InvictaMoto's Red Pepé Blog

After the lockdown we seemed to be getting somewhere. Locally Covid cases has dropped. Instead the weather was appalling. My shoulder still not good. Even with the exercises I can't reach back to get something out of my right ass jeans pocket. The pain, good pain, as Shaun the physio calls it when exercising is terrible. So another month has passed. It's now cold and wet most of the time. I doubt Pepé will want to start...

Sadly as we enter another lockdown in England it's nearly two months since Pepé and I went out. Why? I am unable to ride due to tendonitis in the shoulder! I can bearly lift my arm to hold the right bar and throttle. More Physio. Fingers crossed - at least I can do that.

Milton under Wychwood for John's funeral

I had to go to Watling Tyres at Swanley to have the punctured tyre repaired properly.  The RAC guy came yesterday and we pulled out the screw and he did a temporary plug. The temp plug is restricted to 50mph so it was a long old ride up the M20 to not exceed that! In the end it cost £40 to have the rear wheel removed and the tyre plugged.   So much cheaper than a new tyre!  Plus properly fitted plugs by the likes of Watling (other tyre specialists exist too) is perfectly fine and legal. I would thoroughly recommend this branch to anyone that wants to ride-in/ride-out.  If you take your own new tyre they charge £20 to fit and balance.  

When I rode home from Neill's after the visit tot he BMW dealers I had no idea that somewhere along the way I had picked up a screw in the rear tyre. Luckily it was right in the centre of the tread and easily fixable.  As I have cover with the RAC I called them and it was about three hours before the patrol turned up.  It's summer holidays so I wasn't working anyway. It took a few goes before he could get a plug to fit and then re-inflate the tyre from his compressor. The plug held. I called around the tyre places and only Watling Tyres at Swanley would have the staff in to remove the wheel and do the proper plug. So tomorrow I will take a slow, restricted to 50mph, ride up to Swanley.

I was out early today to rise across to Tunbridge Wells to meet my brother Neill, and give him a ride home after he had taken his BMW K1600 in for a warranty recall on the gearbox. The ride out was pretty much as expected across to Tenterden then Sissinghurst and to the A21. Apart from a weird TomTom bypass of Tenterden that had ne join the A28 behind a car I had overtaken miles before. It was pretty much as expected though. We had a look around the showroom. They seem to have loads of bikes plated with 20 reg and ready to be collected. Then off to Neill's place. I didn't have the TomTom set but left it on. The Yamaha My Ride app was though. After a coffee and a chat I was back on the road. When I started up the bike the yellow light came to say I needed fuel. The miles to empty said 52. As I set off it dropped dramatically and I was working out whether to fuel up or go home and fuel up another day. The nearer I got to home I

Sunday. The heatwave of 34°C plus days is finally over and so getting togged up in bike gear isn't too onerous. So it seemed like the perfect opportunity to ride to H's and back after a coffee and bacon sandwich with fellow Meldrews member Cal. The ride up through Elham Valley and back through Alkham Valley.  Where in the past I"d give it some welly now I am more of a cruiser. You can still enjoy a ride at 45 to 50 rather than 60 to 70mph.  "My Ride" worked today with no need to login. Even though the temperature is lower, it is very muggy. Even riding along in a mesh jacket it was still sweatsville.

Two short rides today to Folkestone get get bread and seafood cocktails for lunch from Dockers.

Who would have thought on an afternoon ride I would get to lean the Rocket over further than Mark Marquez, the MotoGP World Champion does week in week out, lap after lap!!! Yep. Truly unbelievable. And of course bollocks.  The Yamaha My Ride app was running and in the same pocket as every other time. How it got my usual 20° or thereabouts totally wrong,  I have no idea. Anyway, today up through Hythe, Sene Valley up to Alkham Valley to Whitfield. Fuelled up at Tesco and then down the A2 to the Duke of Yorks, down past Dover Castle and back home up the A20 and then off to the Battle of Britain Memorial but it was closed so I went past without stopping. Down through Folkestone and the coast home. No photos today. Only My Ride. And that's it for today.

The problem with the pandemic is that for 4 months I have been working from home. To the day.  In that time I have had hardly had the chance to get out on Pepe. And when I have the lockdown restrictions have meant not actually going anywhere. So when I finish for the summer on July 21st I am hoping to get a few days a week out for a ride. But where to? One day I need to go to the office. We are being evicted at some stage and moved to some shitty place up town. I want to get my personal stuff from my locker before it all gets lost or dumped. So that will be a nasty surprise riding into central London.

Another nice summer morning. I pulled Pepé out of the garage and tried to set the Yamaha My Ride app working. Since last time it lost my login details and I couldn't be bothered to mess about. H's cafe is near Lydden on the A2 between Canterbury and Dover. H's is alongside the Kent Motorcycles Honda dealership. Out back is a former Little Chef restaurant that Kent use a a rider training centre.  I was going to meet fellow Meldrews MCC member Cal there. And of course any others that made it. Today none did. My outward journey was up over Sandling onto the A20 where I was left for dead by Marc Marquez and his brother, or what passed for them in this part of Kent. The A20 between the turning by the High Speed Rail link and the M20 J11 as far as the J12 junction is a "bikers road". It can be fun. Some guys ride like they are the aforementioned MM93. I split off as the first junction through Postling, Lyminge and Elham Valley. All very relaxe

Covid-19 put the kybosh on the event as it had with nearly everything in life. I planned a route to take me around London on the M25 and up the M11. On the way back I wanted to stop in at the NAAFI cafe at North Weald airfield. North Weald was one of the WW2 fighter air stations in the defence of London and the South-East during the Battle of Britain. But it was cancelled and so was my trip.

Actually into East Sussex. Finished work from home at 4pm. I was togged up and away about 4.20. No plan. Started the Yamaha app but when I got back it had effed up.  Went to Rye via Appledore. Almost empty roads and in bright sunshine. Good ride. Only 42 miles and an odometer moving onto 9740.

June 15th. International Ride to Work Day. Great if you are working.  Great if you have a motorcycle. Not so great if due to the Covid-19 pandemic you are working from home and own a motorcycle. That's me folks. I worked on the computer from 0755 until I logged off at 1607. I guessed I had done my bit. I togged up. Pulled Pepé from slumber in the garage and set off. Where to go?  I decided on somewhere to bang off a photo that I had been out on this International Day. So I went to Dungeness. The roads were quite busy. The UK is still not totally out of Lockdown. The parking at Dymchurch by the beach was maybe 40% full. It's June. Still kids aren't at school. So parents obviously consider the combination of sun and no school to mean it's holiday time. Dungeness was pretty empty. The ride to the Light Railway station and Old Lighthouse had quite a few cars and tourists were photographing Derek Jarman's cottage and garden.  I've done that before so took my photo of

Today as it was sunny instead of a lie-in I would get out for a ride. But where to? In the end I did a circuit of East Kent. Home to Canterbury and then loop back home. With the M20 closed northbound both the A20 and the Canterbury road were packed with foreign trucks.  Why these guys can't follow a clearly marked "diversion" is anyone's guess. Stone Street to Canterbury wasn't the diversion route. Twats. I stopped in Canterbury for fuel. ASDA selling at 100.7. I have missed out on the lowest price for years at 99.9p. I had the Yamaha app running in my pocket. A bit disappointed with the lean angle. I did try. Honest. So another shortish ride done. End mileage: 9670.  

Today's run was in an attempt to see the first three waypoints on the list.  One at Littlestone I had glimpsed but had nowhere to park the bike. The second at Greatstone and the third in the churchyard in New Romney. Once again using the Traces of War website for inspiration. I bypassed the Redoubt at Dymchurch again. Nowhere safe to park as the gravel off-road parking was full of cars. A portent of things to come.  It's a hot day and there are beaches all along our coast line..... First stop in Dymchurch itself at St Peter and St Paul Church. I parked outside and took a photo. The road after the church is "private". I made sure I didn't tresspass! Before entering the churchyard to the right on the entrance.  In the end I walked around all the yard until I found a solitary CWGC grave obscured by bushes. It looks as though it in maintained pretty well. I took another of the war memorial outside the church in a little triangle of land

Today's post-lockdown ride was out on the Traces of War route I had planned.  I wasn't going to do all of it as it was gone 4pm or so before I got going.   I had amended the route to include the Redoubt. It's called the Dymchurch Redoubt., built in the middle years of the Napoleonic War when there was the idea that Nappy would invade us.  I didn't stop as it is only half a mile from my house.  Actually, the Redoubt is part of the Hythe Ranges and is about 100 yards in Hythe not neighbouring Dymchurch. The second stop should have been the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery grave site in the churchyard in Dymchurch but TomTom forgot to tell me about the waypoint and the LS2 bluetooth was inaudible. I continued through Dymchurch itself.  A small seaside resort with caravan parks and amusement arcades.  All closed as they haven't been allowed to open yet. Oddly, as a sunny day, the place was packed and social distancing looked rare. Expect another peak in Co

Bored in lockdown. Decided to add some photos to my Flickr album.

It started off as a lunchtime pull the bike out and Solvol the rusty bits! It was warm and sunny. By three after midday I was getting bored.  Pepé was out and shining from the polish. There were no calls on the helpdesk and I need to have my lunch and visit the supermarket.  Togged up I left and decided to try the Sainsbury's at Folkestone.  Bigger store, more choice?  I had the list of what was needed in my pocket. For the fashion conscious I was wearing the Joe Rocket mesh jacket, black Kevlar lined cargo trousers, my old boots and the black LS2 helmet.  I took London Road out of Hythe, A20 and then M20 to the Hawkinge turn off, then down through Folkestone on Black Bull Road and out to Park Farm.  Sainsbury had a queue too long and so I headed back along the coast to Waitrose in Hythe. Parked up. No queue to speak off and straight in. Once done I had a short ride home.  The first ride for 8 weeks or so.  Enjoyed thoroughly.

Actually it was relaxed last Wednesday. Amazingly the main A259 that passes about 100 yards behind my house had less motorcycle traffic along it than during lockdown. It seems that some people were out when it wasn't allowed unless important or essential. So I planned to go out over the weekend.  Didn't happen.  Around here the roads were as packed as a normal pre-Covid weekend.  Despite biking associations asking riders not to go out in groups or congregate in large number, there were loads of groups on the A259, some with five or even seven bikes one behind the other.  Now Joe Public thinks what a load of twats bikers are. I am working from home today, it's hot and sunny so maybe I'll get out for a wash and brush up, use my Solvol on the chrome go for a short ride. I have a route planned in my TomTom that has some places on it from the Traces of War  website. ( https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/7799/Dymchurch-Redoubt.htm ) Hopefully I

I decided to go out to the garage and get the Solvol Autosol out and polish off the chrome where there is a little surface rust. Some of the Triumph chrome is pretty poor.  The spotlight brackets and even the chrome lump holding the ignition key are always a little grotty, So, I locate the half used tube on the chrome polish on the shelf. Rock solid! Like dried concrete in a tube! How to get some more. Shops that aren't pharmacies or food sellers are shut! Amazon?  eBay? Check out both. Amazon sellers can fill the order in the first week of May. It's not eligible for Prime!  Slip over to eBay. One seller can get it to me from the 18th April.  It's cheaper than Amazon.  Buy now! What to do before then?

I have taken a while to buy a new summer jacket. My Joe Rocket has given sterling service since I bought it way back in 2006 but has started to get a bit on the ragged side.  I fitted new elbow armour last year as the original had started to break up.  A few years back, Claire stitched up the front as one side of the zip had started to part company with the body of the jacket. I looked at a few different designs and had planned to go for a ride to GetGeared's shop in Leatherhead (Surrey) over the Easter holiday to try some on for size. With the coronavirus lockdown and shops shut, that can't happen. I got the search down to two that I liked the look of and the price I want to pay. In the end I liked the look of the Rev'It Eclipse. It has smooth lines and doesn't look like I am about to ride across the sahara, not Mr Chunky!  Seems to have enough pockets and a decent manufacturer. Comes with elbow and shoulder armour too. I liked the 

Rather than go cabin crazy, I decided to get the bike washed after its dirty trip out to Oxfordshire. In the end I made a deal with myself. I'd ride to the jet wash at Seabrook and hose and brush it down. So £3 later it was nice and clean leaving the rust showing on the iffy Triumph chrome to good effect. From there a short ride to fill the tank at Tesco in Cheriton. The trip back from Oxfordshire via John's was 181.7 miles. It took 17.06 litres to brim the tank, or at least fill to the bottom of the filler hole. Giving an mpg of 48.4. Amazing. The ride back home was quite sedate though.  The self isolation idea that sees cities across the globe empty  doesn't seem to have reached us here yet.  Still. A few more miles under the tyres.  End mileage is 9557.

On the Road Again Taken yesterday by Stuart James.  I don't get much opportunity to get a moving pic!

My old Friend John Storrie sadly passed away on February 8th. Another victim of lung cancer. It was his wish to have a bike escort to the church. So how could I refuse.  Google maps worked it out to be 156 miles each way. We'll see how accurate that is. I set off around 10am and arrived at John's house just after 1pm,  after stopping on the A40 near Standlake for petrol at a Tesco Extra store. It was pretty cold. Even the wintery sun at the pitstop warned by hands. On the way up I wore the old all leather Belstaff gloves. By about halfway my fingertips were frozen. In the end there were five bikes at John's. He had asked that the order was to be Kettles, then other 2-stroke Suzukis, other Suzuki made bikes, then Aprilias, Triumphs, HD and then others. We had some pictures taken before the hearse arrived. Pepé at the meeting place Luckily there was a Kettle ridden by a local guy Brent, a Suzuki ridden by Old SOC Sandy. Then Mark Powell and me on Triumphs and lastly John Carr

Even with the new battery I willed Pepé  to start.  He didn't. What was a worry was that only the rev counter needle did the full sweep. The buzzing that accompanies the check carried on.  Even with the dbPower unit it was no good. I gave Laguna a call to see if they had any ideas. Not really but thought it was merely the battery a bit flat.   I gave it a while and tried again. It started after a few tries. On the way up the M20 to Ashford the engine management light came on. A worry. I checked the manual on my phone and it just says that one of the systems has registered an error. At Laguna it started up okay when I switched off and on again. It must have started as it went into the workshop and passed the MoT. I decided to go to the Triumph shop on the way back home to get them to look at. And the light had gone off when I started it! So we are set for another year. MoT mileage to start the year: 9203.

The battery was ordered on the 14th January in the afternoon and too late for the "next day" delivery. It arrived 16th January afternoon. Too dark to fit it there and then so it had to wait for the weekend. I ordered it from  www.motorcyclepartswarehouse.co.uk .  I chose a good time to buy it. Before Christmas when I checked online the best price was around £65 plus delivery with two companies very much the same price.  After Christmas MPW were selling them delivery inclusive for £63.49. Winner winner chicken dinner! I have to say their service is good. Plus the packaging was very good. Wrapped in a plastic postage bag, surrounded by bubble wrap and under that a layer of "slashed" cardboard.     The only disappointment is that it was black as per the main photos on the   Motobatt  website. I had wanted yellow! Still no matter, it can't be seen unless the front seat comes off. Fitting as they say is a doddle. In the box the battery c