Sometimes I
think I have too many bikes when you have to pay for insurance and having to
get MOT’s done but when I organised the date and times it seemed a good idea.
After doing the Paul Fynn Rally on Saturday and out again on Sunday I only gave
the bikes a cursory once over on Tuesday morning. I had been at the Museum all
day Monday and had gone there on the Valiant. It was a slow day with all the
visitors arriving after 1pm. The morning was slow. Just as well as Brian had to
go home as he was not feeling well and Pete had a domestic with his cat. That
left me and John to hold the fort. When the first customers arrived I could not
get the till to work but I had enough change on me to sort the first visitors
out. Sam arrived shortly afterwards and I got my change back and now the till
was operational. Within minutes more people arrived and I successfully operated
the till and gave them the right change. I started the introductions about the
museum when a trio from Spain arrived. When it was time for them to go to the
“Home of Triumph” I enlisted help from John to look after the till. The Spanish
trio consisted of mum, dad and daughter who spoke excellent English and was
very keen on motorcycles. Dad could speak little English but with the aid of
daughter he showed me a number of bikes he had restored. One was an interesting
moped that had a suspension system similar to that of our 1937 New Imperial.
The day ended in a flurry of activity as by the time I had got everyone around
it was almost 4pm with a New Zealand guy promising to come back another day as
he had only been in one hall all afternoon!
Tuesday was MOT day and it was grey with rain now and
again. What a day to pick to go and get two MOT’s. To do this I arranged a demo
bike from Jack Lily’s and I set off after a late breakfast on the Kawasaki for
the MOT at Twelve.
I arrived early and picked up the demo bike. The first
one offered was a cruiser. The riding position, for me is a bit strange and I
feel my feet are going to fall off the forward pegs. I ended up with a 1050cc
speed triple. The street fighter style and made my way back home on it. I had
plenty of time before the next MOT at 2:45pm so my return journey was not direct.
Out from Jack Lilleys to Walton where the low fuel light came on so I went on
to Cobham, to Sainsburys to fill up with a tenners worth of fuel. On down the
A3 to Ripley and then to Ockham and East Clandon to Shere. I enjoy these
country lanes and it is a good way to compare how each of my bikes handles. I
found the clutch a bit heavy on the triple and the suspension sent me bouncing
off the seat because it was so hard. I like the Buell as it just glides over
the bumps keeping my fragile back safe. In spite of my moans it was fun and
sure footed giving me confidence that it would stick to the road. The red line
was around 10K and about 6 some blue lights came on. I thought this might be a
sensible time to change up which I did early on but started wondering why the
red line was at 10. In the best way of riding the revs should be up in the
power band for acceleration and deceleration to be the quickest and I enjoyed
the way this triple responded. I was not used to this level of acceleration and
at times I found myself wondering that, after an overtake how did I arrive so
fast. I came back from Shere, past Newlands corner and Ripley to the A3 and
home. Put the triple in the garage then back to Jack Lilys on the Buell and
collect the Kawasaki for the return journey. The Kawasaki was fine. I headed
home as quickly as I could. Before I returned I took a couple of photos of the
gold speed machine.
I was back in reasonable time and while I was waiting
for the Buell this guy Adnan Maglajlic from Italy was getting his Adventurer
serviced. This was unusual so I enquired more and found he was on a round
Europe tour. Starting and ending in Italy sponsored by Triumph Italy. He would
be in London to take some pictures for his blog and later trip articles. His
web site is www.europemotorbiketour.com I took some
details from him and asked if he would like to see the museum. I passed his details
on to the Museum for later contact. He had a schedule to stick to and was not
sure if he would be able to fit it in. I was available to show him around
during the morning if needed. I took a photo of him with his bike before
heading home in spits of rain.
I did get home in the dry though unlike the other
Sunday coming back from Brooklands. I was planning to go out in the evening but
after covering so many miles during the day I decided that an early night was
best to help my aching back recover from the bumps of the day.
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