InvictaMoto's Red Pepé Blog

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...

Being on leave from 22nd December until January 1st I had hoped we'd have one mild day to get out on the bike. It's a month since I was last out and it seems like much longer.  Sadly it has been raining or merely drizzling every day and then it's taken a turn for the worst. Light snow and daily highs of 2°C aren't conducive to two wheel transport. Thursday this week is supposed to be the mildest day. But... Update: 31st December 2017 Sadly the Met Office were wrong. As usual. Despite all the computers and weather stations and access to every nutter with a pine cone, forecasts are still pretty rubbish. The forecast changed and there should have been a five hour window today where the bike might have been dragged out of the garage.  Sadly. That never happened. It rained all day. It has rained all evening. The forecast for tomorrow is much the same. Looks like 2018 will start as 2017 has drizzled away....

Whatever your faith this is a time for rejoicing and friendship. Best wishes from Paul and Claire Devall. P.S. Instead of posted cards I have donated to an animal rescue centre.  http://www.hillside.org.uk

This is a bit different . And another link

With biking being set to one side for the winter. It's too cold and too icy to venture out too far it at all at the moment. So Rocket web surfing has to do. I remembered seeing these guys a few years back, when they did a series touring the UK doing cooking and visiting places that cook and sell food.  Regional recipes etc. As they were on Rocket Touring models. Here they are .

For the summer? I had an email (and no doubt everyone else with a Triumph did!) from Triumph announcing a clear out of parts and accessories.for a range of bike including the Rocket. When I bought Pepé I wanted the flyscreen but with a combined cost over £250 for the screen and fittings,  I couldn't justify the expense.  Unlike the X model that came with it fitted the ordinary Roadster came with nothing.   So when I saw in the list of parts at half or even lower price I chased it up. The flyscreen blade came out at just over £40. With all the bits, some genuine parts an some pattern the total cost is about £125. The reason for pattern parts made by a guy, David Gill, is because the screen needs two brackets to hold it in place. One side is out of stock at Triumph!  And given that the bike is no longer in production as it couldn't meet the latest EU emissions regs, what chance of stuff being made? What happens if an o...

Currently the UK is in the grip of a cold spell.  Winds from the north-west are coming from the pole and bringing icy conditions to the south of England and snow and ice to the more northerly climes. So. The decision whether to go to Belgium will be taken later in the week.  The newspapers are scaremongering about "arctic conditions" being with us for weeks rather than the usual days.   One of the geographical benefits of where we are off the coast of mainland Europe means that we benefit from the jet stream and that generally brings warmer air up from the equator that means we get less snow but we get more rain than the Europeans.  Unfortunately it looks as though we are going to be north of the jet stream this week and in the cold air. It was very cold on Friday when I went on the Ride for Kelly and on Saturday we (Neill, my brother and me)  went to the football (soccer y'all) at Gillingham and even with four layers of clothing, glove...