MoT Day 2018

This month Pepé turns three years old and in UK that means must undergo the first of what becomes annual road worthiness tests known as the MoT. Short for Ministry of Transport.

At this stage there are no worries. As vehicles get older than things can be more worrisome.

Although that birthday is January 25th it has to be done in the same month. And today was the only Saturday free.

It was freezing. Okay. An air temp of 5°C when I set off. I had to boot Pepé with the dbpower unit again.

On the move it must have been closer to zero at 70mph on the motorway.

I was early. Checked in at Laguna in Ashford.  The new Triumph showroom is open but not the workshop and so the MoT needs to be done at the Powersports shop across town.

This is where they have the Ducati,  KTM and Kawasaki dealerships.

Once I handed the keys over I had a look around. Lots of really nice bikes. But now out of my wallet range. Most.

The latest Multistrada fetching over £16000 looks nice.

They have one of the new Z900 Kwaks in and it is in the colours a guy I worked with in 1974 had. Lovely but chain drive? Not for me. I took a picture of the seat hump. Less duck tail than the original

From there a look at the used bikes. A 2014 Diavel Strada with touring pack of screen and  luggage at a fraction over £10k looked very nice and only 5k miles!

But who am I to scoff. Pepé goes in the book with 5986 miles. The mileages at MoT are recorded and kept by the DoT.

I had a turn around the helmet and clothing section.  Not that I am in the market but I like to see what's about. Could not believe that the latest Shoei Neotec comes with an inner sun visor (at last) but at over £550 ($700) is eye wateringly expensive.  I'd be afraid to take it off in case I dropped it!

On the way in I had worn my new Dainese gloves. Goretex checks the boxes when wet.  They are a good fit and the thick elastic cuff is good and keeps them draught free. But. Once the temp gets this low after about 10 miles. My finger tips were beginning to feel very cold.

And then it was time to collect the bike. All passed as expected for another year.

The ride home was as cold as the way in. But at least I tripped 6000 on the odometer. Yay!!