InvictaMoto's Red Pepé Blog

I used to be an all round the year biker. Only stopping when the snow lay on the roads or the ice was too slippery to make it safe.  Recently, I have become a fair weather biker although an all year round variant. Also since buying a bike festooned in a lot of chrome, I find myself worrying about the effect on it from the treatments (read salt!) that we use in copious amounts as soon as the temperature gets near 0C. This last weekend was Meldrews breakfast Sunday and I pulled Pepe out of the garage and as it seemed mild, I wore light gloves.  Mistake.  I hadn't gone more than a couple of miles and my fingers were numb. Added to that finding the dry line through the damp so to avoid too much splashback was working me too hard! I'd not got far and was in the next village, where there is a 40mph limit, and I was soon joined by a guy in a hurry in a small Peugeot. Maybe the 40 inside a red ring on the sign meant nothing to him as he sped up my tailpipes. Don

Service date today. As I haven't managed to hit 10000 miles yet, I booked the annual service instead. It's cheaper luckily. It should have been last week but due to the building work at the Triumph shop it was put back a week. This morning it was freezing. Cars iced over but at least the roads clear enough. By the time I got to Ashford my fingers were frozen at the tips.  After changing the date when I got to the Triumph shop the workshop looked like it was weeks away from finished. So we schlepped across to the other shop where  they usually have KTM, Ducati and Kawasaki. Outside was another Rocket fitted with a supercharger. I'd love to hear that running. I took a couple of photos. Some three hours later I got an sms to say it was finished. We were in Folkestone  walking the dog and watching a ceremony where they were commemorating the centenary of the ending of The Battle of the Somme in 1916. A picture here too. At least it was dry and cold bu

From five of us at the Meldrews' meeting point there were only two of us, me and Cal,  that made the ride to the Ride Out starting point in Canterbury. There we found that the local scooter clubs had turned up in large numbers and on a range of scooters form the 1960's right up to latest model four-strokes. There were fewer motorcycles though and that was a little embarrassing after the publicity the run had been given locally.   Not that I hadn't seen plenty of bikes on the road to and from the event.   In the end we had donations from the non-attending Meldrews (well most of them) and this was handed into the run organiser.  Amounting to just short of £1600 in cash and some online donations made from people's phones to justgiving. The run itself was along the A257 to Sandwich and then to Deal and then ending at Dover seafront.  Our group was led by a bloke on a GoldWing.  What a prat.  On an open section leading about forty assorted scooters and bike

This Sunday I am hoping to get out on this run for charity. It's for a local girl that needs some very expensive treatment that can't be funded on the National Health Service and is available only in the US. That life saving medicine can cost $1m is a disgrace in the first place but that there is no insurance that covers it is equally bad. So it is for the community to come together and raise the necessary funds to help save a life. In July some thieves stole the collection from a local shop in Hythe. Despite the cctv video being shared thousands of times on social media and the TV, no one has ever been caught. A women and her teenage son were clearly seen stealing it.  Someone knows who they are and they haven't been turned it to the police or for some local justice. So as well as having the just giving page to donate, bikers and scooterists will take a collection on this run.  it has been published across the South East and on TV as well as biker sit

It will be soon that time of year when a find out how much a kidney sells for as I raise the funds for a service.  Okay, it's not that bad, but I doubt it will be inexpensive. As I haven't made it to the 10000 miles service interval it has been booked in for the annual service. Hopefully that will require fewer body parts being traded. Before then there a few rides where I can make thew odometer look a little more respectable.

This year the Ring of Red will be on 13th November. The official Remembrance Sunday. We are too busy to actually have Remembrance Day on November 11th when it is supposed to be so the nearest Sunday suffices. This year I plan to head up the A2 to Cobham Services and see if any Meldrews turn up and then about 1230 head up to the meeting place at Thurrock Services. Hopefully the weather will be kind again. Report and pix to follow - and they are here ..... RUN REPORT

Missed the DGR yesterday as I had a really bad dose of man-flu. Felt bad most of the day until late afternoon when I pulled Pepe out for a short run around the edge of the Marsh Down to Dymchurch and New Romney then back up towards Ashford and across the top of the Downs back home. Altogether 25 miles.

It's almost a week since I got home and I have just got around to checking the exact mileage and calculating the overall fuel consumption rates, what we call mpg. A bit lazy I know.  The return trip from home to home worked out at 1767.3 miles on Trip 2. Mpg ranged from 44.09 to 54.52.  I haven't sorted them in date order only lowest to highest. But at a quick glance at dates the highest consumption was on the way out in the middle of the trip. Getting 54.52 mpg on a 2300cc cruiser is pretty decent I think. The cross country sections in Bavaria and Czech were frustrating in parts due to traffic, trucks in the main,  but apart from a few miles the surface was better than anything we have locally in Kent or anywhere in the UK. So much smooth tarmac perfectly made for bikes. And at moderate speeds the mpg went up. On the way back, one section, when we had to detour off S19 north of Pisek due to the Ždákovský most (bridge) being closed,  wa

I have been back a few days now.  Overall the Rocket and I did over 1730 miles. There were some really long days using the Czech roads off-motorway routes.  But rewarding to see the countryside. The Burgenstrasse in Germany was a nice route but sadly most of the castles weren't easily accessible for the killer bike and building photo.

Well. Mostly packed. Just sponge bag and the new pocket atlas* to go out and be stuffed into the Saddlemen bag. It's a bit full as I wanted to save the panniers. The left one contains my Kent Fire Brigade "Biker Down" first aid kit and... two bottles of English white wine from Chapel Down Vineyard (never call it a winery!) That's about 15 miles from home.  Both bottles wrapped in bubble wrap and then on a travel blanket. The right one has my Triumph waterproof over jacket and trousers.  Plus a lock and a bag for race day. I was going to manage without my tank bag, but I need somewhere for my passport and spectacle cases!  Now I have to decide on what to wear. Vented jacket obviously but it looks like Hood jeans over leathers. So. It's nearly 10.30pm and I have to be up early to be on the train to France at 8.50am. * useless!

Sunday. A short run out this afternoon. I checked the oil and topped up the tank. The Rocket has a dry sump system with a car like filler cap on top of the oil tank on the left side below the fuel tank.  Luckily it comes with a dip stick attached to the cap. The Hi and Lo marks are quite close together and Pepe only needed a few drops to get it back to the upper level. The tyres are another weekly check. With no centrestand it is hard to get both valves where you can get to them without moving the bike back and forth. The rear wheel is so huge, getting a hand past the disc to the valve is quite hard. Getting a digital gauge in is even harder. In the end I set off for the air pump at Stop 24. It's 50p for three minutes of air. The front was about 6lbs down and it went up to 34psi and the rear was down to 36 when it should be 40psi. That done I set off to see what difference it had made. Er. None. None noticeable anyway.  Obviou

Never ride angry. It leads to mistakes. For some unknown reason people in England have this urge to travel. That's not a problem. What is the problem is that no sooner has the final bell of the summer term/semester rung,  like lemmings they are in their cars and motorhomes  (RV) and heading on their summer holiday. Why? Most kids won't be back in their classrooms until September 6th or even 7th!! To coincide with this exodus, small 'e' as the waves don't part for them , after some terrorist activity in France (not to mention our vote to leave the European Union) the French boeufed up their ridiculously slap dash border control. Traffic was queued back on the M20 for about 15 miles. Three lanes and then two.... The A2 into the port two lanes for about 7 miles. Add to that both roads closed due to the inevitable accidents and a rare truck fire, and you have CHAOS. People trapped for upto 14 hours.  It later turned out that

Just a short run today.  A week since we got back from the Somme and Pepe  needed a wash'n'brush up. I togged up and with a plasttic bottle of cleaner  bungeed on the rack I headed for the jet wash. The idea was to get the worst of the French crud off from under the engine, mudguards and if course the easy-corrode wheels that Triumph preferred to fit. The wash machine has changed and takes £1 coins and you get three minutes. There are six options from jet to wax and rinsing. In the end and £2 later it all looked good.  Ten minutes later I knew I had to do it by hand again when it was cold! At least the mud and crud was gone. As it was sunny the wax rinse dried in streaks.   I had a ride to Tesco to fill up with their 3p a litre cheaper 95 unleaded, then a tour around Folkestone to check out the football ground for the next home game and then home along the coast drive. It was some two hours later when I  went out with a  bucket and some Simoniz suds to clean the exhausts

Oops. Posted on another of my blogs and here are some posts.  http://devalltravel.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/some-trip-reports-somme-2016.html

Profligate that I am I decided the used bag wasn't going to work properly as it is simply too soft and doesn't hold its shape. Looked at a few Saddlemen options and with my refund from British Airways I bought a new bag. The quality is instantly evident. It came from a UK Harley dealer and luckily isn't badged HD at all. It had its first outing on the Somme trip and was perfect  it swallowed all our "duds" for the Ceremony and more. Saddlemen FTB3600 with waterproof cover The bright yellow waterproof cover came in handy in some terrible weather and no water got in. The cover is big enough to fit over the main bag and the top bag. It looks a bit flimsy but worked well. At £138 inc taxes and delivery it's not cheap but you'd have to pay more for hard luggage and a rack to mount it. The standard setup was the right size for my sissy bar pad and I used two other supplied straps to keep it tightly in place on the little rack, should

I have been lusting over some extra luggage for a while. Checking forums there are lots of guys with some really good looking Kuryakyn or Saddlemen bags that are designed for the cruisers or customs and that attach to the sissy bar. The plan was to look at them on a recent trip to the States, the natural habitat of the cruiser. In the end this never happened and so the lust has been cooled. Instead I have invested a few pounds in a bag from a friend of a friend. It's not new, but hardly used. It's basically a largish square bag with two pockets on each side.  There's a roll bag that is supposed to fit on the top but I have no idea how. There's no waterproof cover so everything will have to go in waterproof bags inside it. I tested it for fit earlier and it has two velcro straps that one fits under the sissy bar pad, the other across it and two others to anchor it to the rack. It's semi rigid and looks like once it is filled with clothes etc it m

Had two rides out today and probably added 35 miles to the odometer! Firstly to the Blue & White to meet the Meldrew's and possibly the largest turnout since records began. Lively chat about the Somme trip in less than a fortnight. At least we have an idea who is going where and when. The second was only to Folkestone to see how Claire gets on with the bike and the seating position. She has hip problems again and my large butt means she has her thighs wider apart. This causes some discomfort. We had a gelato and a slow ride back home.

First trip out for way too long. Just back from holiday in the US, I found a letter in the stack of mail concerning my echocardiogram at the hospital.  June 16th. Unable to work from home and going to a hospital that I knew the location but not the parking situation, I decided to ride. Also bikes still park for free!  As there is a football championship on at the moment and England was playing Wales in the "Battle of Britain" at 2pm management weren't allowing any "work from home". At least our management weren't. I know other managers were allowing staff to watch, and schools allowing pupils to watch! What does that say about the trust between bosses and is plebs? The appointment was 1030am and I was away from home an hour earlier.  Canterbury is only 20 miles away but who knows the traffic situation. As it was it was just after ten when I pulled into one of the car parks and saw some bikes parked. The faded writing on the road said "m/cycles bay"

The Meldrews decided to have a run to Whitfield and the museum's open day.  After breakfast at the Blue and White a small but elite group made the trip to the museum. Okay, three of us!  Cal, Ian J and me. The weather was hanging on to the brief look at summer we get in England and it was vented jacket weather all the way. I forgot my camera, but the iPhone made up for it and I took a few photos on some of the classics plus the Rockets that turned up. Not along run out, but a few miles on the clock!! The Gresham Flyer. I had one in dark blue back in the early 60's. Yes, you are seeing a four cylinder Kwak two-stroke! Red Pepe! Yes, that is my finger! This HD has a different picture on every panel depicting images from the Battle of Britain. Modern Enfield Bullet  We split up here as we all lived in different directions.  Ian was in fact going to Ashford rather than home

What can I say about the ride from home to Southend. On Google Maps it shows a distance of 34 miles, as the crow flies. Once it works out the route that changes to more like 81 miles depending on the way you go. With the 1945 kick off as the last time I could get there, counting back and allowing for traffic,  I set off at 1615.  Traffic was relatively light on the M20 considering the hour, but as I got nearer  London it started to build. The swoop from M20 to M25 is quite a nice experience as long as there is clear road and Pepe managed it at the legal limit without any trauma. That’s when I was faced with a four lane wall of traffic all crawling along at walking pace. Even filtering through between the outside two lanes I lost over 20 minutes getting from the M20/M25 junction to the tunnel itself.  The last couple of miles had cars and trucks at a standstill, and it was the same for the tunnel itself. There was a brief respite from this when we started to move and achieved 4

Day off today. Some chores before getting Pepe out to fit the panniers and the satnav mount. The trip is only across the Thames to Southend-on-Sea. By crow's flight it's out 35 miles, but by road around 88 miles to the ground. The trip is to see the football between Oldham Athletic and Southend United. What lurks in the greenery? Had to relocate the satnav mount as it was last used without the screen. From the riding seat.