Of fuel taps and chrome polish

Not an awful lot to tell from last weekend. Took the Bonneville out for a quick(ish) jaunt supposedly down to Chew Valley Lake - though my internal navigation seemed to be on the blink so ended up riding in ever decreasing circles for far too long.
Finally found the place, which was disappointingly full of people sleeping in their cars with the windows wound up (presumably to keep the fresh air out) so came home again.
Bike started coughing and farting like a goodun' on the way home - so used to having flashing fuel warning lights on the old ZZR I'd totally forgotten the existance of reserve tank (fumble, fumble - phut-phut-cough).
Clocked last tank at 48 mpg - not too bad considering it's been spending most of its time warming up, riding 3.5 miles, stopping, repeat.
Bought a tube of "Peek" chrome polish and started working on shining the bike up a bit.. Offside engine casing, sprocket cover, offside pipe and some of the front wheel now so shiny you could use them as mirrors. The machine is going to look drop dead gorgeous when it's all done - just need to wait for the feeling to come back in my fingers after doing the rim between the spokes - ouch.

The Beginning

Last Saturday just gone I was fortunate enough to become the proud owner of a 2003 Triumph Bonneville T100 that my father had aquired from a good friend of his a while back. The bike had been sat in the shed since before Christmas barring the occasional start to make sure it was running. A fine morning's tinkering and pressure washing can be seen in the first photo - still pretty grubby but a vast improvement.
The first 110 miles riding the bike back home can only be described as the best fun I'd ever had on 2 wheels. This bike loves corners - adores them! Coming out of Llandovery in mid-wales a couple of monstrous sports bikes appeared in my slightly flakey wing mirrors. The first of the pair came hacking past at a high rate of knots on the straight and was dot on the horizon before I could even raise my hand in greeting. His companion however failed to grab his chance to get past before we went into corners again so was stuck behind me. A few corners later and the fellow had fallen back... he didn't seem to be able to get round the bends as fast as the Bonnie, weird. Anyway he got his own back on the straight and left me standing in a cloud of combustion products and welsh road dust.
Got home Saturday evening, wishing I lived furhter away so I could have ridden for longer, with no aches or pains I used to get from my evil old ZZR1100 feeling thoroughly pleased with myself and the bike.
So Sunday morning, up at 8am and on the road again - Glastonbury for scrambled eggs on toast for brekkie then a ride back up the A37 (I thought). A37 = boring, turned off and went over the Mendip hills and down through Cheddar gorge (with everone else including a fanstastic looking BSA Goldstar!). Took a couple of piccies in the gorge and it occurred to me that I'd start blogging my travels and general other bits regarding the bike... yeah ok... I'm obsessed - but what a nice obsession! Couple of pics for Cheddar Gorge here - bike one is a bit blurred.
Well, several washes later (started working on the spokes considering quite how filthy they are) I've been to the hardware shop for a tube of chrome pollish - soon it'll shine again!
I should leave it there for now - will be back to document further excursions on my beloved Triumph Bonneville soon (providing this amazing spring weather lasts a while longer).


Wishing you many happy and safe miles.