InvictaMoto's Red Pepé Blog

The MoT ran out on the 19th February and so I need to book it in to be legal to ride to the testing station. I have chosen the take it to Laguna as usual. Called and the earliest they can do it is Monday 8th March at noon. I am probably not going to get too much riding in before the end of March but this should prepare things for getting out and about.  The first date in the Government's roadmap to get us out of lockdown is not until the end of March! I can't tax it again until I have the MoT in place.

With us still in lockdown in Kent and after what seems like forever banged up 23 hours a day in the house, I can't wait to get the bloody vaccine and be able to go out again on the bike. I doubt after so long in the garage that it will actually start!  I have the dbPower unit on charge to 100% to fire the big boy over.  And then we'll see.  The weather hasn't actuality enticed me out on the road either. At the moment it alternates between hissing rain and high winds or frost that brings out the gritters with their nasty sand and salt concoction that rots Triumph chrome away in minutes. The new Motobatt battery I bought and fitted a year ago, today as it would happen (!) will no doubt be as dead as the proverbial dodo.  All thanks to the bastard that created this virus in their little laboratory. When will it all end! In the end did what I should have done months ago but I suppose I thought it would all be over and normal life might start to come back. ...

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.

An annual service costing £254 inc taxes. Not bad. Dropped Pepé off just before 9am. We did a few errands and shopping and then home. I called just after half time in the rugby where New Zealand were annihilating Ireland to find it was ready. Changing back into bike gear we headed off to Laguna Ashford.  The ride back was quite boring on the A20 but the bike pulled nicely. 

Since I became a fair weather biker (and more of a motorcycle owning but mostly non-rider biker) I have yet to get to the 10000 miles service limit. So once again, Pepé is booked into Laguna Triumph to have the Annual Service done.  It's October 19th and so by then I might have added a few more miles to the odometer but it will still be less than 10000! Since I bought the bike just over four years ago I have only managed an average of 2000 miles a year.   It is all made worse in that my brother ( https://ndtea.blogspot.com/ ) is off again on another trip on his BMW.  This one trip will be more than my entire year's mileage. Of course, there are different reasons for this but there you go.  It is what it is.

Took the bike up to Laguna Triumph at Ashford and left it whilst we had errands and a visit to my Aunt to fit in.  Why choose Laguna to fit the tyre I had sourced myself?  Although Oponeo have a network of fitters there are none within 50 miles of where I live.  In fact the nearest two were in Essex and Brighton. I had a look at a few of the places I have had tyres fitted before and the nearest ride in/ride out place was in London and 65 miles away!  Also, these guys are tyre sellers too. Laguna charged me half an hours labour inc taxes and that still meant the tyre was £40 cheaper than they would have done it for as supplier and fitter of the big fat Avon. When I collected it they had noticed an exhaust clamp had broken and so they had replaced that in the same labour charge. It will need a bit of scrubbing in. It's the first "road" tyre I have had fitted to a bike for many years.  The last was years back when I had BT020/021's fitted to the G...

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...

Service date today. As I haven't managed to hit 10000 miles yet, I booked the annual service instead. It's cheaper luckily. It should have been last week but due to the building work at the Triumph shop it was put back a week. This morning it was freezing. Cars iced over but at least the roads clear enough. By the time I got to Ashford my fingers were frozen at the tips.  After changing the date when I got to the Triumph shop the workshop looked like it was weeks away from finished. So we schlepped across to the other shop where  they usually have KTM, Ducati and Kawasaki. Outside was another Rocket fitted with a supercharger. I'd love to hear that running. I took a couple of photos. Some three hours later I got an sms to say it was finished. We were in Folkestone  walking the dog and watching a ceremony where they were commemorating the centenary of the ending of The Battle of the Somme in 1916. A picture here too. At least it was dry and cold ...