‘Moments on the Roads’

It’s the kind of thing that you’ve done scores if not hundreds of times. Zigzagging at walking pace between lanes of stopped traffic. This time though, on the new ride, the bike stopped dead and I fell sideways with it. What the **? Did I stall it? Didn’t feel like it. Felt like hitting a brick wall.

Oh well, it’s amusement for the bored drivers. I pull it upright – actually possible with the weight of the ’Blade – push it over to the side of the road and walk around looking for explanations. Nothing to see. Must’ve stalled it. The Oggy knob took most of the blow with some scratches on the fairing and the exhaust. Guess the knob paid for itself this time.

So off I go feeling stupid and perplexed. After doing the Chum Creek road and the Spurs at a nice clip pride is somewhat restored. At home I pull the key out, and bingo – there’s the reason.

The bike came with a bit of dealer advertising: a strip of webbing with the ignition key on one end and a carabiner on the other. The topbox key had been on the carabiner for the previous 2,500 km; a good way I thought of preserving the paint on the yoke. But on this morning it had jammed between the fairing bracket and the ignition housing cutting down the steering lock to not enough. The key snapped in two.

I guess it could have been worse.

But it must be that season. On today’s ride the bike wouldn’t start after fuelling at the jump off point. After having had a boast session about Japanese reliability I have egg on my face. Among a range of diagnoses Bevan comes up with the cause: I’d put diesel in. Doh. I joke that the Triumph probably would have run on diesel. Ben kindly stays back; we get the tank off and drain the diesel. We come close to flattening both my and his battery but voila, the ’Blade fires on one, then two, then three and four cylinders. Awesome. Many thanks Ben, you’re a gentleman.

Ern Reeders