Triumph Live 2010

I wish I was in the U.K. for this one:

"Saturday 18 September – a date definitely not to be missed by any Triumph enthusiast. It’s our biggest ever party, to celebrate 20 years of Triumph Hinckley and taking place at the Triumph Factory and Mallory Park Circuit."

"Off-track, visitors will be able to view the latest range of Triumph motorcycles, together with a selection of some of the UK’s best customised Triumphs. Key bikes from Triumph’s history will also be on display, as part of a unique exhibition exploring 20 years of Hinckley."

Yes, I have officially drunken the punch...

New Mirrors from Bellacorse

When I bought my Bonneville, it came with one left hand Napoleon bar-end mirror installed by the previous owner. I liked the look, but being a motorcycle newbie, I wanted two mirrors so I could see as much aft driver stupidity as possible when I needed to. When it came time to drop some dough on the right side mirror though, I realized something...

Lane-splitting is a must here in Los Angeles. Sitting and stewing in traffic is strictly for the caged, which is a big part of why I got into bicycle riding and motorcycling in the first place. Few things beat whizzing past a bunch of "parked cars" in gridlocked traffic. Especially right after the douchebag in his Mustang just tried to start a drag race with you on the way home, and now has to just sit helplessly behind the wheel, gritting his teeth and punching the dashboard repeatedly while you downshift and pass him with a big, stupid grin on your face.

Unfortunately, despite their good looks, bar-end mirrors suck for lane splitting. I knew that my side clearance was really going to be compromised with two of those puppies jutting out of my M-Bars. The problem is, the options out there for stylish and functional Bonneville compatible mirrors, well...kind of suck. They are either super machined custom chopperized jobs with spiderwebs and other crap all over them, or cheap plastic pieces of...plastic, or worse, they have horrible reviews on visibility.

After searching all of the internets, luckily I stumbled upon the aptly named "Vintage Looking British Round Mirrors" from Bellacorse. These were exactly what I was looking for. Something that stayed true to the vintage look of the new Bonnevilles, without looking quite as much like a pair of antennae as the stock mirrors. I opted for the long stemmed version since I was willing to sacrifice a little style for the added visibility.


The mirrors were shipped quickly and arrived with all of the necessary parts and instructions for an extremely easy installation. After riding with them for the last couple of weeks, I can report that they are everything I wanted in a mirror setup. Vibration is minimal, visibility is great, and although I still prefer the look of bar-ends, these will do nicely. Now I can look stylish and I can see more stupid!

Camping Was A Bust

Last minute "planning" and indecisive friends = no camping this weekend. What a drag.

Another Reason To Go To Bonneville?

Moto-Camping

It looks like I'm taking the Bonnie on her first camping trip this weekend. Destination unknown, but it will probably be somewhere on the Ventura County coastline. I'm cramming on the forums for good ideas on compact tents and jury-rigged luggage options.

Full ride report on the other side!

What Motorcycle?

Tail Bag

I wasn't digging my alternative saddlebag option, which wasn't really a true saddlebag anyway.

I went to the local surplus store and picked up a $7 canvas army gas mask bag, and a $2 bungee cord. I removed the seat and looped the bungee through either end of the frame. Then I just attached the bungee hooks to either side of the bag and voilà! A tail bag!

Of course there not a ton of room in there, but it can hold a cable lock for my helmet, a leatherman-like multi-tool, a disc lock and a little room left over for other small items. Plus I still have the cargo net for bigger stuff. This ought to hold me over until I fork out some cash for saddlebag mounts.

Rock Store Run

Since we finally had a sunny weekend, I decided to check out the Rock Store. So many people say that if you ride, you should check it out at least once. I mostly just wanted to go on a longish ride, and most of the time I don't like going on any kind of voyage without some kind of destination. It can be something really arbitrary, I just like to have a reference point. Given it's location, The Rock Store makes a great one, which is it's main selling point in my mind.

I took the side streets from West Hollywood to Santa Monica, then shot up PCH to Malibu. I went early so the traffic was light and stress levels low. It was a nice 55mph affair with long gently winding stretches. The skies had turned a bit overcast as I entered Malibu, and then cut East on Kanan Dume. Lots of green and smooth windy roads. I was able to open up the throttle without having to worry about any surprises. There were far less motorcycles and high octane sports cars than I expected, which was nice. Most of the time I felt like I had these beautiful roads all to myself. In fact, there were more cyclist than anything else, which makes sense given that this is a hill climber's paradise.

Next there was a right on Mullholland to get up to my destination. OK, so HERE is where it gets hairy! Lots of tight turns combined with ascents and descents. Being a novice, I had to take things VERY slowly to avoid flying off the mountain, or running into, well, anything! I'm still getting to know what my motorcycle and I are capable of, and I wasn't willing to take any chances here.


At last, there was the Rock Store up on the right. There's no missing it. I arrived around 8:30 am and there were already a couple of rows of around 30 motorcycles. I hear it gets a lot more crowded later in the day. I bought a $2 cup of coffee and spent about 45 minutes kicking tires and chopping it up with a couple of guys. I didn't try any grub, but it looked like the kind of greasy diner food I admittedly have a weakness for.

As for the Rock Store itself, it could really be just about any sort of landmark and it would be worth going for all of the nice scenic riding necessary to get there, to see a lot of other motorcycle styles up close, and to talk to other riders about motorcycles. I would definitely go back, and hopefully next time I can learn to enjoy those twisties instead of white knuckling the whole way!

Tunnel Of Love

Stock Mufflers

After all of my exhaust craziness, somehow I ended up with 2 sets of stock mufflers to unload!

HELL. YES.

Mods v. Rockers

First Oil Change

Here's everything I used for my first oil change. I went with Motul 15W-50 and a Triumph oil filter. I bought everything at the local dealer except for the oil pan and the filter wrench (they wanted to charge me $22 for one!)



It was a pretty simple job. The only hassle is getting an accurate oil level without a center stand for the bike. Luckily my girlfriend helped me level her out so I could make sure I got the right level.



Now I know my bike has fresh oil and that's one less thing to worry about!