsie Hills, through Doune to Comrie and St.Fillans. This bench was my lunch stop looking down Loch Earn. Came back along the loch, down past Loch Lubnaig, along the Duke's Pass and home. The Speed 400 is loosening up nicely, hit some decent speeds (within the national speed limit of course ).
Last Saturday Steve and I were prepped to ride over to our local Harley dealership for him to have a new part installed. My Triumph needed some "exercise" so after checking tire pressure and gearing up, I backed out of the garage into the driveway and tried to start up my bike. It felt like I had a battery or starter issue on the first go so I tried again and THIS happened! Gasoline (petrol to most of you) spewed out all over the driveway. Yikes! So back the bike went into the garage and off Steve went to H-D. I called my local dealership and they sadly no longer do any trailering. But the service manager recommended a transport company who came that day to get my bike over to the shop. They're closed on Sundays and Mondays but the service manager said they'd get to my bike first thing on Tuesday. They did and I picked it up and rode back home before noon. All's well that end's well! A significantly easier fix that the "Utah Wheel Debacle". Any guesses among you as to the nature of the problem???
That’s not very good IMHO - the bike is what 4 maybe 5 years old and an o ring in the fuel system wouldn’t be exposed to the atmosphere. Petrol shouldn’t be an issue in that time so mustn’t have been a good one/fitted correctly originally (or do you top it up with moonshine ?) Anyways, glad you got it sorted @Sandi T
Well yes and no. If you look under some of the Triumph tanks the fuel line routing is bizarre. Sometimes like on a 675 the plastic port connectors appear to point in strange directions putting unnecessary, or easily avoided by design, kinks and tight bends in it. Stress, vibration and heat all add up to increase the chance of perishing. I once had a fuel starvation issue on a street triple and it turned out the owner had lifted the tank then left the fuel line compressed on a bend when refitting it.
What percentage of Ethanol are you running over there @Sandi T ? Maybe the O ring was fitted in error and was the wrong material, hard to tell once mixed in with some others. Standing about hardly used, think like petrol lawnmower over winter or a chainsaw, this E10 fuel over here soon damages seals and diaphragms. It swells seals then they go out of shape. I think I saw a sign on the internet once, could've been America, where it was E85 or something like.... yikes! Diluting fuel with Ethanol to save the planet is just running round in circles and kiddology, a bit like charging your EV with fossil fuel generated electricity For the reasons above, when the winter storage period arrives, I put all my stored bikes away with a tankful of super unleaded as that is the best, lowest, available here with an ethanol rating of E5.
@Eldon, I did start with IMHO as I’m unaware of any of the facts and I only use E5 in both the Tiger and Fireblade and I store over winter with a full tank with added stabiliser. However (and I accept all your points) I still think it’s a poor show from the o ring in question
Yes I agree poor show on the o ring but was it the correct specification? ... look at what caused the rocket/spacecraft failure? An o ring shrinking due to the operational temperature and using it outside it's intended design spec. I had a conversation about all these fuel issues with the local garden machinery supplier/repairer. He said you wouldn't believe how many seal and diaphragm kits we get through due to this ethanol diluted fuel. @Boothman "Petrol shouldn't be an issue" is what I was disagreeing with on your post, modern fuel is rubbish.
Fuel feed hose became detached? In future I will make a point of inspecting that o-ring at each service when the tank needs to be removed. According to the service schedule the fuel hose should be replaced every 4 years but it is an overly expensive part and nobody seems to do this (myself and dealers included).
