Tallulah's Diary

[Sin_Tiger]

  brilliant 

[Lee337]

Out on another volunteer run yesterday. Weather was wet, roads were muddy in places and I got stuck behind a truck in the twisties, so kept my distance & enjoyed the ride instead of trying to overtake.

It was a nice steady 120 mile run but when I got home, you could have planted crops on the swingarm, panniers, front of the engine, in fact you could have probably got a whole crop rotation thing going.

Spent this afternoon cleaning her off, followed by hosing the mud off the drive and althgough the drive is not that clean, Tallulah is 

[Sin_Tiger]

Pity, you won't get the fallow field payment 

[Lee337]

Took Tallulah out for a short 50 mile run yesterday, first time I've had the chance to ride just for the hell of it. Some fast sweeping roads, some slow twisty. Not pushing it, just taking my time.

Odd thing though, I had one car pull out of a side turning while I was some distance away and still in a 30 limit, at least far enough for it to accelerate away, but it didn't, it stayed at 30, even though we were now in a 60 limit. I just overtook and was off up the road.

Some time later, another car moved to pull out of a junction but stoped after about 2-3 feet. I assumed he saw me at the last minute.

Just before I got back home, I caught up with a 1980 registered Ducati. I followed him for about 4 miles, making a series of turns, not actually following him, I was just going in the same direction, using a series of back roads on my way home. After a while, and at an unexpected point he accelerated away, making some odd riding choices, overtaking when I wouldn't have risked it, & not slowing going through a villaige wih a 30 limit. A bit odd I thought.

Anyway, I pulled up on to my drive & as I approached the garage door, I noticed not only did I have my fog lights on (I usually only use them at night), but oddly, they were set to the strobe setting. 

Not sure how as I don't usually switch them on - I can only think I must have caught the switch when getting the bike out of the garage, but even then you usually have to switch then on and off three times to get them to strobe, which I know is illegal on UK roads.

Still, it was good to get out for a while. 

[Sin_Tiger]

 

[ghulst]

[Lee337]

Tallulah's got a new can...

Yes, after trying a TOR exhaust last year & deciding I couldn't live with the constant drone following me around, I put the original can back on & got rid of the TOR can. But last week, I spotted a post if the Sale section for a Haynes manual - didn't want a Haynes as I have the official Triumph service manual, but the seller (Paul) also had a few other goodies, among them was a Blueflame exhaust, complete with link pipe.

How could I refuse!

The can turned up Sunday afternoon via Hermes (who knew they delivered on a Sunday?) and after 15 minutes I'd swapped the exhausts over.

Fired her up & the sound was a really nice burble, not that much louder than the original can with the baffle in, but a nicer sound. I haven't tried it with the baffles out yet as my circlip pliers aren't man enough for the job.

Before |i took her out I thought I'd try putting the panniers back on. Just as well I did as the bottom of the can fouled the cut away in the pannier, not by much, about 5mm, so another 15 minutes loosening off all the fittings, a few adjustments then tighten everything back up again as all was good.

A quick 25 mile run around the local roads and she certainly feels better, smoother acceleration & power delivery. I didn't reset the ECU but as I'm running the TOR map and the ECU adapts after time, I didn't see the need. For the first time since I've owned her, I had the front wheel off the ground accidentally.  ,

I also checked the inside of the pannier to make sure it wasn't getting hot as the gap between the can & the pannier is probably less than 5mm and there was no appreciable heat transfer, so all is good.

[Sin_Tiger]

Win win result 

I expect you've already considered putting some alloy flashing tape on the cut out just in case (no pun) you get stuck in traffic in the middle of a Roman summer 

[ghulst]

Now you know we want pics with the new can.


And I agree with @Sin_Tiger here. That tape could be a pretty good thing to do. Especially in summer.

[Lee337]

Photos can be posted up later, I'm on my work PC at the moment & my photos aren't.

As for the tape, good call. I'll go get some when time allows.

[Lee337]

A couple of pics of the Blueflame exhaust.

[Lee337]

That's weird, if you click on the images they open the right way around.   

[ghulst]

I guess the thumb in the post is the Australian version...

Looks good though. But I like it rubber side down better.

[Lee337]

New battery time.

Over the past year, with not much riding going on, I've kept the battery of my trusty Cat on an optimiser, but mid winter, I blew the electrics in the garage. Still haven't got around to calling in the electrician, but I've isolated the garage power feed & it appears the problem is with the fuse box in the house.

Anyway, back to the reason for this post. 2 years ago, I replaced the battery the bike came with, with a Motobatt AGM battery. I was never really happy with it as from fitting it, the engine turned over a little slow, even though it's a 14 aH battery. It really was no different to the original lead acid battery it failed, except that it held the charge longer. As I didn't pay for the battery, its history was an unknown but I had no reason to disbelieve who generously gave it to me to replace the almost dead Yuasa one the bike came with, that it was unused. He apparently bought it for his bike a few days before it was written off, so it sat in its box on a shelf for 8 months. I'd heard Motobatt batteries were the dogs danglies so after charging it, figured all was as it should have been.

For the past 7 months, if I leave the bike for more than a week, off comes the battery so I can bring it in to the house to charge it, but even fully charged, it doesn't seem to have sufficient power to confidently turn the engine when starting. Don't get me wrong, it does start and aside form the one time I left the heated grips on for 5 minutes without the engine running, it's only failed once, unfortunately, when I took her for an MOT last year.

I've had a multi meter on all the charging circuit and once I'd cleaned up all the connectors, that's all good.

Finally, after having to put it on charge again last weekend before going for a ride, I bit the bullet & ordered a new lead acid battery, a BS 12 aH Battery, apparently the official sponsor of Fabio Quartararo (Moto GP Pilot #20 according to the BS Battery flyer that came with the battery), not that I've ever heard of either the make or the rider.

Put the new battery in last night & WOW, what a difference. I didn't realise how worn out the old Motobatt one was. First touch of the button & the big Cat bursts in to life. I don't think the engine has ever turned over so quick, at least not since I've owned it.

Now to get the garage electrics sorted...

[Sin_Tiger]

I've not been so impressed with the several Motobatt's I've had over the years. They don't seem last as long if they are kept on "conditioners" (and I use C-Tek's) for long periods, I don't have technical data to back that statement up but I do know that when they start to go, unlike wet batteries, they just fall off the edge of a cliff. They do push them hard in sales outlets and they're competitively priced but aside from that, the only advantage are that they don't require initial filling and are non positional as far as mounting goes.