March has come & gone

 so I'm a little late with the update on the new boots I put on Tallulah Tiger.

Having refitted the wheels to Tallulah on a Wednesday afternoon, I left it until the Friday to take her out. As I wheeled her out of the garage, something didn't feel right, there was this weird clonking sound coming from the front of the bike. As I usually wheel the bikes in to the garage forward, it stands to reason, I wheel them out backwards, then turn the bars full right lock so I can turn around and ride off the drive forwards. (Bikes aren't usually geared to go backwards, except for that one time I bump started a mates Kawasaki KE100 many years ago, but that's another story).

Thing is, as I turned the bars on full lock to the right, the clonking sound stopped, but as I straightened the bars, it came back again. Something very odd was happening. Out with the bottle jack and with Tallulah on her centre stand, I lift the front wheel off the ground - and there it was, the brake pads were catching on the discs, like they had developed a really bad warp.

How could that be, I took the wheel off, took it to my tame mechanic, watched him change the tyre & balance the wheel, brought them back home & immediately re-fitted wheels to bike. So, off come the callipers and with a specially designed tool, namely a long screwdriver, held against the fork leg, the discs seemed fine. Head scratching time...

Maybe I'd forgotten to torque up the axle, so out with the torque wrench, but no, it was as tight as it should have been. I decided I was going to do the equivalent of switching it off and turning it back on again, namely take the wheel out & put it back in. it was while doing this and with the workshop manual open, I realised the axle was put in the wrong way around, with the wheel nut the opposite side to the speedo drive.

All back together again and problem solved. I wouldn't have guessed that putting the axle in the wrong way around would have made a difference, but apparently it does, unless I got something else in the wrong way, but I'm sure the spacers only fit one way.

Road 5 Trail review

Now let’s get down to the new tyres. The weather was fairly good although cold (well, around 8oC), a little breezy which helped to dry the roads and the test route I chose included some fast sweeping roads as well as a little town riding. First impression was somewhat shaky when I got to the bend at the top of the road, they just seemed to 'fall' into the bend. A short while later I realised that the tyres, I'd just replaced were a little squared off, so I'd been compensating for their squareness for a while. I just wasn't used to new tyres on this bike.

Time to take her out on a few of the twisty roads Lincolnshire is blessed with. They hold the road well & something I didn't realise I was missing with the Tourance was how road biased tyres track bends. there was no mid-corner adjustment, no movement through the bars, literally, just turn & let the bike follow the course you set for it. There was plenty of feedback through the bars, thanks to the odd mud patch and badly placed drain covers, but nothing of concern. I felt the rear slip and almost immediately grip again. Even though I was taking it fairly easy on the brakes, I didn't feel there was anything to be concerned with grip wise and probably could have pushed a little harder, but I was conscious these were new tyres with less than 5 miles on them.

 I was reminded at first of when I first rode Tallulah, being top heavy I felt like she was continually trying to pull me over. The Road 5's had that same feeling when I got to that first bend and reminded me how top heavy these bikes are, but that’s more a reflection on the bike rather than the tyres and I soon adjusted my riding so that in a very short time I was not exactly riding like I stole it, but certainly riding it like I knew what I was doing.

I did find that there was a little road noise at low speed, around 35 - 40mph, more so than the (worn) Tourance at the same speed which surprised me but feel a far more stable tyre. As I'm not intending to go 'off road' I think the switch to fully road biased tyres and more specifically the Road 5 Trails was a good move. While I'm not yet throwing Tallulah around as much as I was with the Tourance, I was conscious that they were new tyres and even though Michelin say the release compound they use doesn't affect performance when first fitted, I think I'd rather build up my own confidence in them first.

As an aside, I took Tabitha Trophy out on the same route before trying Tallulah's new boots, the first ride for Tabitha this year. She's fitted with Pirelli Angels (ST front & GT rear) and while there's a shed load of difference between a '93 Trophy 1200 and a '06 Tiger 955i, I didn't feel any less safe on the Tiger's new tyres than I did on the Trophy and probably pushed each bike equally hard given the road conditions.

I think I might like these Road 5's.

Update

I've now done a couple of hundred miles on all different types of road, today was a short run of around 85 miles taking in the Cambridgeshire Fens, straight for miles, then a couple of 90^o bends, in quick succession. Mostly with a surface ful of broken tarmac & more dips than a rollercoaster. Made more interesting as there were strong sidewinds today trying to push me in to the many dikes that run alongside said roads.

A short run through the twisties west of Huntingdon, while taking in the picture postcard villages.

A run up the A1M towards Peterborough and back on to the more familiar twisties of South Lincolnshire.

I have to say I'm impressed with these Road 5 Trails. Plenty of grip, even during one particularly hard braking as a tractor pulled out. To say I have no 'chicken strips' would be an exaggeration, but I've certainly been leaning Tallulah over more on thesetyres than I did the Tourance. Not really surprising as these are road biased tyres, unlike the Tourance which are 80/20 split.

As I'm planning a couple of road trips this year, I can safely say I picked the right tyre.

Tabitha Trophy

Since the last time I had Tabitha out for a ride, I've not had a whole lot of time. Either the weather was bad - we've had snow, gales and warm, dry & sunny, it was time to pull her out of the garage again.

With a new speedo cable fitted, the old one broke wile out on a ride when 35 miles from home (& 3 speed cameras to go past), I noticed a small 'Phut' coming from the left side of the bike.  A quick check revealed the exhaust clamp was a little loose. While down the left side, I also noticed the seat lock was a little loose as well.

While the exhaust was cooling, off comes the rear footrest hanger, the only way to get at the screws holding the lock in place & 5 minutes later it was fixed & put back on.

Exhaust still a little warm, so check the lights, tyre pressures, horn and, bugger, rear brake light not working. Front is, just not back brake, so it's not the bulb. Yet another part that's not easy to get to if you want to see what you're doing is the rear brake switch.

So, off comes the seat again and the rear bodywork. Out with the trusty volt meter and as I disconnect the brake switch, the problem suddenly becomes obvious. One of the wires has broken off on the top of the switch, the other wire is badly corroded, as is the top of the switch. Now, I could clean it up & see if I could re-solder the wire, but my soldering skills really aren't that good. A new switch methinks.

By this time, the exhaust is cold. Before I put her back on the road, I changed the standard exhausts for Delkevic cans & link pipes. Nothing wrong with them, but the exhaust clamp bolt had broken.

My fault for over tightening it when I put the exhausts on. What’s more, I didn't use any exhaust paste and when I removed the link pipe to apply a little paste, I also noticed the carbon gasket had been pushed too far down the link pipe. Probably why I over tightened it in the first place.

I guess I was just impatient when fitting them & while I admit to never having used exhaust paste before on any of my bikes, I'm usually quite careful when fitting the gaskets.

So now I have a little more work to do before she's back on the road again, I ordered 2 carbon gaskets and a new exhaust clamp from Delkevic, but (and purely my own fault) when they arrived, they were the wrong size. So currently, Tabitha has the original exhausts fitted. 

I want Tabitha back up & running before I turn my attention to Tallulah, who needs a good service and a new brake switch is on order. I'm sure I'll get around to ordering new gaskets for the Delkevics now I know what size they are. I believe Wemoto have the correct size in stock. Not too sure about the exhaust clamp though. May have to look into that a little more.

Meanwhile, She's been out again and has reached a milesone - 18000 miles. 

Not bad for a 29 year old bike.