68 miles in 7 years

Finally got old Tiberius close to finished — only the front indicators to fit. So, it’s time for a spin around the neighborhood to wash out the cobwebs and get the juices flowing. Finally clicked past 68 miles.

Also a chance to test the helmet cam setup: ION SpeedCam running HD 1080 for video and audio using a Sena Bluetooth for phone call but recording direct to an MP3 on my phone. It captured voice really good, even with helmet open and practically cut out wind noise. Very surprising. This setup involves too much faffage for my liking.

On the bright side, the T595 rides like a charm. Love this bike, the big triple engine howl is addictive.

Tiberius Lives (aka rebirth of a 1998 Triumph Daytona 955i Triple Sportsbike)!

After replacing the fuel pump, a couple of geriatric rubber hoses, upgrading the fuel connectors and a fluid/filter change we have lift off! Project “rebirth of a 1998 Triumph Daytona” is looking good!

The old boy is now ticking over nicely and being gently introduced to the tarmac in short controlled runs to gently run the engine in.  I have two news tyres (aka tires) waiting to be fitted and still have a shortlist of easy servicing items that need to be looked at. But, he’s alive and running.

Next video should be fitting the crash bungs, bodywork, tyres, new indicators and brake line flush…. then… we might be ready for an extended ride out.

But, the bad news is that this is going to take a few months to get ready. I need to do that pesky American Motorcycle license before I do anything else…. and very annoyingly I have some super busy work assignments in the real world that are going to eat up my weekends until after Santa comes. But… it’s so close to running its getting my juices going. #excited

Fun days ahead.

Triumph Daytona T595 is a Golden Oldie

Motorcycle News wrote an interesting article about this good old machine yesterday:

Triumph needed to get it right first time with the T595 Daytona. Back in the sportsbike-crazy ’90s, nothing less was going to cut it. With Honda’s FireBlade having set the standard, being good was never going to be good enough. Outstanding was the only way to be.

Happily, the British bike-buying public was so sold on the idea of the forthcoming machine that Triumph’s order books filled up fast in late 1996, months ahead of the first machines being delivered at the start of 1997.

While the Blade was an inline four, Triumph opted for a triple. The brand had some heritage to look to here in that the “old” Triumph company’s valedictory bikes had been triples, the T150 and T160 Tridents, and the three-cylinder architecture had been core to the revived marque’s roadsters.

The engine developed for the T595 made a rear wheel 107bhp, putting it on a par with the FireBlade. Power is only part of the story, of course. Fuelled up and good to go, the Triumph gave away around 20kg to the Honda. To T595 riders, that hardly mattered.

A revamp and a redesignation came for the Daytona in 1999, its new 955i tag reflecting its actual capacity. The overhaul mostly consisted of a fuel injection update, better ground clearance and suspension, plus some styling tweaks.

Today, the Daytona has yet to get off the bottom of the depreciation curve. They’re insanely cheap and you’d be mad to pass up on this much performance for so little money.

What are they worth?
Basket case £500-£800
Ratty £900-£1400
Good £1500-£1700
Mint £1800-£2800

Fuel tank
Modern ethanol-rich fuels can play havoc with the plastic tank if left to sit in it for too long, causing it to swell, go out of shape, and fuel to leach under the paint.

Starter clutch
Every Triumph of this generation carries a health warning regarding the starter clutch. Check for easy firing.

Engine case leak
Oil oozing from the right-side engine cover is usually caused by it getting around one of the bolts. Remove and re-seal.

Frame
Early frames were polished but these were superseded, and early ones replaced, with powder coated chassis after the tubework on a crashed dealer demonstrator failed and Triumph issued a recall.

Bodywork
The metallic paint is a pain to match to correct damage. In fact the panels were often poorly matched to each other when the bikes were new.

Pretty much I agree with them whole heartedly.

A year in California and it still doesn’t feel like *home*

My months in California have been fun but I’ve discovered the famous California lifestyle just isnt quite everything that it’s cracked up to be. I thought I would love it here but… I just… dont… Dont get me wrong, it’s a lovely place but not the shangri-la I was expecting: The weather is great but it’s always the same and I miss the seasons, lots of new places to explore but roads are ridiculously over-crowded, the outside lifestyle is great but houses are way overpriced,  beaches are nice but water is murky and chilly.

All in all, I’m not as impressed as I thought I would be.

Now an exciting new job offer is enticing me back to the East Coast — I get to work remote most of the time so I’ve selected my favorite City discovered during my American adventures: Charleston SC.

Love #chucktown 🙂

So, after a few hours of deliberation and several glasses of wine… it’s time to up sticks and move. Again.

Tiberius isn’t even running yet and he is already being packed up and moved 3000 miles again!

More on this adventure later… because now I have to find out about registering him in South Carolina.

After moving to California – it’s time to try and get the old boy running

I originally bought this bike in Virginia, when I first moved to the good ole USA back in 2010. I got it from a guy in Ohio who had not ridden it for nearly 6 years (or so he said). But, the bike was clean and it started after a little persuasion, ran for about 15 minutes and then died… I trailored it back to my then home in VA, parked it in my office and promptly went off to work in Georgia for nearly a year. The triumph slept once more.

Then I relocated to South Carolina, Tiberius moved with me into a fresh new storage locker. I did some investigation and found the fuel line had come off the input port in the fuel pump in side the tank. Refitted the line and he started up (with a little reluctance) and I even managed to ride him around my local community for 20 minutes before it died again.

Hashtag “back in storage”.

Then I took a 3 month job in Vegas (who wouldn’t?) and that then stretched to a year and then lead me to here — Southern California. I’m here for a few while, so it’s time to try and fire the old geezer up and get him on the roads…