First impressions of the Triumph...

Well, the bike has been impressive so far. I'm restricted to 5000rpm for another 90 miles due to running the bike in but it has great potential. The bike feels much lighter than the ZRX and handles so much easier. I can concentrate on the road ahead more on this bike as i feel more relaxed. It turns in with no effort at all... i just look at where i want to end up and the bike just seems to get there. Once leaning into a corner it holds a good line and feels very stable. The clutch is very smooth and the gearbox is far less clunky than the ZRX. The gearchange feels very similar to my bandit and that was silky. The throttle response is excellent and it is very smooth, possibly down to this bike being fuel injected.

I think you either love or hate the looks of the Speed Four with it's bug eyes and ram air intakes sticking out at the front. I personally love it and it certainly turns heads. I don't ever recall seeing a red Speed Four but it suits the bike. Red wouldn't normally be my first choice for a bike but this just seems to work.

A friend of mine has given me a little black box which clicks in under the seat. This means that both lamps are lit when using dipped beam. In standard form only one lamp would be lit but it looks a bit wonky like that! Almost like it's winking!

The only thing i miss is a fuel gauge but i'm sure i'll survive without one. The bike has a warning light anyway and i tend to fill up every 100 miles anyway as the ZRX wouldn't do much more than that without using reserve.

I've done around 210 miles since picking the bike up on Tuesday afternoon so only 90 to go before i can use up to 6000rpm. Once i reach 1000 miles i can play without worrying about keeping the revs down. Probably wont take long to get there as I'll be playing out at every opportunity!

First photos of my new bike...

Not a very glamourous setting but here's a few i took just as i got home and the heavens opened.. damn British weather!

Goodbye Kwak... Hello Triumph...

Well, the time has come to part with my ZRX1100. It's served me well but it's time to move on to something new. I love the looks of the ZRX, the sound is addictive and it's comfortable riding two-up but i fancy trying something with a sporting nature. I think maybe i was being a bit ambitious chosing the ZRX as my next bike after the bandit 600 although i can handle it ok on open roads. Things just get a bit tricky on tight twisties and when trying to move the bike around in small spaces. I will be sorry to see it go really...

I'm not a massive fan of most of the faired bikes so i have struggled to find something to suit but i think i may have done it.. I have always liked the styling of the Speed Triple and Speed Four although they are not to everyones taste. They are verging on ugly but they are cool in my opinion. I couldn't afford to insure the Speed Triple or Four when i started out in biking but now i have a couple of years no claims, things are different. A friend of ours has a Speed four and when i saw and heard it, it made me want one all over again!

I started out looking at used examples but noticed quite a few really good deals on brand new fours. Trouble was, they'd nearly all been snapped up! I finally found one in a Triumph dealer in Blackburn and headed over there this morning to see what kind of deal i could get. I got a good offer for the ZRX and got the four at a great price too. With a bit of luck i'll be picking it up tomorrow! Can't wait! It's like being a little boy waiting for Christmas!

Here are some photos of the Speed four in the same 'Tornado Red' as mine...

Another few pics of the Speed four...

Gemma's TW gets a makeover!!

I've spent most of the day cleaning Gemma's TW and painting the exhaust and swingarm. The salt and dirt from the roads had made the exhaust and swingarm look tatty so i decided to give them a lick of paint to tidy things up a bit. It's amazing how much difference it's made to the overall appearance.. I'd just finished cleaning it up when it started raining cats & dogs! Typical!

A nice ride to Delamere Forest

We went out for a gentle ride around Delamere forest and the Tarporley area on Sunday and had a great time. I took a few photos when we stopped for ice cream at the Railway Cafe in Delamere. The ice cream there is great! Gemma did really well on the twisty country lanes.

Some better pictures of Gemma's new wheels..

Gemma now has her own 2 wheels!

After much searching we found a Second hand Yamaha TW125 Trailway at a very reasonable price. It's a 2000 bike and is a little bit rough around the edges but nothing a good clean and polish wont sort out. The headlamp mounting brackets are broken but i've ordered an aftermarket headlamp and surround so, assuming it fits, the bike should look good. The steering head bearing has excessive play in it which leads to chattering under heavy breaking... Might get away with tightnening the bearing up although fitting a new one wont be too difficult if that's what the bike needs.

I rode the bike home last night and had a laugh! It doesn't have a very high top speed but it goes well and is fairly quiet and smooth. The knobbly balloon tyres make a humming noise, similar to a land rover at anything over 15mph! The controls are all very light and easy to use... An ideal bike for a beginner or someone wanting a bit of fun at the weekends without going at silly speeds. Here's a phot of Gemma's new wheels... It's not the best quality picture because i took it using my phone...