InvictaMoto's Döra the Explörer

And so it soon became the 13th December and Dora went to Laguna to have the latest "service bulletin" to be sorted. The side stand bolt. The weather was around 2°C when I set off so I decided to stick to the main roads and the motorway rather than the back roads across the top of the Marsh.   Once booked in a went across the road for a bacon sandwich and a coffee.  The job was done so quickly that I had barely got sat down when my phone chirruped with an SMS to say it was done!   I wasn't in any hurry. The pub was cold as well, but not a patch on the outside world. Dora was parked outside and I took a photo quickly and then togged up and rode home. Heated grips on full power.

In the end, me and Döra didn't make it to Ostend. The weather turned very cold and icy and a 6am start didn't make any sense. So, Döra stayed tucked up in the garage and I had to re-book my crossing for another time.

I heard on the grapevine that there was another "service bulletin" to dealers for the Explorer. This one concerns the side stand bolt failing and the bike tumbling into the weeds. I  contacted  my  dealer ,  Laguna  in Ashford, and they  confirmed  that D öra is in the VIN range and needs to be booked in ASAP. As I am in Ostend this weekend for the St Nicks Rally it has to be the week after. So I have booked her in for 0930 on the 13th. Fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong this weekend. Although saying that, I do tend to use the main stand wherever possible. It is so much easier using the luggage if the bike is upright.

Döra is booked in to Laguna on October 31st for the 10000 mile service. I'm quite a bit short on miles at the moment, but with a ride out coming up in a few weeks I might get to 8000!!!

After a pretty heavy butt cheek battering in Spain, and especially on the last two days either side of the ferry, I decided to try a new sheepskin approach.  One of the guys we chatted with on the quay at Santander and on the ferry, and his wife, two-up on a KLX1000 Kawasaki, said they had bought sheepskins off eBay from a company in Yorkshire. They looked a lot shaggier than the Alaska Leather ones that I bought for Claire and me way back in 2004. So I bought one. The jury is out.  It is a rectangle, with an anti-slip underside and a thick elastic to pass under the seat.  I think my arse cheeks need to recover before I can feel any benefit. The suppliers are www.sheepskinseats.net  and are available via eBay as well as direct.

Rather than double post, this is the link to the trip Claire, Döra and me just did. Thanks to LD Lines ferry service to Spain from Southern England mileage was cut down by about 1600 miles and in the end Trip 2 recorded a total for the trip at 1102.0 door to door. Over the entire trip Döra was the perfect travelling companion. And like most, she did like the occasional drink but she didn't need any oil! http://devalltravel.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/ Some pix.... At the Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid At the Puerto de Navacerrado Undercover at the Parador in Cervera de Pisuerga Santander port...

Checked on google maps yesterday how long it would take to do a mere 126 miles. With traffic taken into account it came up with over three hours. Okay. Leave at 11am, get petrol at Ashford and cruise up. All went to plan. Tesco packed but squeezed to the front. Worst mpg since I had Döra!! I put that down to the 85mph run back from France. The M20 was free running and Döra in her stride with 75mph on the cruise control. The traffic to the Dartford Tolls was back to the M20, maybe 4 or 5 miles?  I slipped to the front and was away. Cruising speed was down to 60 as far as the A12. From time to time we were down to walking pace but about 90 minutes before the game I was in the cafe attached to the services near the ground. A coffee and millionaire slice later I rode the remainder of the journey and parked right by the stadium. The game started a bit slow and Oldham were under pressure, and conceded the first goal after failing to cl...

The box arrived today and I fitted it straight away. It doesn't look all that much bigger than the E45 I have had for the better part of 20 years! We bought two E45 boxes and two slightly smaller boxes (E36?) to use as side cases.  At the time we had a pair of Yamaha XJ900F's. Audrey's was black and a 1989 model and mine two years newer and blue and white.  We had the Givi wing racks and could share the side cases.  I have used the same E45 on the old GT750 interchangeable with all the other bikes right up to Döra. And now the next generation. Looks good too.

Another few quid. What I saved on the Kappa box versus the Givi version I decided to spend on an inner bag! The logistics of the holiday make it sense and the dimensions on the givi.it website mean that it will fit in snugly and mean we can pull it out and lock the helmets inside. Plus it looks smart enough for the Parador stops!!

Döra was a year old in July and although I didn't have a party I did decide to have a look around to see what I could buy for her.  She already has most things a girl could need, but with our impending holiday to Spain on the horizon, now less than two weeks away, she could do with a luggage upgrade. I looked at the Triumph box for the Explorer and it was very expensive. The rack alone is over £120 and I have a perfectly good and year old Givi rack and fittings. So I looked at the Givi Trekker.  The 52 litre box comes in at about £225 (!) at the cheapest place I can find in UK, and then I saw the Kappa KGR52 "Garda" box. Kappa and Givi are the same company at the end of the day and some years ago we had Kappa panniers on the Bandit. The "Garda" is much cheaper as it is more black that aluminium than the Trekker but is a match for the Triumph oem panniers. Kappa KGR52 "Garda"  It should give us a lot more carrying space for the holiday.

The weekend went very well and we had a great time.  I have written up the blog on my "On the Road Again" blog-space so here are the links. http://invictamoto.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/the-somme-weekend.html http://invictamoto.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/somme-weekend-part-deux.html

I started writing this on Wednesday. The 16th July 2014. The 98th Anniversary of William Devall, last of Vauxhall in London and the 7th Battalion Shropshire Light Infantry, succumbing to wounds received in the Battle of the Somme. Tomorrow, Döra and I will go across to France again. Thanks to people like William and the next generation that fought in the Second World War we are able to travel with few restrictions. Something else we owe to the hundreds of thousands of (mostly) young men that went out and never returned to their families and their loved ones. On Sunday, four days late, I will call into the cemetery and plant a Poppy Cross to show that the Devall family remembers his sacrifice. Laurence Binyon's Poem "For the Fallen" "They went with songs to the battle, they were young. Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow. They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted, They fell with their faces to the foe. They shall grow not old, as we that are left...

A month away to our holiday in Spain. With about 5500 miles on the odometer, two things are on my mind. A) Tyres. Will they last a month here and then about 1500 miles around Spain, plus there and back miles? B) Service time at 10000! After hot weather in the UK I chose to wear the Joe Rocket mesh jacket in France and generally that was okay with the light waterproof over the top. http://our-spain.blogspot.com.tr

Got home from work and as it was sunny and dry I decided to take Döra out to put some air in the tyres and fill up.  The pressures are shown as 36psi front and 42psi rear; the same as the GS. Easy to renenber! The pump at Stop 24 costs 50p to start it, but according to the RAC and others, these are more accurate than free ones. Both tyres were a couple of pounds under which was not too bad.  As petrol is 7p a litre or 31p a gallon more than Tesco, I went down one junc on the M20. "Pay at the Pump" was the only option and with 205.6 on the trip I gladly filled up.  The yellow fuel light has been on a while and the "miles to empty" showed 10.  I need to check the tank size as it took 17.98 litres to fill right to the top!! So maybe there were a couple of litres still in their. Good for 25 more miles! On the way home I stopped at the kiosk by Seabrook beach before going home. I didn't want too many miles as I wanted a full tank for Saturday and the Somme Trip. http...

Up early and off to Nell's Cafe to meet Neill, my brother, and Frank from the Kent Centre. I was first to arrive and got myself a mug of tea and a bacon sandwich. Service at Nell's is very quick! Neill arrived and ordered then Frank. By the time we had eaten it was getting on for ten and we set off. Booking in ends at 1130 and we we were well in time. Neill added his friend Bill to the list of riders that have died this year and when it came to Roar of Remembrance, most riders fired u the bikes. The air got a little foggy with all the exhaust. Pano of assemble bikes Me and Dora Rain was forecast for the day and we had avoided it during the day and as we turned into the cemetery it started and by the time we were at the ceremony, it started to rain hard.  We made it though under the thunder to the new visitor centre.  Out of the rain we could check out the displays. Very poignant.  It needs a longer visit to fully appreciate and maybe later in the year...

It's tomorrow and this year as always it will go from Cambridge Services on the A14 into Cambridge and out again to Madingley Cemetery.   Madingley is the main cemetery for US Forces in the UK. The walls are covered with the names of 5127 airmen killed in WW2 and that have no known grave. Mostly from the Battle of the North Atlantic and bombing raids over occupied Europe. We owe these men our freedom. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_American_Cemetery_and_Memorial

"Road Tax" as we still call it is one of the bug bears of life. It's not actually a tax for using the roads but just another tax levied by a government wanting to raise more cash. There is no requirement for motorcycle manufacturers to produce carbon emissions for bikes.  The fact that Triumph have and that mine is very low, lower than cars that are paying £0 a year, it bugs me that I have to pay £80!! It is also printed on the "log book" that every vehicle has. I take up less room on the road, no congestion, no damage to the infrastructure and pay loads more than small cars that take up space and are much heavier!! Anyway, it's done. Another year. Now the government has decided to drop the displaying of tax discs this will be the last one that Döra will wear. Another tradition lost to the online world. 

Booked Dora in for a visit to Laguna and after a few weeks of sunny dry weather, you guessed it. It rained. It didn't look like rain at all as I came home from a school. So I decided to wear my mesh jacket. I'd gone a few miles and it started. By the time I got to Laguna I was a little damp! They wheeled her into the workshop and about fifteen minutes later they rode her out and I could go home.  I spent that time looking at jackets and the new Thunderbird LT.  I need a new jacket as my old Frank Thomas, although waterproof still, is shabby looking. This one is called the "Tempest". Of course it rained again.

With the panniers fitted I was able to get two three kilo bags in the larger one and one in the smaller one. We also had quite a lot of sachets of cat food that our cat, Hilly, won't eat. The ride up to the meeting place flashed past with the cruise set on the M20. The Kent Riders were there already.  Döra seemed to be running perfectly. Two up I should have faffed with the rear suspension but didn't. Döra didn't seem that badly affected although I noticed the headlights were a bit higher than maybe was right. The only hassle was a nasty pothole that was hideen on the edge of a zebra crossing and hidden. Bang! Felt like a kerb! The ride back from the centre was really good. Warm and dry and the route back was almost the same as the way I came back last week with TomTom "winding roads". I hadn't topped the tank and the four bars quickly became one and the low fuel light came on. I switched the display to "miles to empty" and saw 4! By miracle, a petro...

Once Mr Dale had sorted Döra's earth lead, I togged up and set off about three hours later than planned. The TomTom fastest route was M20 and M25 then A-roads to Edenbridge. On google maps the Last Chance is shown but the waypoint isn't quite right. In the end it is about fifty yards away. I turned in and took a couple of pix. I arrived after they had closed unfortunately. I had no idea how to mark the car-park as the waypoint on the TomTom. On the old Garmin Quest there is a simple "where am I" button and you can give the waypoint a reference. I set it to record route, and then set a route for home. So at least the exact waypoint will be marked. No cockups next week I hope. Until recently I didn't realise I had more options for planning routes. I now seem to have wonders like "winding road" as well as bicycle and walking!  Before I had only fastest and shortest! The run home was the shorter "winding road" an...

Came out to go on a ride to make sure my Pet Food Run route was okay. Dead. Döra just clicking. Check the isolator in the side stand, click kill switch.  Nothing. Called the Triumph Rider Assist outfit and 45 minutes later Mr Dale the RAC Man arrived. Meters everything. Relays all working. Power to the starter motor. Dead. Put a the fiddly panels and covers back on. Earth the battery to his power lead and the engine. Vroom. Search with keyhole surgery precision to find the other end of the earth lead. Just visible and bolt almost out.  What luck I wasn't riding along! Tightened the bolt up. All okay. This looks like when the engine was out for the new head that the Hinckley tech missed it. I repeat. Effing good job that it didn't happen on the road!

... a chance to get out for a ride. I feel more and more guilty as I head off for work knowing that behind the garage door, there lies Dora. Waiting to turns her wheels on the road. With life being so hectic, the time to actually get out and ride seems even more diminished so when an opportunity arises, then it needs to be grabbed with both hands. It wasn't all that far as it happens. I togged up and as it was actually sunny and warm, I chose the Joe Rocket mesh jacket. I set off out of Hythe and onto the M20 for a ride, cruise control on, for Dover.  I ended up past the castle and on the White Cliffs.  I stopped at the box at the entrance to the site and the guy said that motorcycles were free.  It's recently gone up to £3.50 for a car, but for that there aqre many marked spaces. Bikes have to squeeze in wherever there is space! There were a couple of others there although I never saw the riders/pillions at all. When on the bike I always ride through...

A tale of up-cocks and the need to buy a map. What could possibly go wrong? No satnav and no paper map? Nothing of course. Once I was on the A26, cruise set to 110kph, plain sailing.  Junction 6 for Béthune is soon passed. I had expected 6.1 to be close by. It isn't. Doubt sets in. Next is the A21 signed to Lens and Douai  (pron doo-eye) and yes a D road as well.  Souchez is on the right of the A26. So track right on a new road. No signs of life, no signage... Not good. Arrive Barlin. New supermarket. No maps. Ask idiot-villageur for directions. Follow them and find myself in Mont St Eloi where the abbey was shelled and the structure remains. A sort of bombed shell. No access though. Not today anyway. Head off towards Arras expecting to see a signpost. None. Enter Arras and buy a map at Auchun. It seems that at Mont St Eloi I was about 4 miles away as I stood in the sun. By now the hour ...

Up early courtesy of the cat. Washed and out about fifteen minutes ahead of schedule. Sunny but a little chilly around the legs. Good job I am wearing two jumpers! I was going to be half an hour ahead of the RAT Pack anyway so when I accepted an earlier crossing it put me an hour ahead. Leisurely breakfast then. On arrival I pulled into the fuel stop for a coffee. "Desolé, machine en panne" said shrugging Gallic lady. I togged up and headed down the A26 to the Aire de Rely, where we have stopped before. Breakfast. And all ordered in French.... I'll carry in to ND de Lorette and meet the others there. As I write they must just be exiting the port.

Vimy Ridge Doh!  How many times have I been on Eurotunnel? Answer? Lots! So I must have misread the original instructions and I booked the train for 0850. Actually, a little later than my usual crossings. To maximise time over "on the otherside" I usually like the earlier 0820 crossing. The joining instructions arrived in the email from Jack, the RAT leader for this jaunt. It's supposed to be 0815 to depart the fuel stop on the motorway by J11, then to check in way before 0850 and then the 0920 train! Oops. I might go a bit earlier still and get some brekkie Frogside and then be ready when they come past. Once I have downed a pain chocolat and a coffee..... In reality I'll miss them pass and have to get a move on to catch them up at the toll ticket collection booth at Ardres.  As it is France I'll wear the Schuberth with it's very law abiding reflective stickers in place. I don't n...