Category Archives: Bikes

Bike stuff

Triumph Speed Triple 1050

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I had a long ride on one of these today whilst my Sprint was at Bulldog Triumph having a 12k service.

Having never ridden one of these (shock smiley required!), first impressions were of the high and forward riding position. Almost as if you are sitting over the front wheel. No fuel gauge – only a little yellow light that was glowering at me.

What a brilliant noise! I was riding it around town in 2nd gear just for the burble on the over-run. Very fast but I struggled to hold my head up at anything over 85. If you can high-speed-tour on one of these you have my admiration!

Almost got to the wheelie stage before returning the bike – but it only had 90 miles on the clock so decided that maybe wasn’t such a good idea.

If I could have two Triumphs, I’d have one of these.   Or maybe a Street… 🙂

VFR1200F

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In my quest to find the perfect sports touring motorcycle (just an excuse to ride lots of fancy new expensive bikes actually…), I spent a couple of hours on a Honda VFR1200F today. The bike was from Hatfields of Crowthorne, it was dry and sunny but cold.

OK – I stopped at Bulldog for a coffee 🙂

First impressions: don’t like the colour but other than that, it looks a bit BMW-ish. I think it’s the fairing with the round badge and the swingarm/drive shaft assembly.

The heated grips were awesome – too hot in the end. The bike was really comfy and suited my riding position. I took it down the M3 and it absolutely flew along. With only 600 miles on the clock, I didn’t thrash it (too much) – suffice it to say that the exhaust valve gives a VTEC-ish kick when actuated and the sound changes from a V4-fart to V4-howl!

The mirrors were clear at all speeds.

The steering and handling were what you’d expect from a new bike, although I did have a bit of trouble riding around the mini-roundabouts in Crowthorne as the transmission was really jerky at low speeds. Is it a(nother) Honda fueling issue? Don’t know but I didn’t like it. It does the same at low speeds in high gears.

Better than the K1300S that I rode the other day?
No (see comments on jerky transmission).

Would I like one?
Yes please.

For £12K+?
No thanks.

Silver Wheels (Sprint ST) – Updated 12th April 2010

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The “So What Should I Do With These Wheels?” project continues apace. Well, as “apace” as can be expected when you have very little spare cash and are holding out for a bargain.

The front wheel came up first and I secured it for £30 – bargain!

The rear wheel was £90 but came with a part-worn Bridgestone 021; again a bargain in my view when they are £400-odd new and £200+ from most breakers.

A call to my mate Gary Beresford who has agreed to run them up on his machine to check integrity, bearings and rebalance. He will also fit a part-worn Bridgestone 021 front that I picked up from a mate (swapped for a bedside cabinet!)

Fitting pictures coming soon.

Update 12th April 2010

Here they are fitted:

Fender Extender (Front)

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Further to my recent blog about “Who Needs a Fender Extender?“, I have been on the lookout for a front extender. You see them sometimes on eBay where the seller is selling a “Front Fender” but the photo shows the Triumph extender fitted.

As this is a £20 part, I’m happy to bid on these even if I don’t need the whole piece.

I’ve also blogged about motorcycle_recycle (eBay seller) before, as they supplied the 955i engine for my Sprint. Last week, one of these came up on their shop and I got it for the only bid of £7.99

Now I have to remove the four plastic pop rivets, find some replacements and fit to my Sprint.

BMW K1300S

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Another demo ride.

I couldn’t get out on the S1000RR but managed a good run on the K1300S. It was very cold at Cooper Motorrad in Tunbridge Wells when we picked up the bikes (Jim was on an R1200RT). We headed off for Canterbury across the downs where it snowed heavily, dodging the slush in the road and warily eying the 3″ of snow on the parked cars.

This bike is supposedly BMWs “Sports Tourer” aimed at those riders who want an across-the-frame multi that isn’t fully loaded with fairing and panniers etc (a la K1300GT). The bike offers 175bhp and is hugely reassuring with excellent road-holding and handling. The digital gear indicator is useful – even then I kept fishing for a 7th gear.

The biggest drawback for me (especially yesterday) was the lack of heated grips. After only 15 minutes I was wishing for my nice warm Sprint…

Numb fingers notwithstanding, I put 100 miles on the bike in my allotted 2 hours and thoroughly enjoyed it.  42mpg (according to the computer does not bode well with a tank of a mere 19 litres though. That’s 140 miles to “reserve” – not enough!

The electronic suspension was fun – especially in those conditions. I left it in “Normal” on the way out and tried “Comfort” on the way back. Didn’t bother with “Sport”

The Ultimate Riding Machine?   Maybe.

Would I buy one?  No thanks.

Hondaman “My CB750” Book

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Mark Paris (Hondaman) is a stalwart of .net (www.sohc4.net) and has spent the last 4 years writing his own book on the CB750. It is a “coffee table” book and includes pictures submitted by members of .net over the years. Mark is hugely experienced (almost as much as Bryan Jones…  Wink) and has put that experience and his time into this book – urged on by the members of course!

As with any “print to order” book, it is not cheap. Less than an OEM pipe for your CB, but still not cheap.

After discussing a UK “distribution” to try and reduce shipping costs, Mark has discovered that the company will deliver a “print file” to a local outfit (after commission of course) so that it can be printed locally on local sized (A4) paper.

Please post on here if you are interested.

The cost will be at least £50 (sorry) and may be more like £60  Shocked

As he says, we are working on a DVD version – personally, I like a good old-fashioned glossy book!

Update: You can buy this book direct from the printers in A4 size and have it shipped direct. Go to lulu.com

BMW S1000RR

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Whether you like BMWs or not, every red-blooded biker has been waiting for a chance to try the new uber-sportsbike from BMW.

Vines BMW had open day(s) to show off the new models (including the RR) – I went to Caterham with Jim. He got to sit on it, but no test ride (we didn’t book…)

We are both off to Coopers in Tunbridge Wells this week – maybe better luck there!

Drilling the Fairing Panel

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I have blogged about my fairing damage here but now that I have the new panel, I have to refit the switch for my heated grips. This is the third Sprint ST955 that I’ve fitted with heated grips so thought it was about time that I shared the method…

Firstly, make sure that you are somewhere warm. It was -1ºC in my garage yesterday and there’s nothing quite like cold fingers for screwing up and scratching the nice new (expensive) paintwork!

Here we are in the kitchen…

I have fixed the template (which comes with the kit) to the panel with masking tape. Use lots of this as it is the perfect protection against a wayward drill or rats-tail file!

Small drill and a steady hand…

Remove the template. I hope you made a copy of it because it is strictly a single-use item!

Mask off the cut-out with yet more masking tape and apply rats-tail file (carefully)

Use a small flat file to cut out the shape of the switch.

Clean kitchen.

Polish panel.

Fit to bike.

Job done.

R&G’s are next…

R&G Crash Bungs (Updated 07-Apr-10)

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Bought some of these to fit to my Sprint (see “Oops… post here)

On the 955 Sprint, the engine mounting bolts align perfectly with the cut-out in the fairing, so no cutting required and no fancy expensive ironwork behind the fragile plastic bits!

The fitting has taken a lot longer than I thought; there was no way that I could undo the two engine mounting bolts to fit the crash protectors. The obvious answer was to ask my dealer to do it whilst the bike was being serviced. With the fairings off and an experienced tech, it was the work of a few minutes.

Now I feel that I have finally laid my little driveway “incident” to rest.

Dropped Sprint Finally Fixed

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I have written before about the day that I dropped my Triumph Sprint and described how I had picked up a replacement fairing panel.

All it needed was cleaning, preparing, painting and “logo-ing”. I estimated £100 for the paint and £25 for the decal.

Here’s the finished article:

Not altogether a happy ending as the (financial) damage was worse that I had estimated (and to be fair, worse than my dealer had imagined as well). Don’t get me wrong – it’s a great job and I would have gladly plugged the paintshop on here, but at £150 + VAT (£176.25) it’s not a million miles away from the price of a brand new part from Triumph.

Total cost:
Panel: £13.50
Decal: £26.97
Paint: £176.25

Total: £216.72

[does anyone know how to insert justify tabs into html docs like this?]

All that’s required now is to cut the hole for the heated grip switch and fit the fairing panel.

More photos to follow.

[I have appended this post to the end of the original “Oops” post in order to maintain a complete story]