InvictaMoto's Red Pepé Blog

The popular name for the Rocket's in black with white stripes is "Pepe" after Pepe le Pew the cartoon character. So my R3 can be "Red Pepe".

Finally managed to get a picture or two of the sissy bar in place and fitted! Side view Rear view Looks good.

Not for me! But for Claire as she is used to having a top box behind her back.  Enter the Fehling Sissy Bar. I checked a few custom websites and it came out at about £135 inc vat. Then I got a tip to check German custom sites and found this one at €115 plus €16.99 to get it to me. Still a massive saving. Bought online on Monday evening, delivered Thursday morning.  Fitted? Hopefully it will go on at the weekend when Cal comes back with his Allen keys. Photos to follow.

Day 2. After the long day the day before I was feeling a little tired and after the early night,aided by two pints of Monaco at the restaurant, I slept most of the night. I set my alarm on my phone for 0800. By the time I had showered and got changed I got to breakfast to find all my travel mates already there.   We had a good chat over breakfast and by the time we were ready to leave it was easily 0945.   The first stop was to be the site where the Red Baron was shot down. Somehow we had missed it last year.  It would be easy to miss as it is simply a small notice board at the side of the road. The next stop was only a few miles along the road. Grove Town Cemetery where David wanted to look up one of his relatives buried there. Although from Google Maps the cemetery looks to be in the middle of farmland, what it didn't show was the rough track to get there. Unlike the Pals, we couldn't miss this one. At least Neil got to take his new Honda Cross Tour...

An early start on Saturday. I had old friend Ken Fulton staying over. My plan was to be up about 5.30am, leave at 6am to arrive Dover at 6.30am. Except Ken was up earlier and we left and arrived  at Dover way before 6am. I messaged Cal to say we were going through immigration and check-in. We were first in the line. It took so long at Costa to get a coffee that the others had arrived and we were almost ready to load. Bugger. The crossing was pretty straightforward and after breakfast we were disgorged into dull weather Calais. The plan was to head down the A26 to Arras and then cut across to the first stop at the Accrington Pals Memorial.  First delay was that the autoroute ticket machine played up and some of us got tickets and others had to wait to get one. At the pay station near Arras, the lucky ones from the ticket collection found their tickets were not recognised!!! More holdups. Then we got split up twice! The eight bikes...

The Givi tank lock ring fits almost perfectly on the R3. The Triumphs use BF02 and the only fly in the ointment is the bolt configuration.  The Explorer was three long bolts and one short. The R3 has two of each. Oops. Luckily I had a spurious other bolt with the same thread. Unfortunately, the "only used once" tank bag is too big and fouls the clocks! So what to do.  Buy another and sell this one. Done. At least I nearly broke even on the deal. Once that was completed I had to fit Baloo. There aren't many options of where he can go. So. Fettling 2 over.

After taking the dog for a walk I pulled R3 out of the garage. As it was billed as potentially the hottest day of the year so far, I chose to wear my Kevlar lined cargos and Joe Rocket mesh jacket. In the end it turned out to be the hottest July day on record. Riding along was really okay but once stopped the sun and the heat from the engine was scorchio. My run was up through Sandling to take a look of the M20. The two lines of trucks parked up during the French strike had gone. I then headed through the country roads through the Elham Valley to Canterbury. The idea was to check out a camping shop. Except I couldn't find it! I headed south to see what was happening in Dover. The port was supposed to be closed as the French were still revolting and the port at Calais was closed giving the ferries nowhere to dock. I stopped off at Whitfield to get to an ATM, and then into the store to get some water! The R3 attracts and audience and guys ...