Saturday 30 June 2012

Day Tripper

I'm down in Warwickshire this weekend to catch a couple of Shakespeare plays at the RSC in Stratford on Avon. 

Wondering what to do with ourselves yesterday morning we made the short trip to the National Motorcycle Museum in Solihull. 

The museum is well worth a visit and, with over 800 machines on display, Will take you some time to get around. 

Needless to say, I took a shed load of photos and I'll post some of the better ones when I get back.

Today we're off to see some Morris dancing, I kid you not.

Wednesday 27 June 2012

Solid Air

It seems that the inimitable Danny Thompson, bass player extraordinary, is a Triumph fan. Good man!

Here he is backing up long-time collaborator Glaswegian John Martyn.

Thistles


Some thistles for Thistledown 

(picture by Mrs.Combo)

Sunday 24 June 2012

Concept

2008 BMW R1200S Scorpion concept bike
(Via:)

Sound of Silence

For those who have been paying attention, you may remember that I had some issues with the alarm on my Triumph while trying to catch the ferry back from Zeebrugge recently. If not, then the post is here. And this was by no means the first time that the alarm had caused me grief.


From everything that I’ve read about them, the only folk who think a bike alarm is a good idea are those who are making and selling them and your insurance company. I’ve lost count of how many forums  I’ve been on, for all manner and make of of bikes, all recommending that you take the bloody thing off and throw it away. So that’s what I decided to do.

the cause of so much grief
As electrics are not my bag I had asked Norman and Terry to came over and give me a hand. Between the three of us, and using some useful instructions we found on the interweb here, we removed the alarm and sorted out the remaining wiring.

Actually, because the alarm was fitted to a Triumph, removal was surprisingly straightforward and nowhere as difficult as we had imagined. Triumph have designed their wiring looms so that a Datatool alarm plugs directly in via a connector block. Remove the block, re-connect a couple of wires and you're back in business. So, no hacking into the wiring loom, thank goodness.

This would seem to sum up the frustration of most people who have had one of these things fitted to their bikes.

Wednesday 20 June 2012

French Triple

 
This week’s bike is a 1974 350cc two-stroke triple from French manufacturer Motobecane / Motoconfort. The bikes were apparently badged as both marques, although there appears to only have been limited numbers produced due to the high purchase price when new.


The two yellow machines above were spotted at Coupes Moto Legende last month. The nearest one is a Motobecane, the other a Motoconfort.

  
There's a brief history of the manufacturer on wiki, and some more details about this particular machine here.


Sales brochure

Friday 15 June 2012

Pass

Stelvio

Sheepio

Iron Bikers



This looks like it might be a good event. I was handed a flyer at this year’s Coupes Moto Legende. See their website for some info and lots of pictures from last year.

Wednesday 13 June 2012

Postcard From The Edge


I got my annual postcard from the Isle of Man TT races this morning. My mate Dave is a big race fan and goes to all the major road racing events on the Island as well as those in Ireland like the Northwest 200, and he never forgets to send me a postcard telling me how much fun he's having.

However, it sounds like this year wasn't as much fun as it usually was.