2022 and it's "Everyday Street Bikes?"

Triumph Trident

 When you get in your 50's you're not as nimble as you once were, and riding motorbikes seems to get more uncomfortable when you have been on them for a few hours.

My reactions arn't what they used to be, and after recently damaging my arm thanks to the Fireblade my biking has been less enthusiastic. Myself and Col often discus the hand gripping the bars problem that many Sports bike riders get, its caused from your hands having to support your upper body weight the position also makes your shoulders and neck ache, then there's the legs, because of the tight angle your legs are in, after a while it seems hard work moving your feet off the pegs when you have to stop, and again from a previous injury my hip hurts after a few hours.

With that in mind I decided its time to try a different style. 

I wanted something that is different, not a superbike wanna-be, but something that arcs back to the Suzuki Bandit I once lusted after in the late 90s.  I read a few reviews and found myself in the Triumph dealer in Plymouth. They had the new Triumph Trident on display a rarity at the time as it was sold out everywhere.

I sat on it and instantly took a liking to its comfy seat and upright seating position. 

 When at the 2021 Bike show in Birmingham I put my name down for a test ride and it took until April 2022 for that to happen.

However I managed to get a ride on one. Thanks to the guys at Streetbike Halesowen for letting me have the ride. I rode the Fireblade to the shop so this test ride was back to back with the bike I am used to. 

I was shown the controls and off I went.

 The first thing I noticed was how thin it felt around the tank where your knees go compared to the fireblade. The mirrors are in a different place to what I am used too they seemed very close but the views behind are unobstructed and i quickly got used to them. 

  It picked up quickly from a twist of the throttle and for the first 10 minutes the ride was limited to just 30 mph as I headed up to Romsley. The clutch feels light and steering quick with a reasonable turning circle, better than a sports bike anyway.   While going along this stretch of road it gave me chance to think about how I felt on it - hmm! Comfortable. Arms felt in a natural position and legs with not a to sharp an angle, but feet were definately lower than that of the Fireblade and the hand controls all in the right place,   ohh and the seat, yes its almost sofa like compared to the fireblade.

 Out of Romsley the speed limit changes and you can get up to 60mph, the Trident was in 6th and pulled upto the speed limit with no problem and quite briskly, maybe dare I say as good as if not better than my fireblade if it was in 6th.

 The seat was soft and I felt myself slide back to the hump about half way along. A couple of twisty corners which it handled well around bring you to the end of the road and the first real use of the brakes.  The front dipped and the brakes gripped nicely.  The front suspension definitely travelled more than on a sports bike.  

 I pulled out onto the next road, nothing around so I tried a quick acceleration test - Quick!  OK its not Fireblade quick but I would say upto 70 you would not see a bunch of dots in the distance as your mates disappear on their sports bikes on the roads.

 After half an hour of riding I pulled into a layby to check it over and get a proper look at what I was riding.  It looks nice, if you like that type of thing. Bit of a strange rear number plate holder -  but you can get an after market kit to move it up higher if you dont like it.  I do like the short tail end and how the exhaust comes out infront of the rear wheel. It sounds different to what I am used to but it has 3 cylinders, its not unpleasant sounding.

  It has loads of features, such as ABS, Traction Control, Slipper Clutch, 3 cylinders, Nissin calipers, Showa 41mm upside down separate function forks (SFF)  unfortunately you cant adjust them.

 There is a fuel guage, it tells you your average mpg which told me 55mpg, it has 2 riding modes, 1 for rain and one for..... when its not raining. 

The engine is 80BHP but Triumph have made it so the power is delivered at the lower end of the rev range giving it pleanty of power from the get go which  dies off towards higher revs.  The front tyre width was 120 and rear 180 similar to the fireblades. Its bound to have other goodies I havent mentioned.

I rode it back to the shop not an ache or pain after an hour on it.  I stepped off with a smile under my crash helmet and gave it another quick look over. 

Some of the things I took away from this experience were it was nice to see over the car infront, and over hedges so the view is better, you can cruise comfortably, its fast up to the speed limit, has loads of infomation on the tft speedometer, it felt so easy to ride and looks great.

  You do feel the wind more than on my fireblade as theres no protection and the suspension seemed to travel more than what i was used to.  

  Theres some nice after market parts and on the triumph website you can build it how you want it which is always fun to see what it would look like with the added extras they sell.

The last ride Col and I went on we both commented about new speed limits cropping up on some favourite roads of ours, maybe a more easy going style of bike would make the ride more fun again?

What I do know is I like the Trident, I like it so much I am very tempted to buy one - watch this space! 

BUT I want to keep the Fireblade a bit longer yet. 

ABBA Superbike stand  

 A few years ago Matt was selling one of his ABBA superbike stand's, I had seen these in use in different videos online and to save a space in my garage I thought I would buy it. 

What a great bit of kit they are, much easier to use than the old paddock stand I had and can be attached when the bikes on its side stand. The bike feels steady and safe when in use.
 The stand comes with 2 main leg pieces, a threaded T bar and thumb screw, you also need to buy the adapters that fit your bike.

   First the L shaped leg is put under the bike ( the left side on the picture), then the second leg is attached to the L shape and tighten the thimb screw.
 Next attach to the hole in the frame where the swing arm pivot bolt runs through and lock in place( on the right in the picture). 
   Once its properly attached pull the handle up and the bike lifts up!

These go for about £75 in the UK.  It makes working on the bike easier and does not fowl either of the wheels.

When we use the van to take the bikes abroad we take the ABBA stand along for a ride, just incase we need it as its not heavy and doesnt take up much space.

EDSBK 5/5

2020 Cancelled.... Or is it?

 Covid -19 has put a stop to almost everything we like to do, not just for us at Everyday Superbikes but for the World.

 Any trips abroad or nights away we had planned for 2020 are not going to happen, we are hoping for 2021 to be able to travel abroad and put another tick in the countries ridden in list, but as for this year we are just having days out instead. Here are some of them so far.

Clun

 Towards the Middle of May the restrictions were lifted, though still on furlough Col and I decided to have a ride out to Clun Castle, it was closed as we had expected but the carpark was open, even thought he toilets were locked up which made things a little despirate.  Myself and Col are at the age where toilet stops are needed more frequently especially in my case. We stopped on the carpark and found a nice seated area where we could be 2 metres apart incase anyone reported us, as this was something that was going on, opened our lunch boxes and had some cheese and pickled sandwiches, (the homemade sandwich of choice for us bikers).

 We used the A489 out of Craven Arms, it never fails to impress, It was good to be back on the bikes.

 The weather was good as infact the whole of May was.

  One good thing about the world in lock down was fresher air, there were no planes and only a few vehicles on the road, if this had an effect on the weather I dont know, but as we were on furlough the nice weather was welcome, and let people like me get some nice outdoor jobs done and bike wise it was looking good form the cleaning it had had over the last 4 weeks.

Malvern

 A few days later Col suggested a trip down to Malvern. Its only around 60 minutes from where we live. Its not usually a destination we would go to as to get there its not along the most exciting roads compared with our usual ones, but we hadnt ridden there for years.

 Cafe's still weren't open so we decided to make use of the bum bag we use when away on our european adventures again and carry our flasks.

 The B4232 (Jubilee Drive) seemed to be the impressive road of this ride, having a few good twists and turns as it followed the contours of the hill. 

 As social distancing was still at 2 metres we found a carpark with 2 benches close to each other so we could have a chat. Col said he would be back to work in 2 weeks, but I was going back to working from home the following day.

We headed back through Bromyard and Tenbury, the roads were quieter than usual but the traffic was definately busier than the few days earlier as restrictions were slowly being lifted.

When I got home I discovered a leaking fork seal, so booked that in for a repair for later in the week as the local bike shop had managed to stay open through it all.

Evesham and Stourport

 I had been called back off furlough but had 3 days holiday to use up so took them the week after going back to work, Col was still on Furlough but was due to go back the start of the following week.

 I suggested we could try a route we hadn't done before, this took us to Evesham's Hampton Ferry, I place I spent alot of time at when I was a kid, and where I met my first girlfriend.

 We parked up by the river, sat the 2 metres apart and watched a family of Swans on the water and the world go by for a while before headed to Broadway, Bidford on Avon and then to Stourport Common.

  There were a couple of good roads worth a mention, the A44 up fish hill by Broadway, and then the A422, neither would make it onto our best road section, but the curves on the A44 going up were quite fun.

Up on top of Broadway by the tower the carparks were full, people were flocking to places of interest where some social distancing was being practiced but not by everyone, Bidford the carparks were closed to all vehicles which is why we headed back to Stourport where you were just warned to social distance. So we ate cheese and pickle sandwiches..well Col did as I had forgot to take mine out of the fridge so ended up with a bag of crisps and a cake.

Bike felt good now with fork seal fixed.

 Mitchell's Fold Stone Circle

 In June Wales was still in lockdown, so we couldnt go there as we would usually tend to try and do as its not that far to the border from where we are. We decided to use the A488 a favourite road of ours that goes up through Hope Valley which is near Shrewsbury. Once you have gone over the top of the hill at Hope you see a sign for a stone circle, this is in England however you need to cross the border for a few hundred metres. Then follow the path back into England to the carpark. This was a beautiful spot with great views in all directions. Again everywhere to get a drink from was closed so we sat there for a good half an hour, with flask in hand and breathing that lovely fresh air.

 From here we headed back towards Ludlow and home.  For me this was my favourite ride fpr as long time. 

 Long Mynd, Bur Way

   We set out with plans of watching the gliders taking off from the glider station up on the top of the Long Mynd. The run of good weather had took a turn for the worst over night and the winds had picked up to what the phone app said was a light breeze, no mention of any rain. We  made the trip and as we got closer to Church Stretton we found that the hills had heavy clouds around them which let go of its payload just as we arrived.

 We rode up the Bur Way and found a parking spot, it was blooming cold and wet, the winds were definately not light, you could feel it slowing the bike as it hit us head on. 

 We didn't stay long as the wind bought the drizzle and it was starting to soak through our leathers, just down the road is the Lazy Trout cafe, which according to Facebook was open. It was like being hundreds of miles away, the sun was out with the light winds the phone app had promised, yet was only 10 minutes away from that wet and windy hilltop. We parked up, social disatnced and enjoyed our first cafe mug of coffee for months, things were getting better!

  Kynnersley Arms

  This wasnt really a destination as such. We had rode past this place in the past and as I share the name thought it only fitting that I had a photo of my bike parked outside.

 It wasn't open yet, pubs were still in lockdown but I would like to come again when it is open. Apparently my ancestors lived in the Hall at Leighton and the pub was named after them.

Bala and Barmouth

  July we had discussed that it was looking like trips to the coast were not going to happen and were saddened that we wouldn't get to see the sea this year. 

 The news announced that Wales was back open for business, thank goodness, so we headed off to Bala using the B4391 a favourite road of ours, stopped at the lake for a coffee, then followed the road for another 45 minutes on an nothing special road down to Barmouth and to see the sea.

 At Barmouth we found the shops on the sea front were open so stopped for an iced cream and watched the sea for a while, the skys were threatening rain so headed back over Dinas on the A470 and then to Welshpool on the A458 two great roads apart from for the roadworks.

My bike needed a new rear tyre and on the last MOT the guy told me the chain would need replacing soon, As I had a week off I got both jobs done the day before we went for this ride. I was impressed how much quieter the new gold coloured chain appears to be yet it was a DID the same as the previous one, no one mention stiff links!  It had been an expensive week. 

  We have done rides to other areas but nothing new that I havent wrote about before.

We have a few more plans to visit new roads in the UK this year, depending on the covid situation ofcourse.

Oh Crap!!!

 Well Col and I have made it out on 1 ride this year which was the day before the country went into lockdown as Covid-19 was here.  We had been advised by the Government to stay indoors but thought as the Sun was out and was the perfect day for a ride, plus I wanted to test the bike after changing the brake pads and adding some K&N filters and giving it a service.

 Not sure if the self isolationg rules applied to being out on a motobike or not we checked with a couple of motoring websites who said it was still acceptable as you would be more than 2 Mtrs apart and not to head to anywhere that could be crowded.

 All the cafe's and shops had been told to close so decided by phone we would meet up in the street and head of towards Cleobury Mortimer and take our own drinks with us.We headed off on a reasonably quite road but after a while came across many people out and about in cars obviously not following the governments guidelines.  Four lads in a Mini, 3 caravaners off to escape the madness of the empty shelved supermarkets and people out for the day to enjoy a day by the river.

 The carpark as usual was empty so we stopped and drank a coffee from my Army supplies flask (Web-Tex  5*  EDSBK recommended)

  Now Col is my best friend and we see quite alot of each other but we were practicing social distancing sat over 2 mtrs apart and got talking about bike related things such as road trips and how this is all affecting what we do with the Motorbikes.

 The main thing we thought of that is a worthy point about riding under the current restrictions is if you were to have an incident RTA related, the ambulance would come and collect you if you survived only to take you to the hospital which has the Covid virus then putting you at extra risk, also the staff could be better used treating the poor people with the virus than having to deal with a motorcyclist who went for a sneaky ride out which went wrong.

  Next we got talking about road trips for this year.  We had planned a trip to Ireland as we have not been there and they have so many road race circuits we can look at..and Guiness.
 We dont know if that is completely off the table, we have a back up plan of a ride to Devon in the south of England. But its all on hold due to Covid.
 The whole ride was more cautious than usual partly as its the 1st ride of the year, but with the disease the world is changing even if its only temporary, but now on the Governments advice we are Staying home.

 The Biking race calender is postponed/cancelled including the TT so theres no new stuff to watch.
The Ride for life event is postponed/cancelled and as the year goes by I dare say more events will be cancelled aswell.

 So what can you do to get your biking fix..?   Well it depends some suppliers of bits are open, some aren't, if they are open you could get new trick bits and fit those, like heated handle grips, a great investment.
For me its do the little jobs such as remove things and clean and polish the bits you dont get to see very often... well until my cleaning supplies run out.
 Its times like this I load up the videos from the go pro camera and reminiss.  Good Luck Everyone.


Stay safe especially if your out on a motorbike wherever you are in the world.
 

2019 Road Trip

2019 Pyrenees, Spain and Andorra.

This trip was actually arranged as our 2018 road trip but as Col had had his Incident only 5 weeks before our trip date it had to be cancelled. It was so close to the departure date we couldn't get the ferry or channel tunnel refunded so were given credit notes, this left us with only 1 option, to do the exact same trip.

 We decided some years ago that superbikes are not great for touring on, they cause knee, wrist and neck ache after a couple of hours so you have to keep stopping, making long trips even longer.

  So with that in mind we went to Europcar a few months earlier to book a van. As they couldn't promise what sort of van we would get when booking we ended up with a van that had previously spent time with a builder by the look of the dust under the seat, not exactly what we expected to use for a holiday, especially to Spain with temperatures in the high 30s and low 40s and worst of all it had no aircon...!
We took it anyway and it did drive very nicely, didn't let us down at all, and Naz from the branch was most helpful.

 

We planned to travel by van to Portsmouth, cross on the Ferry to Bilbao which involved 2 nights onboard, it was like a mini cruise and if you fancy going to that area it is a well recommended relaxing journey, and not having any driving to do the following day gave us chance to get in a few beers.

 The alarm sounded Tuesday morning at 5:30am telling us to get up and be ready for a 6:45 departure. We disembarked and soon were on route to the Castellanu hotel in Escalo, this was around 6 hours away.  The Spanish and French  motorways got us to the mountains in a few hours but then the journey got slow. So many little villages but beautiful scenery. Eventually we stopped for a rest in a pull in halfway up the steepest climb to the 2072 mtr road height of Bonaigua. Another half an hour saw the Hotel Castellanu, which looked nice but builders were busy making a new swimming pool from 8am till 7pm and there was no AIRCON!

 The hotel is owned by a biker and he gave us 2 routes to try, earlier research had also led me to the same routes but having a local tell us to use those same roads was most reassuring.

 We unpacked our luggage leaving the bikes on the van and were now getting hungry so went to the restaurant for dinner, it was closed. Col meanwhile scouted the internet to find somewhere suitable for a meal,  so back in the van and we headed off back towards the mountain to Espot and found a brilliant little place called "The Burgerplatz" and quote " Mother of mine they have the best burgers ever I have tasted" whoever wrote that review was 100% right we went back the next 2 nights... and the road leading up to it was another stunner!

2019's Everyday Supervan.... well it would have been if it had aircon.

 Ride 1.

The following day we started the reason for all this travel, to ride some awesome Spanish roads in the Pyrenees. The route took us North on the C-28 back over the mountain we had climbed in the van the day before and towards a town called Vielha.

 A left onto the N-230 took us up another mountain and through a long cooling tunnel which was most welcoming as the bike engines were now running at about 109C and the fans on at a constant. The road crosses out of Catalonia and into Aragon, the bends were sweeping and fast compared to the C-28. We stopped to take a photo and re hydrate then continued along to El Pont de Suert.
 A left turn onto the N-260 headed towards Sort takes you along one of the areas best biking roads and through a village called Perves, the roads here were fast long corners mixed with tight twists with the odd 50kmh speed limit thrown in along it.

After getting to Sort where a chemists digital sign was showing a huge temperature of 38C we took the C-13 back towards the hotel, this road was near perfect, the bends seemed to stay on a constant radius as it followed the river back through the valley.

  The ride was great, just hot. The roads were twisty and the sections where they climbed up and down the hills just seemed to last for ages. From Sort back to the hotel the C-13 was similar to our Welsh favourite the A483 but on steroids!

 The river runs along side the road often swapping for one side to the other, a perfect place to hoilday if you are into canoeing or cycles/motorcycles.

Ride 2.

Thursday we somewhat lazily put on our leathers, gloves and helmets as it was already too hot. We planned on going to Andorra again a route recommended by the hotel owner.
 This time we headed South towards Sort and rejoined the N-260 going East.
What a road!...what a road! You could easily just spend the day riding back and forward along this 45km section. Imagine every great corner you have enjoyed, stringing them together and riding them, this road is that one.  I think over the 2 days riding this part of the N-260 had to be my road of the trip, but they were all good.
 We arrived in Andorra, it was too bloody hot. The heat from our engines funnelled up through the fairing in the slow moving traffic, the traffic was heavy and the area not a biking paradise, however it boasts some great bargains as its a tax haven. We didnt stay long enough to check out the shops, we wanted more of the N-260 and the cooler mountain air so headed back the way we had came.

 After a fair bit of  throwing the bike to the left and right and on and off the throttle and brake we were ready for a break, Col was in front and spotted the only layby with some shade, well just 1 tree  but who cared we needed to re-hydrate.
 As we pulled up behind 2 other motorbikes we noticed the yellow UK number plates and heard the welcoming English voices of Gregg and Simon so chatted about most things bike and area for about half an hour as we all cooled in the shade of that 1 little oak tree. Simon suggested it would be a good place to open a roadside burger van, we agreed even if just for the great view.

The view from the oak tree, the road snakes up the mountain opposite

The only shady place

We headed back to the hotel and passed the chemist with the temperature displayed as 44C, and there we were in full leathers, gloves and a helmet!
 As it was our last chance to ride the bikes, we filled up with fuel which turned out to be a mistake, then  had a ride up the  twisty hill to Espot and another drink of refreshing fruit drink, back down to the hotel I thought "I like it here". We parked up and got back into our shorts before reloading the bikes in the van, they were covered in builders dust which was now over me, i went to the edge of the river to wash it off and slipped in.  My trainers dried very quickly, good job as they were all I had. Later we got back in the van to go to Burgerplatz again but the van smelt very strong of petrol we decided it must be the heat was causing it and went on our way.
 The following morning the smell was just as bad but as there was no sign of any leaks what could we do other than open all the windows and crack on with the journey North.

 The next stage of our trip was heading home, but we wanted a place to stop off and break up the 16 hour journey. So we went to Le Mans.
  I have always wanted to go there as I enjoy watching the 24 heurs du Mans also known as Circuit de la Sarthe and all things to do with LMP and prototype racing.

 9 Hours later we made it to the Le Mans Museum as we wanted to look at the race cars. Again I enjoyed this, but the heat caused me some problems, lack of drinks had given me heat exhaustion, so re hydrated slowly in their canteen which didn't have aircon!

 We had booked in to stop at the Brit Hotel and as we walked through the door we were greeted by cool air...AT LAST!!

 After a quick unpack and shower the bar was calling so went and sat in what I call heaven, surrounded by pictures of cars, in furniture made of old oil barrels surrounded by like minded people, with a refreshing beer or 2.

The last Day, we left the cool hotel and sat in an already warm van then did 2 laps of the bits of the Le Mans circuit we could drive on, I have always wanted to drive along the  Mulsanne Straight and along the public road area of this track, and now I partially have even if its not in the vehicle of choice.... a Ford GT40 .. no I mean a Ford Transit van.
 The place does have the feeling of a racetrack having the gravel traps and painted areas at the side of the public road.  Wish we had had a full day here to explore the circuit a bit more.

 The journey home from here was a rush we had a 4 hour 10 minute journey to get to Calais and make our booking time, the sat nav said it was going to take 4hrs and 11 minutes we needed good traffic flow, we arrived at Calais with 10 minutes to spare unfortunately so had 200 other vehicles and they were all trying to get into 3 entry gates which made us late.
  France has some great Motorways, Britain could learn a thing or 2 from them, after getting a few miles from the Channel tunnel the 15 miles of cones on the UK's M20 started and as usual there was no sign of anything going on. 

 A great time and glad I got to spend it with Col, but the sticky heat when travelling in a vehicle without aircon in the hottest continental summer for years and being woken by builders every morning before 8am again in a hotel without aircon dampened our spirits,
but you cant fault those roads!

Summary
Date:- July 2019
Weather:- 6 HOT Days 26-42 degrees
Hotel:- Hotel Castellanu Spain - Brit Hotel Le Mans
Miles:-2600 approx, 1000 on a boat, 1250 in a van
Fuel Cost:- 1.38 approx
EDSBK Riders:- Phill, Col
Aim:- To ride in Spain, Andorra and the Pyrenes and visit Le mans