Category Archives: Bikes

Bike stuff

Cafés You Should Visit #8: Sammy Miller Museum

This was more of a ride-out than a cafe visit as 500-odd Triumphs decended on the Sammy Miller Museum for an event organised by the Triumph RAT groups in southern England.

With the bike park overflowing, the driveway overflowing and bikes parked in the carpark, sampling the cafe was always going to be difficult. However, we did our bit, queued for 20 minutes and ordered two bacon rolls and coffee. Then waited 20 minutes for them to arrive.

To be fair, they were overwhelmed by the attendance and we had insisted on ordering from the cafe rather than the BBQ outside (which had a longer queue but was dispensing burgers and rolls far more quickly, obviously without the need to serve roast meals and a full menu to the other customers…)

Not a very large picture I’m afraid – It’s from his website as there’s no way I could get a representative photo on the day…

Here are some pictures of the parts of the museum that interested me most (you can tell that I’m a child of the 70’s?)

I like cylinders - lots of them!

1000/6 from Honda (of course…)

I like cylinders – the more the merrier!

250/4 from Benelli

1000/4   (Ariel Square Four)

50/4 (yes, really…)

Some of Bulldog RAT

Cafes You Should Visit #7: AV8 Kemble Airfield

AV8 Cafe at Cotswold Airport (was called Kemble Airfield until recently) is probably the poshest of all the airfield cafes I’ve been to this year. Large inside space if wet and a nice deck outside to sit and watch the planes.

They have a drinks licence and serve decent filter coffee as well as proper espresso if you require.

Separate (hard standing) motorcycle parking as well as a huge car park – I guess they must get pretty busy.

The Motorcycle Parking Area

You can find them at Cotswold Airport nr Cirencester GL7 6BA

www.av8-cotswoldairport.co.uk

Triumph Heated Grips – How Long do they Last?

I have had heated grips on all my (four) Sprints (and on my VFR800 before that) and consider them to be one of the most civilised of motorcycle accessories.

I bought these in July 2009 and fitted them to my red Sprint (the one that was destroyed by White Van Man) and transferred them to my current black 955 in July 2010. In total about 10k miles.

Left Hand Heated Grip Triumph Sprint

I wonder how long it will take to wear through to the wires?

Ross Noble’s Sit Down Tour

I don’t suppose for a minute it was my Tweet to Ross Noble that resulted in his visit to Bulldog Triumph in Winnersh on Wednesday evening. He was riding the VIN 500k Triump Speed Triple from Hertfordshire to Bournemouth. @realrossnoble
Steve & Ros Noble at Bulldog 25-05-11

He looks a bit tired – not surprised with the riding and having to read 400+ Tweets that day (and only 5pm).

Good photo oportunity for the shop though!

The Bulldog Team with Ross Noble 25-05-11

Left to Right:

Chris, Steve, Andy, Ross, Ian, Mike

Now the other boot zip has broken!

My 4-year old Alpinstars finally gave up last October and I had to replace one of the zips.

This time the other (right) one snapped in the same place.

Although the repair I carried out is fine and standing up to abuse well, I find the puller a little small as the force required to zip up motorcycle boots is fairly substantial (well, more than other zip that one has about one’s clothing…)

Many years ago, I was a corporate person (company car, fuel card, healthcare,     … pension…) and in the 80s we were big on time management and all had those fancy leather folders that contained a fraction of what my iPhone contains. I still have the leather folder and it has a rather nice leather puller:

motorcycle boot zip repair

These boots are good for another few years (watch this space)

MOT Test Toolkit (Bikes)

Bulldog Triumph are moving to new premises in Winnersh. They have a massive new showroom and 5x the service area, including a new motorcycle MOT bay.

Here it is at the moment (T minus 3 days):

Bulldog Triumph Winnersh MOT Bay

I’m most of you are familiar with the layout – but WTF is that toolkit hanging on the wall?

WTF Toolkit?

Not one but TWO huge crowbars!

Answers on a postcard please.

Triple Ripple Burble ‘n’ Pop T-Shirt

It is generally accepted that one of the best things about Triumph motorcycle engines is the “triple ripple burble ‘n’ pop” that you get on the overrun.

Some of us have decided to make our own t-shirt.

This is the Sprint 955 version (I wanted Tornado Red to match my bikes)

Triple ripple burble 'n' pop

This is now known as my “321_Dib” t-shirt in honour of the designer and manufacturer.

My wife wanted to know what a “Ripple Nipple” was, and then suggested that she should try on my new t-shirt.

Coincidence?

The “Ripple Nipple” line points to the exact spot tha…..

[this text + photo has been censored]

🙂

Cafes You Should Visit #4: Compton Abbas Airfield

It’s May (nearly) so it must be time for another airfield cafe!

This is Compton Abbas. Makes Old Sarum look positively suburban but ticks all the boxes and it has a bar!

If you’ve never riden up Zig Zag Hill, you must try it (once). It’s very over-rated and to be honest, I don’t like hairpins very much. I’m more of the “sweeping bends” type.

The local sausage baguettes are highly recommended.

Compton Abbas Airfield Cafe

I’m bringing the Bulldog RAT boys here on Sunday (1st May) – we’ll see what they make of it.