Skip to main content

A month?

OMG! It's a month since I last got out on Pepé.

So as expected with some damp days and nights the battery needed a jolt from the dbPower unit.

It's a nice sunny morning so I got the Triumph Steve McQueen jacket out. It's definitely a three season jacket. I always remove the zip-in liners as they tend to be sweat inducing quilted nylon.

Another reason is that despite the body being XXL, the arms are still S or even M. Narrow tubes that my old man's arms find a tight fit.

If you are a gym bunny and have muscles that bulge like The Rock, then look elsewhere.

The jacket has metal zips and snap fasteners. I do love that. It's short enough not to touch the tank with the bottom snapper.

It also has two zippered vents along the collar bone and a huge zipped vent across the shoulders. Not that they were needed today. There are plenty of pockets. Two snap fastened ones on the chest, left and right, a zippered pocket on the left chest to. Two lower pockets, both zipped.  There are two inside pockets, one each side and bother zippered. Perfect for phone and wallet!

The ride to the Meldrews' monthly meet was uneventful. I stopped for petrol at Tesco and topped off the tank after the last fill.

You never buy a Rocket if you are gas mileage concerned.

Fuelly calculated the last tank at 38.5mpg (Imperial gallon). But it was to be expected after the 130kph run from the fuel stop on the A25 near Armentières a mere 67.1 miles from Tesco.

It was good to see Cal, David and Norman at the meeting. A time to chat with the old guys. At 62 I am the youngest.

After chewing the fat and putting the world to rights we set off home. Cal and Norman taking the long way round and me the simple direct way home.

Man. Is it good to be out in the autumn sun? Of course it is.
posted from Bloggeroid
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bikers Loft 3

The last day. After leading yesterday's run to Ypres, I decided to take a back seat, or a different place in the line of 8 bikes. And so after a repeat of the previous day's self cook breakfast we packed the bikes and headed off. Aiming for Nieuwpoort aan Zee as the first stop. The plan to follow a canal all the way there to where it meets the sea at a huge marina. I was bringing up the rear of the column and saw a sign like this one. "No Motor vehicles" After only one short section of the towpath/road. We tried to alert those ahead but Cal and I were the only two not heading past this sign. We chose to turn left across a lift bridge onto the other bank, where Nieuwpoort was signposted 15kms away. As we headed along we sounded our horns and waved at the "first wave" to no avail. Some miles further on their side came to an end. By then we were way ahead despite dropping the speed to 40. We carried onto t...
1 comment
Read more

New Battery?

The weekend showed how weak the battery has become.  Having had to use the dbPower unit on four separate occasions during the day in Belgium was the giveaway. We are in the second winter of this problem where the battery isn't strong enough to start the bike. In the summer it charges and holds that charge and although I keep the dbPower unit to hand I rarely have to use it.  But in winter it barely has the power to turn the engine over. It's simply "clunk". The lights come on though and that probably doesn't help. So what to do? Being a fair weather biker nowadays I won't be using the bike that often until the new year. Do I get a new battery sooner rather than later? It might end up freezing away in the garage. I have a garage in a block away from the house with no power, so a trickle charger is no use either. I have been looking at a replacement though.  A  Motobatt  with a high cranking power should be around £75. So unlikel...
2 comments
Read more