Author Archives: Steve Dennis

Honda CBX550FII

Eamon had one of these:

It featured in MCN when they did a “then vs now” article and put it up against a CBR600RR (!)

The old CBX did quite well, putting up:

Standing 1/4 mile:
CBX: 14.02 seconds @ 96.4 mph
CBR: 11.48 seconds @ 126.8 mph

Top Speed:
CBX: 117.35 mph
CBR: 160.04 mph

On the dyno:
CBX: 53.02 bhp, 31.70 ftlb
CBR: 108.07 bhp, 44.59 ftlb

More here: www.nirvana-motorcycles.com/gallerycbx550.htm

The bike is in Canterbury now and still ridden regularly.

MCN Verdict (Roland Brown):
“The CBX, outdated, out-moded and out-performed or not had two massive things going for it even by modern standards: it was impressively comfortable and roomy (especially for pillions) and, better yet, it had bags of character. And maybe that’s why today’s bikers, more than ever, often have a superb modern bike – but also either own or lust after a classic from their youth too.”

That’s us then…   🙂

Grundon Green Bin: Happy Birthday!

Today is the first anniversary of my asking Wokingham Borough Council to remove the green wheelie bin that is obstructing the motorcycle parking bay in Denmark Street Wokingham.

Here it is sitting proudly in place, confident in being able to thwart the combined efforts of the local council and Grundon (“The largest privately owned Waste Management Company in the UK”).

Grundon green bin in motorcycle parking baySeriously considering photoshopping a nice little birthday cake onto the picture…

I’ve bypassed WBC and written directly to Grundon. Let’s see if we have to wait another year!

More on this saga here.

Triumph Tiger 1050 Indicators

If you’ve got an old-ish 1050 Triumph, be it Tiger, Sprint or Speed, take a look at the design of your indicators.  Do they look like this?

old style Triumph indicatorRound, opaque, old fashioned?

Then try these!

new style triumph indicatorSharp, clear, new.

These are the new style indicators fitted to the more recent models and are a direct replacement. They can be bought on eBay quite cheaply as people fit LED indicators to their new bikes and flog these off. I picked up a set of 4 (from a Speed Triple) for £20 – they are £26 each from your friendly dealer.

Fitting couldn’t be more easy:

  • Undo the single (rear) screw that holds the lens on the indicator
  • Remove the lens and pop out the reflector
  • Remove old unit by unclipping the two wires
  • Slide the plastic housing off the flexi-mounting, leaving the wiring intact
  • Slide on the new triangular housing, feeding the wires through
  • Clip wires onto the new reflector (doesn’t matter which way)
  • Fit new lens with single (front) screw

Job done. Sparkly-looking new indicators!

Can we have our bollards back please?

This was Rose Street carpark motorcycle bay on Friday 5th October. I took this shot just in case I returned from my visit to the bank to find the truck gone and my bike in pieces…

Motorcycle Parking Bay Rose Street WokinghamThe truck was parked half on the double (triple?) yellow lines and half in the motorcycle bay (and half blocking the blue Focus). The passenger door was open and it had one of those stupid “Delivering” signs on the dashboard. There was no one about…

I think I’ll send a copy to Wokingham Borough Council and ask them to reinstate the bollards that used to “protect” the motorcycle bay – but which have been demolished by various trucks over the years.

Watch this space (no news on the green wheelie bin in Denmark St yet – I’ll be sending the council a birthday card for that one soon…)

Tile Art in Camden

I was meeting some customers in Russell Square last week, and while waiting for them to emerge from the tube station, I wandered around some of the nearby roads (looking for a pub…)

In Herbrand Street, I found these painted tiles fixed randomly on the walls of the buildings:

Tile Art in Camden #1 Olympic TeleportTile Art in Camden #2 Olympic TeleportTile Art in Camden #3 Looting 101I found a great pub as well!

 

Also found a jet parked in Russell Square (just where I wanted to park my motorcycle…)

🙂

Campbell Custom Sidewinder Exhaust – Tiger 1050

I saw this on eBay and just thought that it looked awesome – so I bought it!

Just under half the list price for a new one, it was within my available funds and only a short trip to Horley (Gatwick) to collect it.

Triumph Tiger 1050 with Campbell Custom Sidewinder Exhaust

It replaces the Zard that was on the bike when I bought it:

Triumph Tiger 1050 with Zard ExhaustIt gives a lovely clean look to the back of the bike.

Triumph Tiger 1050 Cambell Custom Sidewinder ExhaustHowever, it is very, very loud (makes the Zard sound like a standard can…) I’m not sure that I’ll be able to stand it for too long – I’ve done 6 miles today and that was enough.

Maybe I should speak to John Campbell about whether these baffles look correct or whether there is some stuffing missing? We’ll see.

 

Buttflap Fender Extender for Triumph Tiger 1050

I have written before about fitting fender extenders to my various Triumphs, the aim being to be able to open my topbox after a wet ride and not get my hands dirty (this is especially true when commuting with an office suit on underneath the bike kit).

My new Tiger 1050 does not fit the fender extender design used on the 955 Sprint ST

Triumph Sprint ST 955 Fender Extender - Rear…as the rear-end design is completely different:

Triumph Tiger 1050 Fender Extender - BeforeLooking at this, all it really needs is a 2-3″ extension on the bottom of the number plate – maybe cut down a rubber (car) mudflap or something.

Then I spotted the Buttflap (actually was Googling for fender extender images to get ideas) – what a dreadful name but seems like a good idea. I’ll give it a try.

This is from their website – another dreadful bit of artwork, but it is all that’s there…

Buttflap explanation from their websiteSo here’s my first attempt:

First remove the numberplate:Buttflap Fitting Tiger 1050Remove the two Allen-head screws that secure the plastic part, drill the Buttflap to suit and mount it to the numberplate holder.Buttflap Fitting Tiger 1050

Looking good…Buttflap Fitting Tiger 1050Add a strip of the double-sided tape (supplied) to stop the numberplate from buzzing.Buttflap Fitting Tiger 1050Fix the numberplate back on over the Buttflap. Job done.Buttflap Fitted to Tiger 1050They say on the Buttflap site that you can hardly see the thing against the tyre.Buttflap Fitting Tiger 1050They’re right.

Triumph Tiger Explorer 1200

Finally bagged the demo bike and took it out for a spin.Triumph Tiger 1200 Explorer

Seems very big on the forecourt – this bike has the optional high seat and I can still get both feet flat on the ground (better than my Tiger 1050 then!)

A zillion options on the dash, but when I finally work out how to get it to tell me the time it says “09:44” – it was mid afternoon. Good excuse for getting back late then.

The steering is different from my 1050, takes a bit of getting used to but once underway, the kgs vanish. This is a true “any gear, any speed” bike – just open the throttle and watch the horizon (or the car in front) zoom towards you.

Front brakes awesome. Rear brake pathetic (maybe just this bike).

Thoroughly enjoyed myself in rural Berkshire on a glorious May afternoon. What a cracking bike this is!

Not as pretty as my 1050 though…

…and needs a can…
Would I buy one? Maybe in 2 or 3 years (I don’t buy new bikes)

Triumph Tiger 1200 Explorer

Tigers to Munich (Epilogue to the Epilogue 26th April 2012)

First Posted July 2011

This year’s bike holiday to Germany, France and Spain for three old friends seemed to be in trouble as Marco (flying in from India to his cousin Enzo’s place in Munich) didn’t have a bike to ride in the right part of Europe. Vincent decided to sort it quite simply by buying a used Tiger 1050 from Bulldog Triumph in Winnersh and shipping it out to Munich where the tour was scheduled to start.

Given the costs of shipping and the fact that Vincent would be riding out from his home in Wokingham, he happened to say to me one day “You don’t fancy riding it out to Munich with me do you Steve?”

So the bright blue Tiger 1050 with full Triumph luggage, R&G bungs, radiator covers, big foot (see later) and super halo lamps left Bulldog on Thursday morning with Vincent (Black Tiger 1050, race can, Trax panniers, satnav – more later – and trick suspension) en route to Folkestone to catch train to Calais.

Do you think those panniers will fit through the gate?

Two Triumph Tiger 1050s just leaving for Munich

The M25 was appalling, with heavy rain, poor visibility and suicidal drivers who seem to believe that 90 mph is OK when you can only see 20 yards into the spray and that the space between our bikes is just the place to dive into when performing the obligatory undertakes (“why are these bloody bikers going so slowly?”…). Mad. All of them.

Still, the services on the M20 served up some hot coffee, the rain stopped and we hopped on the train with just 4 other bikes.

Once the other side, a short 100 mile blat to Gent in Belgium as it was getting dark, to find a hotel and get ready for a long day on Friday.

We woke to clear skies and the promise of high 20’s temperatures in Germany later in the day (they were right) and left early. The satnav said 14:30 arrival for 400 miles (pah!)

Riding the motorways in Europe is quite interesting as you pass from region to region and country to country without really noticing. Riding from France to Belgium the previous day, I had nearly missed the little blue “Belgique” sign but did notice that the 90%/10% split of French/Belgian cars had suddenly switched to 90%/10%  Belgian plates. Did all the French guys turn back? Once in Belgium, I couldn’t help but notice the abrupt change from Flemish road signs to French roadsigns.

Crossing into Germany is different (of course). For a start, all the trucks have to stop and buy a ticket. We should do that here if you ask me…

I have driven reasonably regularly in Germany (in a car) but this was my first time on a bike. They don’t mess about on the unrestricted sections. I thought 160kph/100mph was fast until I went there! Unfortunately, they suffer from the same problems as every other country when they get busy. The trucks stay in lane 1, the “slow guys” stay in lane 2 (most of the time) and the “fast guys” (thats the other 90% of the traffic) thinks that driving 2 metres behind the guy in front will force them to move over. You need good reflexes and good brakes. Bikes have an inherent advantage in the ability to accelerate faster than anything on four wheels but loose out ultimately when speeds get high. I saw 180kph at times but that was as fast as I was prepared to travel.

I was cruising along in the 150’s thinking what a great country Germany was, when we came to Frankfurt…  However efficient the Germans may be, they still manage lane 3 shunts during the afternoon rush and filtering (which is actually illegal in Germany) with wide panniers is very tiring. Vincent’s Trax panniers were wider than my Triumph kit so I just followed him…

Having made good progress, we decided that the green bits of the map and bendy roads would make a nice change so turned off the autobahn.

You know when you are riding along into the evening sun, following the guy who not only has the map and the satnav, but the address of the ultimate destination and you are thinking “why are we going West?” We were heading for Munich which is SE of Frankfurt, but Mr Garmin he have different ideas…  I’m absolutely certain that we rode past the same service area three times…  and filtered through that traffic jam twice for good measure…

We arrived at Enzo’s at 20:30 after 504 miles and 12.5 hours on the road to be greeted by hearty handshakes, lots of beer and a slap up BBQ. What a great day!

The bike was brilliant. To be honest, I don’t think I could have ridden my Sprint 955 so far without hurting wrists and neck. The Tiger is really comfy, really fast, easy to ride to a standstill and I could have kept going all night. If it was my bike, I’d have adjusted the gear lever as it was too far down for me and made my left leg ache after a while. I didn’t want to screw up the settings for the new owner though (he can adjust it if he wants).

Vincent & Enzo

 

A Short Divagation (look it up…)

The Tiger was fitted with an alloy pad to enlarge the base of the sidestand, presumably to help when parking on soft ground. I decided to call it “Big Foot” as I’ve no idea what they are called in reality.

If it was my bike I’d remove it as it forces the bike into a more upright position when parked on the sidestand and with heavy luggage, I was very careful with it!  We didn’t go offroad or even park on anything soft so a useless acessory for a “Roadie” really…

Biking over – now to the Airport!

I thought I’d add this bit as Enzo gave us a lesson in how Germans (OK he’s South African but has lived there for 15 years) drive on unrestricted autobahns. We set off in his Audi Q7 and proceeded the 200 kms to Munich Airport at speeds of up to 225 kph (that’s about 140 mph if I am correct). Even then he was moving over to let faster traffic pass. This is the fastest I have ever been on or in any road vehicle and (as a passenger) it was pretty scary!

As I am writing this, Vincent, Enzo (R1200GS) and Marco will be heading for Monaco – I wish I was with them!

 

In Memorium

I discovered on my return that the blue Tiger 1050 was previously owned by Gordon Cousland of Earley in Reading. Gordon was killed in the Moscow Airport suicide bombing in January 2011.


I didn’t know him but would like to think that he would approve of his Tiger being used for European touring and on behalf of the three friends, I would like to dedicate their trip to his memory.

Steve

Epilogue: 3rd-Feb-2012

I was so impressed by the Tiger that I spent the next 9 months saving my pennies and am now the proud owner of this 56-plate gold 1050

Triumph Tiger 1050

Epilogue to the Epilogue: 26th April-2012

Sadly, I must report that Vincent passed away this last Monday after a long fight with cancer. He was my best biking buddy, friend and all round “good bloke”. He will be sadly missed.