InvictaMoto's Döra the Explörer

I like to keep the blogs separate and as such have far too many on the go at once. Occasionally there will be a crossover. I have a blog I share with Claire about our trips to Spain. We have been going once a year for quite a few years. I am always envious of the riders out there enjoying the Mediterranean climate. They are dressed for summer almost all year round. No waterproofs!!!! A few years ago I was there when I took my ex-partners bike to her in Murcia. In Northern Europe it was cold and wet in February. In the Huerta of Murcia it was dry. The locals were dressed in thick coats but the foreigners were in t-shirts!   I parked up at the University waiting for her to finish her class. Teaching not a student. The givi box open.  "What is that?" says scooter guy next to me. He was dressed in a suit and normal shoes. Only a suede helmet like horse riders on his head to show any biker action!  "Waterproof trousers" I say. He laughs. "You...

We have just got through the wettest January on record. And now the first week of February hasn't been any improvement. Wet, wet, wet! It was sunny as I prepared to set off for Laguna to have Dora's ECM replaced but by the time I had hauled her out of the garage it was spitting and the wind had got up. Once I had filled the tank, I had a very windy ride back home, taking in the flooded Old London Road. It was so good I did it twice.

Having the new ECM fitted a Laguna Triumph tomorrow. She's booked in for 0930 so I am hoping the wind and rain will have eased off enough to get there in one piece! We have been lucky with the flooding around here. And not having a mount for my video camera (not waterproof) means the floods I went through last week went unrecorded. My brother has a Go-Pro I'd like to try. There must be a Ram Mount that will utilise the mount I use for the TomTom? I digress! Hopefully the new ECM will solve the weird starting problem.

When I bought Döra, I became a member of the Riders Association of Triumph - RAT. This is something along the lines of HOG (Harley Owners Group), where the meetings are based at their dealers. Somewhere owners can come together and enjoy social activities. We tried something like it with Suzuki for the Suzuki Owners Club, but the mentality of the big-S dealers was somewhat lacking. "Open one evening a week?"/"Open the shop on a Sunday?" were two of the incredulous sounding responses from the dealer base. Anyway, I digress. RAT. The local branch is run out of Laguna Triumph in Ashford and is where I bought Döra last year. I've not been to anything yet as most things are evenings and I simply don't get home in time for 7pm starts, whether in the shop, or the pub across the road. But, when my brother, Neill, forwarded on an email that his local branch had sent out, also Laguna but based at the Maidstone shop, with an invitation to members to sign...

With only a week to go before the Fred Hill Run, and Döra's trip to Laguna Triumph to have the ECM replaced, I needed to get out and give her a run. After about seven weeks  the garage, I dug her out. She started first prod on the button. It was sunny as I set off but after the wettest January on record I don't have high expectations. I did a kind of figure eight around the area including London Road where the water was running off the fields and across the entire width of the roadway. I took one pic of Döra by the tiger at the entrance to Port Lympne. Tigers The second picture was taken at the top of London Road above the water works! London Road It looks like someone failed to make the bend as the road signs are leaning quite a lot!