On the Road Again!

Back to the late 90's. Two buffaloes at Woburn Abbey.....

Well.  After the work done the other day to get Suzi Triplo ready for the weekend, the local Kettle Club UK organiser cancelled it!  It gives me more time to ride her and see what I need to do. It does seem to have a problem pulling the revs in top gear.  I was struggling to make 60mph on the national limit roads the other day.  I might have to book it into Cheriton Motorcycles and see if they can see what the problem is.   Fuelling? I guess I could still have a ride over the Rye and see what and who is there.

Putoline TT Scooter Strawberry Scented 2 Stroke Oil I have been using this for a few years now. I bought it as it's low smoke and for the added although unnoticeable smell of strawberry! There have been no problems and it is intended for use in more modern engines. So in an old girl like Suzi it should be perfectly okay.

With the first Kettle Club local run to the bike meet at Rye due on Sunday, I needed to get the bike on the road. To start the new year off I took a photo of the odometer. Firstly,  I had to remove the old Motobatt and get it charged up.  Secondly,  give her a wash and brush up to get rid of the accumulated filth from sutting in the garage over what seems a long wet winter. Thirdly, pump up the tyres. Sitting in the garage the front tyre was down to 13psi and the rear 16.5psi. With the battery on charge it was barely registering 1amp and it seems that it was too flat to recover.  So I ordered a new one from Tayna for next day delivery. I would be out so in two days would have sufficed. It arrived on time. So today. Once back from my volunteering job at greyhound rescue,  I had the new battery fitted. With the petrol tank sounding a little empty I decided to get a can out of the garage and go to the petrol station and fill it. ...

Yes. Me and Suzi Triplo in Austria on the way to the Wasserbüffel Club Treffen at Schloss Moosham. Sadly this event ceased to exist some years ago.

Well. Today is the end of the 2024 competition and I have at least managed a few miles on the V-Strom to end a run of blank months.   At the end of June I was down to 111th place. That's before I sent in my latest odeometer readings that include the Assen MotoGP trip. My final odometer readings are in the photos below. Vera Suzi https://www.kilometerfresser.eu/kf/kilometerfresserrangliste.htm

All the paperwork arrived today from the insurance companies for both the bikes.  Everything looks on order and I have copied the certificate of insurance for both and they are in the wallets I have with me in trips away. The originals are filed away.

I have entered my mileages for August as the chances of me going on the bike(s) before we go on holiday to France in the motorhome on Thursday are nil. Vera Suzi Triplo

I am torn.  I can only go to one event over the weekend.  Either Suzuki Day at the Ace Cafe in West London on Sunday. or Oldham Athletic away at Southend United on Saturday.... Which will it be, With all the best will in the world I'd love to go to the Ace Cafe on the Kettle.  But I really like the trip to Southend on the V-Strom for football. Coin toss up?

Amazing. The weather forecast for today was ... Accurate!! Truly. (See earlier post.) Our meeting for the Fifth Sunday was to be the Cliff Top Café at Capel le Ferne, between Folkestone and Dover.  The café is under new management. They smile now when you are ordering. They are also dog friendly, something the previous owner wasn't.  The café is as its name suggests on the cliff top. Some 200 feet below is the railway line between Dover and Folkestone. And the English Channel of course. We had a coffee and bacon sandwich and a chat about things in general before setting off home. The sunshine started to waver. My route back was into Folkestone down the A20. It seems that the 40mph limit is only advisable if you own an Audi A3.... After being tailgated down the hill I decided to come down to the harbour and out along the coast. The sun came out again. Today was "Kate Bush Day" on the harbour arm and there were loads of women of a certain age in red dresses all ...

Today the weather did the opposite to the forecast. Instead of rain in the afternoon it has been ☀️! So rather than slog about on the bus, I went on the bike. I pulled the Kettle out and she started second press on the button. I am sure it would have been first if I had forgotten to depress the choke lever. The bike is lower than the V-Strom and I can get both feet flat on the ground.  Once on the move with the BT46 tyres it steers very quickly. The first time out I tended to oversteer a little until I got used to the balance and steer. So today it was like a dream. Just a short ride to Folkestone Invicta for the football.  After the last longer ride to Gibson's Farm Shop, today was very short.  I decided to put some fuel in to see what mpg I was getting especially after the "spirited" ride the other day. An amazing 38.2mpg..... Maybe as it frees up....

On my ride yesterday one of these came loose and when I touched the badge in the garage it made a leap to freedom!   Of course.  No mater how much stuff I pulled out. Could I find the little bugger!  Of course not.  As they are rusty and it is necessary to ensure that the bike is better than when it came out of the factory in 1976, I have to source new ones. One pain of being excommunicated from the Sect. Having my GT750 badge ceremoniously removed. So I located the part number on Robinson's Suzuki Parts list. They are still available.  Only £4.32 each. I managed to find a seller on eBay that had then at only (!) £3.19 each! Wow. Do I feel better now knowing that every eye will check the bike over and see the new bolts!  :)

After almost a week on the battery charger, on and off not continuously, I decided as it was actually dry today, to pop it back in and press the "go" button. Immediate success. It took four stabs of the button with the choke down and she burbled into life. It's 39 years since I brought her home from the Suzuki dealers in Hanwell, West London. That burble and the odd pop and rattle is music to my ears. I got togged up and set off for a short ride around. By the time I'd got on the main rode I had to switch the tap to "RES". The tank took £20 or 13.9 litres to fill to the top.  Then I was off, Folkestone, Hawkinge then down to Gibson's Farm Shop at Wingham. Letting her run in a sweet spot around 50mph on the speedometer. On the short bit of the M20 I did run her up to 70. Smoothly in top gear just opening the throttle gently. She had a rest whilst I was inside buying cherries 🍒. These are from their own orchard and £2.99 a punnet a...

Okay, the bike hasn't been used much this year. Other commitments and of course, weather.  So it was still has a little surprise when even with the power pack (that can start a 2 litre diesel car!) there was nothing but a click. As I no longer have a battery charger I was a little stuck. The battery is a Motobatt and usually it's very good at keeping the charge levels up.  First stop was to pop into Halford's and Argos online to see that they have. I don't have any power in the garage and so I had to opt for one that I can use in the house. I opted for a 4amp charger and picked it up for £22.  It's cheap but seems to have decent reviews though. Once the battery was out of the bike I had it set up on the table in the conservatory.  I had expected, according to the instructions, that the needle would be way over the right and as the battery charges it would swing to the left. It started off in the middle. It's been on now for only about and hour as has moved sligh...

A job that I find tedious. Oiling the chain. At least I have a centre stand on both bikes to be able to spin the wheel. No matter how careful you are it is so easy to get lube on the wheel and tyre! Hopefully this gizmo works!

Suzi needed the dbPower to give her a jolt of extra power to get her to start this morning. The ride is only around 40 miles return. The original plan to breakfast at Jo's in Brookland was dropped as it seemed I was Billy No-Mates from my local riding buddies. Only two Kettles when I arrived and another, a nice greeny J arrived a bit later. A chat and a coffee later I set off back. This time she started after a few prods on the Kickstarter. The electric was useless. I couldn't remember how many miles ago I put petrol in and so decided to ride back where I would pass four petrol stations. I reasoned that if I went onto reserve I would stop at the next one and fuel up. In the end I made it all the way home. Reserve not needed. I also started the Yamaha My Ride for the ride home. With it being the last day of the children's summer holiday and good weather there was plenty of traffic on the roads.

It's nearly six weeks since I last had a ride on the Kettle.  That was to the last Kettle Club meeting at the bikers parking in Rye. With tomorrow's ride coming I decided to get her out of the garage and get her started.  It took the lithium battery charger to add a bit of a kick into the battery and she started on the battery. I gave the tank a little shuffle from side to side and couldn't hear much liquid slopping about.  On the way out tomorrow I'll fill her up locally.

This final meeting of the year was planned straight after the last Kettle Club and GT750 Owners meeting in July. It has been published on Facebook and the Kettle Club Forum. Common consensus is that if the weather is inclement that no one will go! I could be Billy No-Mates. Not unusual for anyone as experienced as I am in organising events for the SOC etc. Let's see!!!

August hasn't been the best month for me to tot up some miles as we have been away for quite a few days in the Van. So when I entered I wasn't surprised to see that I have only managed 252 miles on Vera and 0 miles on Suzi!  They will convert that to kilometres for the competition! So that will be approximately 403 kms. I hope to do much much better in September after the trip to Aragón for the MotoGP . I expect to cover around 2200 miles or 3500 kms on that trip.   For a variety of reasons the estimated 150 miles up to London last weekend didn't materialise as I went on the train!  There are a few more games for both Arsenal and Oldham that I will look at riding before the end of September.

August is the start of the new year's competition. I have had a few short runs out on both bikes but not enough I don't think to get me into the Top100. We have two midweek trips planned in Suki the Van to Norfolk next week and Littlehampton (girly giggle) a fortnight after. As there are rail strikes on August 13th and August 20th my plans for football trip will mean going on the bike, to London and to Southend.  I should be able to get about 300 miles under my belt on the V-Strom on both those dates. I was supposed to go to London on Sunday August 7th, but I have injured my left hand and can't pull in the clutch on the Kettle. I will wait until the last minute before deciding on that trip. That will be another 150 miles or so! Hopefully it will ease off over the next 36 hours and let me go. The short runs I have done on both amount to about 100 miles or 160 kms at the moment.  I have plans to go to football at Southend on the 20th and to London on the 27th to the Arsenal. ...