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Showing posts from June, 2015

Fettling

After I took the TomTom Ram mount off the Explorer I had expected fitting it on the R3 would be simple. No chance.  The R3 has larger diameter handlebars and the u-bolt I had was too narrow. There started search for the larger one that came in the TomTom box. Of course it wasn't there but I got lucky and found it in with some other assorted crap.  Finding a suitable place was always going to be a challenge but I think I managed it.  Luckily I didn't cut the cable so I have the full metre with the BMW type plug on the end. The power socket on the R3 is behind the engine on the left side. There is also cover that side covering the throttle bodies and injection. The wire fits nicely in there, leaving a loop at the bar end to cope with lock to lock turns. That's the theory anyway. The other job was to fit the Klicbag chromed brackets. Triumph use Torx head bolts and Klicbag use Allen. I didn't have any big enough and luckily my bike club mate in the Meldrews. Cal, did. It t

Home!

Done! A slight hiccup as I forgot to take the invoice and my insurance with me. I took the "man bag" with Döra's paperwork though. So I had an extra ride back home on Döra and back to Laguna. The R3 was outside and had been cleaned and polished. They had done the first service and fitted the power supply socket.  Sadly they didn't have the time to fit the Klicbag pannier rails for me, and so I left them at home. It was a little sad to trade-in Döra but a new era awaits. My first stop was Tesco to fill the tank and then off via coffee at the Blue & White cafe where I took a couple of pix. Outside the Blue & White Cafe Outside the Blue & White Cafe It is pretty much a fluke that my ShoeI  Qwest matches the bike paint job. And then it was home. Non-biker life sometimes gets in the way. At Home One small job was to assemble the panniers. When I say assemble, I mean fit the brackets onto back of the Klic

Luggage

Moving from a bike with panniers to a bike with no luggage as standard is a bit of a problem.  I am off to France for the weekend, next weekend on the battlefield tour of the Somme. I had a look at the thirty year old Swagman panniers I have in the garage and although they are sound, they need a lot of work to clean and get ready. But on a new bike I need new luggage! After some weeks of research I sorted the bike I wanted, and now luggage.   Triumph OEM panniers,  that they fit to the  Thunderbird LT and America LT look very nice but at nearly £700 they are way too expensive.   I joined a few forums to see what are popular and apart from the OEM panniers, there were two other main choices, Klicbags and another from Belgium.  In the end I opted for Klicbags  as they leave very little presence when the panniers are removed.  That they are removable is a boost as I won't want them fitted all the time. So I ordered a set. They come out at half the price of the OEM models

After the bike....

.... the t-shirt...

New Era begins...

A new era begins on Saturday 27th June 2015. I change from a Texer to a Rocketeer. And here she is. The post from "On the Road" -  http://invictamoto.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/rocketman.html