InvictaMoto's Döra the Explörer

RAM Setup Is there really a double-b as the spell checker thinks? Anyway. The solution to the hand guard to TomTom interface has finally been sorted, I hope. Not as I had thought by using the new handlebar clamp ball, but by buying the RAM Mount dumbbell and using it to connect the two RAM arms together, thus allowing the changing of the angle as well as the distance from the original mounting place. With the shorter TomTom supplied arm at the bottom and the longer one, from the old Garmin kit, at the top, I can get the TomTom above the bike's instruments and still have it behind the screen. The cable will need to be cut longer than anticipated, but that shouldn't be a problem. I didn't get a chance to test it this weekend but once I have had a ride out I can see if this works or not. If all is good, then I'll cut the wire down and re-fit the Hella plug. This setup will allow me to remove the entire cradle and wiring, just leaving ju...

Whilst at Laguna I got them to fit a new mount for my TomTom. As it was going to fit to a handlebar clamp I wanted it torqued down properly. I did look at the Triumph mount, but at over £65 (wherever you look online)  it was a bit expensive and apart from looking like a kid's Meccano  set, it leaves the cradle behind when the nav isn't needed. I like to leave nothing on the bike that can get get tampered with or stolen.  This way I can remove the entire cradle and the attached power lead, already fitted with a Hella plug, from the bike. It is also near to  the power socket that you can just see to the lower right of the ball. I'll need to play about to get the perfect fit of the Ram mount! It started to rain when I got home and I didn't get much time to play with it.  The power lead needs cutting down to about 8 inches to allow for the bars turning to full lock. A loop and a cable tie should sort that out. See how it goes at the weekend ...

After a week or so lull in the rainy weather  today it was raining as I took the courtesy Sprint back to Laguna Triumph at Ashford. I stopped at Stop 24 to put in some petrol to replace what I had used. In the end a tenner sufficed. Sprint Top-Up I was glad to be giving it back. It's about 1998 when I last owned a lean forward style of bike, a GSXR750. Since then I have owned a TDM 850, Bandit 1200 and of course for 11 years Mr Baloo the GS. I took the back roads home after filling the tank at the nearby Tesco. With her trip to Hinckley for the head replacement it meant that all the trips etc had been lost, plus the tank given some petrol. All designed to cockup my MPG counting. So I'll have to program another one and start again. Dora Dora As well as the new head, they also replaced the centre stand for a redesigned one plus the exhaust can. New Can New Head So at least she is home. Now hoping for decent weather to ...

On Saturday Dora will be going on a fortnight's break away from me. The first separation for any time since we became a couple in July.  Okay, we have been apart for a week or so, but not her going off on her own. Why? It's engine work time.  Dora has been recalled to Hinckley and goes back next week, so I have to deliver her, sans luggage, to Laguna Triumph at Ashford and they will prep her and then she will go to Triumph for the work. From what I have read on the various forums, the bikes come back with more new parts than expected. Some have come back with new centre stands and other bits and bobs. Dora has covered less than 5000 miles (8000 kms) in her short life and I don't think there is much that need replacing, but if they find something, who am I to complain? In her place they will loan me a Sprint GT. I was hoping for a try on a different model, and rather liked the idea of the retro looking Bonneville. I last rode one in the 70's when a g...