Triumph
Diary Part 4 22nd September, 2006
It’s
been 17 months and 37,000 km and the Silver Sprinter is to find its next owner
at a wrecker’s auction.
No,
I didn’t blow my top and take to it with a sledge hammer. A woman was my undoing. Polly McQuinn … well the bridge over the weir
named after her.
‘Legend has it that the
weir was named after a local lass, who on one dark and stormy fateful night was
travelling in a coach which tried to cross the swollen creek over a narrow and
rocky ford. The storm lashed hard and the horses spooked at the swollen creek.
Recklessly, the driver pushed them on, but the rushing water was too powerful
and swept horses, driver, coach, and its luckless passengers over the edge and
into the dark and deep pools beyond. The story goes that the ghost of Polly
McQuinn now haunts the crossing point and sometimes on a dark and stormy night
when the wind blows its hardest, if you listen carefully, you can her cry out
in the blackness.’ Source: http://trekker.customer.netspace.net.au/news9.htm
(The
legend now has it that if you listen carefully on a bright Sunday morning
you’ll hear grey-haired ghost railing at his winded steed named Silver
Sprinter.)
Any
case, the new bridge set the Trumpy bucking and I lost the front end on the
sandy bend after leaving it ... after having warned all the others on this
Strathbogie ride of the sand on the roads
…. sigh.
Happily,
it was a slow speed wash-out and the only damage to flesh and blood was a
sprained hand. The Oggy knob, however,
trashed the engine mount lug through which it mounts to the frame. It was still rideable and Ian and I headed
back to the big smoke.
New
head casting: $3.4k. Plus plastics, plus alternator cover. Total bill of $11k.
Ironic
really, after having ranted about its build quality for so long, I’d started to
reconcile myself to the best of British engineering and now it’s snatched from
me.
Mates
on the Trumpy forum asked whether I’d buy another. ROFLMAO!
But having to replace her shows up how much time had gone into adding
accessories, doing tweaks, getting manuals and special tools and having the
suspenders sorted for roads just like its nemesis.
There’s
not much choice in this class of bike for those of us with ageing backs. There’s the VFR800 but I’d tested that before
going British. Too revvy and wooden
linked brakes. There are, of course,
some fantasy choices but the replacement had to come out of the insurance
payout.
Ah
yes, the insurance claim process is working itself out. I’m with Arista and they’ve been very quick and very good –
even looking at the file to tell me what’s required before the tooth of the
next cog will need to click into place.
After
waiting for three weeks for Charlie, the one and only Trumpy mech, to return
from holidays, I took the bike down and the quote was forwarded in four working
days, and assessment was done in three.
Decision done on the day the assessment was received. Write-off.
Meantime a paper rego certificate had to be ordered and faxed and a
license history to show I hadn’t been telling porkies on the insurance
contracts. The claim would have been
rejected if there’d been more than five offences in five years or two DUIs over
my lifetime. No probs there; think I’m
only guilty of talking under the influence.
A
mate reckoned I should buy the wreck and rebuild it. Others reckoned the head lug can be TIG
welded. Hmm, maybe once I would have,
when the toolbox always had Gasket Goo and Ezy-outs, but these days I just want
a bike to ride.
So
I tested an early model FZ1 which had carbies (yep!) with a dynojet kit, a
Yoshi pipe and reworked suspenders. Firm
ride, lots of poke, very clean … but not much wind protection; fairing too far
away is my guess, despite a higher factory screen. A lot like the old TDM but with a motor.
Hearing
about this, Ben kindly offered to lend me his Fireblade for a test. I place a lot of faith in his judgement and
it couldn’t hurt to learn some more. So
next day I take out a young 954 from Redwing for an hour just so I don’t waste
Ben’s time, and oooh! Nimble, razor-sharp handling, light and plenty of usable
poke.
OK,
so how would it feel after a day? Last
time I rode a sports bike for any length of time it was agonising. Well, it was a 450 Ducati and it was some
time ago but I do like to learn from experience.
I
have to confess to remaining sceptical though.
Ben’s ridden so much his coffin will have to be Z shaped. My
expectations of a day’s ride were: sore wrists, cramped thighs, crick in neck,
revvy but supersmooth motor, one twitch of the right wrist leads to a highside,
clamping on the front stoppers leads to (another) wash out etc etc.
So
my son came out with me on his ZZR250.
He led and took us around some of our best twisties and some really
boring straights for 5 hours. At the end, yes the wrists were tender but pulled
up fine, the bum ditto. Handling was razor sharp even through bumpy bends.
Tractable motor below 6k rpm (frightening up high). Change line just by
thinking about it. One finger front brake operation. No standing up even when
braking deep into a bend. But more
vibration than expected.
Pretty
awesome, but then all that's what it's designed to do. There's a comfort
trade-off but not that much; there's a safety bonus cos it does what I like
doing with plenty of capacity to spare. And it does it easily. I can’t believe how hard I’ve had to work to
keep up with the rice burners – you guys must have trouble staying awake on a
ride.
So
I’m now the owner of a 2003 954 with 18,000 on the clock.
Some
random comments:
- Valves only need looking at when
there's a noise otherwise at 48,000 km.
- Immaculate build quality and finish.
- Have to buy a paddock stand
- Will have to hack a
Tight steering lock, but despite that
she’s light and easy to paddle in and out of parking spots - Only at 120 kph does the upper body
start to plane and the weight come off the wrists (stock screen, and I'm
5' 9" on a good day).
The
choice of another bike forced me to think about what I really wanted to do ...
a mix of things and put up with the necessary compromises? Or zero in on one
key thing. Since it has to be a one-bike choice, and since I realised that fast
lines through the twisties are my thing, I've made this specialised choice.
The
Trumpy was really good between the bends and adequate in them; the Fireblade is
really good in the bends and OK between them.
Finally,
many thanks to Ben for a generous and well chosen intervention … champion, as a Brit might say.
Ern Reeders