Triumph Tiger Motorcycles in Auburn, page #28

Moto blog

A weekend of Lawn mower racing, Big Ed, Muc Off and Carlsberg

Around this time every summer the BMF hold the Garden Of England Motorcycle Show otherwise known as GEMS. The show happens to be round the corner from me so event sponsors MCE Insurance kindly sent me some passes so I could have a look around. Apart from the usual trade stands and crazy arena antics one of the highlights was the national lawn mower racing championship.

Speed Triple gets new boots

Since the spark plug incident last month resulting in the premature demise of the factory fitted Metzlers, I’ve had to find some new rubber for the Speed Triple. With the Triumph’s punchy engine Commuting 1800 miles a month on motorways and city roads, I need something that will cover decent miles but also be up for some frequent country lane antics. With the BT023’s Bridgestone claim longer life with solid wet weather performance for touring riders whilst satisfying the demands of the keen sport bike riders.

Triumph Speed - A City Tool

The Triple and I have covered 2500 miles now and most of that has been commuting through London. Last year I was riding Kawasaki’s ZX-6R and the constant gear changing, braking and acceleration was taking its toll. After 5000 miles the Kwak was feeling loose, rough and generally hard to ride smoothly.

Triumph riding experience

Just got back from a sunny Silverstone where we’ve been given the chance to sample Triumph’s Riding Experience. Very nice it was, too. It’s not a track day.

Speed Triple exhausts

The Speed Triple sounds quite throaty with the standard pipes, on the overrun it pops and farts to its heart content but it could be louder. Also standard pipes are usually quite heavy, on the Triple they weigh 9.3kg!!! Triumphs preferred exhaust manufacture is Arrow and they offer side and under seat options as official Triumph accessories.

Riding in groups

Saturday morning was a stonker wasn’t it? A group of us ranging from neighbours, brothers, mates and girlfriends got up and headed down to the coast for a spot of bacon and eggs. We had a real diverse selection or bikes actually with a GSX1400, XJR1300, Triumph Speedmaster, MT01, A Yamaha R1 and my Triumph Speed Triple.

Single sided chain adjustment

We don’t get the manuals with our long term bikes and I didn’t want swallow my pride and ask triumph how to adjust the chain on the Speed Triple. For the life of me I couldn’t figure it out. The single side swing arm with centrally mounted disk is a work of art but how the hell you are supposed to adjust the thing?

A thing of beauty?

The weather was pretty good over the weekend and I managed to get 500 miles in and become better acquainted with the Speed Triple. I’m still running it in but as it’s reputation suggest the bike doesn’t disappoint. There are some noticeable differences over most other naked bikes I’ve ridden, you could call them quirks, but i'll talk about those in a week or so.

The Triple's ready, three days early!

Mark Forsyth returned our Bonneville long termer today, and the Speed Triple was ready at the triumph factory to be brought back with him…three days early. Here’s a picture of it ‘wedged’ in the back of our new Ford Wildtrak. The bad news is, it won’t arrive at our London office until Friday, patience Andy, patience.

New Triumph joins the family this Friday

With the nights drawing out it feels like an end to what has been a very long winter. I’ve been getting the train to work recently and if you’ve used London’s tube network in rush hour then you’ll know what I mean when I say the words ‘inhuman over crowding’. I had a call from the Triumph factory in Hinckley today and the good news is my new staff bike will be ready for collection on Friday.