Tim’s Motorcycle Diaries – Mechanical Sympathy

Tiger Pre-Flight Checks

February 16, 2019 By Timothy King

I've never monkeyed with the suspension on the Tiger, but since I'm a 250lber and I ride 2-up with my son who's an easy 130lbs, I thought I'd look into setting the suspension before our 1500km round-Huron trip.A kindly Dubliner on Triumphrat had a copy of the owner's manual page that…

Appliances & Commitment

February 16, 2019 By Timothy King

Car companies use special effects to show what their cars can't do. This only underlines the absurdity of it all I'm having trouble enjoying car ads. I've always loved cars since I was a kid, but when I'm watching ads that show driving a car on the road as some kind of noble physical pursuit…

High School Motorcycle Club

February 14, 2019 By Timothy King

I'm thinking about starting a motorcycle club at the high school I work at. This should be an interesting as it will highlight the general fear around motorbiking. Our school runs downhill ski racing, mountain biking, rugby, and ice hockey teams, but I suspect that motorcycling may be an uphill…

Sabbatical Rides: North America

February 13, 2019 By Tim

The idea of a year's sabbatical has come up a few times recently. I'm ten years away from my retirement date. My job has a four out of five option where my salary is stretched over five years while I'm only paid for four. It means a slightly smaller paycheque, but…

The Always On Motorcycle, or: to scramble or not to scramble, that is the question!

February 12, 2019 By Timothy King

Time to put the bike away, right? Not so much... it's 10°C and sunny out today! I was all proud of myself for pushing into late November on two wheels this year. When they finally laid down salt and sand after the first real snowfall I put the Concours away and…

Stop and take in the moment…

February 12, 2019February 12, 2019 By Timothy King

Last year I was stuck behind a large group of cruisers and wondered out loud on the Concours Owners Group what the etiquette is for passing them. It's hard to pass a big group because of their shear size, and breaking up their formation by having to pull back in…

More Traditional Bike Gear for Season 2

February 10, 2019 By Timothy King

My first year of bike gear had a certain style to it, it also happened to be the least expensive stuff I could lay hands on. After the no-name boots and pants I did a second round of gear buying as the summer began. The Alpinestar boots and Macna pants…

Bun Burning MotoGP

February 10, 2019 By Tim

A few years ago we rode down to the last Indianapolis MotoGP. It was a great few days in Indiana and it was pretty close to us. At a push the ride there could be done in a day (we took two because I had my ten year old son…

Winter Maintenance: Triumph Tiger 955i Engine Guard Install and plasma cutting!

February 9, 2019 By Tim

How cold has the polar vortex been? So f#*%ing cold! Our garage is attached to the house and we're in and out of it quite often, so it benefits from a lot of residual heat. Even with this insulated garage with heating pipes in the attic and a lot of…

Coast to Coast to Coast 2.0

February 9, 2019 By Timothy King

Originally published on Tim's Motorcycle Diaries in June, 2014: . I just finished watching Arctic Clutch. He doesn't go as far as I'm planning to with Coast Cubed and he does it in a more alcohol fuelled young man's way, but he does shed some light on travelling in the far north. From the…

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