A Mostly British Obsession
The only machine I’ve ever bought brand new.
I’m planning on a longish motorcycle tour in a few weeks, and the Daytona will kill my ancient bones if I try to ride it 2000 miles in a week. So it’s up for sale or trade–I’m looking for something like a late-model Speed Triple, Ducati Monster, Moto Guzzi Brevia or similar. The Daytona only has 3,600 miles on it and is in very nice condition. Looking for about $4,500, but that’s somewhat negotiable.
This may be the dorkiest thing I’ve done for awhile, but my life is essentially a string of dorky endeavors. I washed my wife’s car, which made me think I should wash the XJ6, which led to me washing a seagull bomb off the MG, which had me thinking the truck hadn’t been washed since last year…so everything got hosed down. (The bikes were out because I was moving stuff around in the shop.) Why not roll out the E-Type? Somewhere in that sequence it passed from “understandable” to “dorky”; in any case, this was the result.
Here’s the inside of the shop, as you can see I haven’t done a whole lot with the organization of the space. (You can click for a larger image.)
I hope to build in some cabinets and what-not this winter, mainly on the wall where I have a couple of ancient Ferrari posters tacked up (I found a stash from ages ago…anyone for a 1980’s Testarossa poster? I managed to put that one back in the tube). I did get casters onto the metal work tables, they’re now handy for moving close to the action or allowing access to all sides of an unwieldy project.
Continue reading
[flickr id=”5928736225″ thumbnail=”original” overlay=”false” size=”original” group=”” align=”none”]It turns out the misfiring cylinder was nothing more than a bum spark plug. Took a nice ride this evening: Less comfortable than the BSA–but a heck of a lot smoother and faster! It’s funny how power can affect your perceptions; there are some dotted-line byways where driving the MGB or the F250 you think “there’s not enough road to pass, what were they thinking when they striped this?” On the 955i: “there’s plenty of road to pass here, nice of them to be so generous!”
UPDATE: The stupid thing is NOT fixed. Grrr. Next step…but back to the original post:
The Triumph 955i’s misfire has been cured with the swap in of a new coil pack. This is just a bit distressing as the bike has less than 3000 miles on it, you’d think the life span would be measured in tens of thousands of miles…but maybe just shy of a decade is the other expiration date. Trying to figure out which cylinder was misfiring was a puzzle–the ODB reader thought the bike was running just fine even when it clearly wasn’t. A friend reminded me I had an infrared thermometer, and the solution was at my fingertips.
Continue reading
Spotted this ad on craigslist tonight–someone selling their Daytona…but the photos of “their” bike are straight from this website. Sad thing is that anyone in the know would recognize the slight of hand, as the bike they’re selling would have a different rear suspension than mine. *Facepalm*
On a semi-serious note, though: when looking at CL ads, it’s not all that uncommon to discover that the photos in the ad are NOT of the car or bike you end up poking at when you go to see it. My Miata was sold that way: the car shown in the ad was very clearly not the one I ended up buying. I asked the seller about it a couple of times and she insisted the photos were recent ones of my car, despite a number of major differences.
It’s not the end of the world to use a “representative sample” in an ad, just let people know. And if you’re going to grab someone’s photos, maybe ask permission?
Went over to watch the Flying Heritage Collection’s Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire fly on their “Battle of Britain” day last Saturday. It was just spitting (appropriate weather for the occasion), but I took the Triumph anyway, to make short work of the long summer ferry lines (motorcycles are allowed to bypass the queue). This proved to be a soggy decision when the skies opened in earnest on the ride back. (“Bah, I won’t need rain gear” was my thought before departing the house. Oops.)
Continue reading
This can’t be good–most bikes don’t use studded front tires. The Triumph is now seven years old and on its original tires, though they have accumulated only 2600 miles. I suppose this will get me to replace them. (I’m not quite sure what I’ve collected, here…I thought it was a bolt, but on further study, I don’t think it is.)
I discovered this on the ferry, headed out to Kirkland for the Carillon Point car show today, so I had 50 miles of riding to contemplate my unwanted companion.
I must be getting old, because the ride I took from our place to my parent’s in Port Townsend on Sunday was chilly, and yet it was 50 degrees or more out. We were promised a 70 degree day and it never quite materialized. This photo was taken at the Keystone ferry terminal, I was plenty early for my boat, something that will shock anyone who knows me.
Continue reading
The Triumph 955i has artificially low miles–due to a speedo glitch. (It’s probably not more than about 150 miles in arrears, but it is annoying.) More and more often, the speedometer ceases to register a speed (or add miles to the odometer; they’re both digital). This always coincides with the ignition key being used–it either works when you start the bike, and keeps working, or it doesn’t work and stays dead. I recently rode to my friend Matt’s in north Seattle, and the sequence of speedo operation? House to ferry, alive; ferry to Matt’s, dead; Matt’s to ferry, alive, ferry to home, alive. Other rides it’s the opposite.
When the speedo is “dead” it will sometimes display a speed of one mile per hour for a few seconds. I’ve wiggled wires but haven’t gone beyond that so far in trying to solve the problem, showing my usual initiative.
© 2024 RUSTY HEAPS
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑