Well Andy's post gave me pause to think about why I haven't ridden my Triumph Rocket III for so long. A motorcycle not ridden slowly morphs into little more than a parody of a motorcycle, and it's almost cruel to allow a perfectly good bike to slowly rot, untouched, and regardless of good intentions, unloved. I've got 4 other registered bikes, so it was easy to leave the Triumph in a cold dark corner of my garage while I enjoyed the pleasures of Bargain Basement motorcycling.
Today I decided to make a stand against my own negativity. I dragged all my other bikes out of the way, and fired the big beast up. Well, not initially, even though the battery was fully charged it takes a lot to crank over 2300cc's of unwilling engine, and the 2 year old gas had lost most of it's "Ooomph", so it fired once or twice before the battery gave up the ghost.
No biggie, I pushed it out into the brilliant morning sunshine, and treated it to a wash. Things were looking up, so I drove my car around to the gas station and bought 20 litres of Mobil's finest 98 RON, then over to Repco for some Penrite coolant and semi-synthetic 10W40.
I pumped the old gas out of the tank into a Jerry can to use as weed killer and refilled it with the fresh fuel, with a couple of additives that I like to use. I hooked up my jump start pack and this time it fired right up and settled into a lumpy 3 cylinder idle. I let it run for awhile then switched it off, and checked the oil. Just like our old CB750's, it has a separate oil tank, and to my horror, I realised that I could see the bottom?
Now that's odd, with less than 7000 miles since new it doesn't leak oil or blow smoke, and as it'd done less than 200 miles since the Triumph dealer stripped the engine to replace the output shaft bearing, it's pretty apparent that they didn't top up the oil tank. I managed to put a full litre of oil into the tank before it came up to the "full" mark on the dipstick. Similarly, I had to top up the coolant tank too. Finally, I inflated the tyres to the recommended 42 psi (rear) and 34. (front) By now it was mid-afternoon, and time to go for a ride.
Lately I've been enjoying the 150 mile round trip to Yea (Yay!) on my other bikes, but I hadn't done the trip on the Rocket, so decided that it was time. I stopped along the way for a photo opportunity when I discovered that an old country pub I'd always meant to stop at for a drink had closed down, another missed opportunity, hopefully someone will buy it and I'll get another chance to wet my whistle there too.
As I rode into Yea, I was surrounded by a swarm of Honda CT110 scooters, what we call "Postie Bikes", because the Australia Post delivery men ride them. I counted around 20 of these little Honda's and mused that all 20 bikes were still collectively smaller in capacity than my Triumph engine. I pulled up at the "Red Plate Cafe" and Dave made me a coffee and a meat pie, and I yacked to him and his wife's sister who was really into bikes, and then turned for home.
I arrived home around 6pm, tired, but happy. The Triumph had run flawlessly, no leaks or rattles, I let it have it's head for a couple of short bursts, and saw 220 KPH (136 MPH) at one stage, then thanked God for modern brakes and tyres when I overcooked it in a bend. All in all, a great day!
