ps, the next well meaning person that unwittingly patronises me by asking me if I know I am supposed to have a license to ride a bike or says "that's a big bike for a little girl"
I'll bite your fucking legs off.

If you've got any urban survival tips please forward them to: jayne_toyne@ipcmedia.com

January 21st

Roll up, roll up, bargains to be had
It's the end of season sale.

Well, not exactly, the parts currently attached to the Triple will have to be removed before it goes back to Triumph HQ in the near future.
So I spoke to the fella's who supplied all the luscious add-ons and they gave me reduced prices on all the parts fitted so here it is, if you want the stuff you've seen in the mag, just give these chaps a call.

The chequered flag belly pan:£159.99 (£199.99 new)
Brash bobbins: £31.89 (£72.99 new)
Gel seat: £55.99 (£79.99 new)
Relays x 2: £19.29 (£28.39 new)

Call Barry at Jack Lilleys for more info: 01784 420421

The MHP high level titanium exhaust looks fookin ace and sounds inoffensively fruity, plus it adds nearly 5bhp to the top end. I watched while it was being made, by a proper skilled British exhaust engineer, especially for the Triumph longtermer and the welding is top notch, the attention to detail is spot on.
You couldn't get any more British if you covered it in willow and played cricket with it.

£260 ( £380 new)
Call Mark at MHP exhausts: 01483 473473

January 19th

Comfy seat
Well, the gel seat arrived but not in time for any epic journey before the weather turned sour. I'm not brave or stupid enough to ride in the snow or freezing rain so the longest journey has been an hour or so across town.
It does make a difference, probably more so for heavier weight people who can make the most of the gel padding.

It's a simple seat swap so no fitting instructions.

November 18th
The winter weather is gradually drawing in on us so it was time to add some wintery type protection, well that's my excuse anyway.
Jack Lilleys came up with goods once again (which you can probably buy from them second hand once the Speed Triple gets stripped back down to standard and sent back to Triumph in the next couple of months or so.)

So a belly pan and crash bobbins it is.

First up the crash bobbins, I had two options, both very sturdy and viable options. There were some quality British-made bobbins and some chrome finished American ones. As usual the American ones were bigger than the British (not necessarily better though) in the end there was an inch in it and size does matter so I went with the bigger ones.
(nothing to do with them being very shiny and pretty… honest)

The only problem with the crash bobbins is that they are right in the same place my knees like to be, So looks like they will have to go. There's no point in leaving them on if they are going to drive me to distraction and cause an accident.
Just out of interest the lads in the office had a sit on it and the only person who didn't have a problem was Alan who's legs are a bit shorter than average. It might be worth a visit to Box Hill though and get some regular biker dudes there to have a look and tell me what they think.
Costs: £72.99

Next the belly pan. Colour matched with the same chequered flag paint job as the rest of the bike. Looks great and helps deflect the winter road crud back at the road.
Although I would say its best asset is pure aesthetics, it makes the Triple look more aggressive and very rude boy.
It took about 15 minutes to fit, but that was mainly because I read the instructions, if I hadn't it would have taken 10 minutes.
Costs: £199.99

Call Jack Lilleys, ask for Barry and say you'd like to get your hands on some parts like Jayne's got… He will be very obliging.
Tel: 01784 420421

October 21st
Heated grips are so last decade... for this years longtermer trip we were faced with a 260 mile trek across the borders to sunny/windy Lancashire or more precisely Blackpool.

These Klan electric heated gloves arrived in our office along with heated jacket and grip wraps.
Since my hands were the only ones small enough to snuggle inside these toasty mitts then I took it as a sign that I was meant to use them.
What a difference it makes to have warm hands on a long cold journey. The gloves have heating elements on the backs of the hand and along the fingers and worked brilliantly. So good in fact I overheated as I was filtering at slow speed through traffic. Good job the switch is big and easy to use with said gloves so switching on and off on the move is a doddle. They cost £89.99 a small price to pay for warm hands in winter.
call: 08700 110112 or visit www.protecq.co.uk for info on Klan's heated systems

The Triple is eagerly awaiting the arrival of a belly pan, crash bobbins and gel seat from the lovely people at Jack Lilleys in Surrey. As soon as I get a chance I will be fitting them and trying them out. (Or not in the case of the crash bobbins)

Another note about luggage, as the Triple has a plastic tank I've been using Oxfords lifestyle luggage with plastic tank adapter. I've been using it for months now and have to say what a top piece of kit it is. As well as being a versatile piece of luggage it also works really well as a wind deflector. Long journeys on the motorway have been made so much easier with the tank bag in place it seems to deflect the wind from a direct blast in the face to an easier to cope with semi blast. What this means in real life is that you can cruise at an extra 10-20 mph on the motorway in relative comfort. for info on the luggage contact: Oxford products 01865 852000

10th October

Pirelli sent me a set of their Diablo tyres to test and as always sods law dictates that the moment I had the tyres fitted the heavens opened and stayed that way for two days solid before the our SuperBike trackday. So I had the first session at Silverstone set as the ideal place to scrub in those new tyres and have those chicken strips scrubbed away in 20 minutes, rather than risk life and limb around the urban skid pan that is Croydon.
The tyres took some getting used to on track as I've never used Pirelli's before. But they stuck well with no slippage and good feedback. (A better test will be on our longtermer trip to Blackpool next month)

They work especially well with the right tyre pressures too, as I spent a couple of days after Silverstone thinking the bike was handling like shit, checked the pressures and they were still 10-15 psi down from the track day. ( In my defense I didn't bring the bike back from Silverstone, Ad man Neil had the pleasure as he swapped bikes and left me with his Kawasaki. He also managed to puncture the 3 day old Pirelli rear.
Nice one Neil. )
(Check the tread pattern, all the way to the edge, should be good in the
wet so I'm told.)

3rd September

After 3 weeks of not being able to ride the Triple for various reasons, one of which having all 4 wisdom teeth out and ending up with a face like a hamster I finally got around to sorting out those pesky lights. I've received lots of emails from Triumph owners each with their own idea of how the single working light can be changed to both working.

Due to British legislation all new bikes now have to comply with a new rule. You can't have two lights working side by side unless they share the same lense, effectively making them one light anyway. The rule is to try and stop dozy drivers mistaking bikes for cars in the distance. The
problem with this new rule is that its's not tackling the route of the problem, so rather than an attempt to re-educate or inform drivers of better road awereness, they simply switch a light off. Job solved as far as they are concerned. But when a bike was originally designed to have both lights working, this leaves a slight problem and riding at night on unlit roads becomes a lottery.
Triumph and all the other manufacturers don't have any choice over the matter as they are governed by law to stick to the new legislation. So how to get around the problem? Call a dealer, like Jack Lilleys (01784 420421) and ask them for two EFI 4 pin relays. They cost £14.19 each, and are roughly an inch sized black cube with 4 flat prongs on one side.
Next remove the riders seat with an 8mm socket or spanner, with the seat removed look under where the back right hand corner of the seat would have been, you should see two relays sitting in place and a spare two slots for additional relays just inbetween the fairing and the subframe.
Just plug the new ones in and bingo. You have light.

7th August

Finally I got the phone call I had been waiting for, The Triumph is ready to collect miss Toyne...
So I was there like a shot, thanks to Simon for giving me a lift on the back of his R1 Termer. That was an experience, I've only been pillion a couple of times before and have to admit that once you get over the " I'm going to die feeling" it's actually quite nice letting someone else do the work.
Anyway, my happiness from the pillion ride soon turned to joy on seeing the gleaming Trumpet sitting there outside the shop beckoning me to hop aboard and bond with the newly mended machinery.
Before I could go anywhere I had to sign the paperwork for the work completed. So I'm standing at the counter, signing the patient's release forms and then they hit me with it. "That'll be two thousand pounds please..."
"What?"
"yes, that's the excess on the insurance, and we need that money from you..."
You do indeed live and learn and being new to insurance claims it turns out that in the event some dick knocks you off your bike, not only do you have to live for 6 weeks or longer without your pride and joy while insurance companies assess the damage and arse about with paperwork, you then have the delight of having to pay for the insurance excess and VAT on the parts and labour before you can claim it back from the 3rd party, if and when they ever pay up.
rant over though and the bike is looking fantastic, especially since I went and had a titanium high level exhaust fitted yesterday. MHP Race Exhausts make some very tasty kit and lucky for me they created a little beauty in their workshop near Woking in Surrey.
Fitted and Dyno'd it shows around 3 horses extra, weighs less than half the weight of the original and looks the mut's nuts.
The sound is fruity, like little plums being spat out the back, and sitting at the lights you can hear the engine having a merry waltz beneath you.
It costs £380 for the titanium oval end can and connector pipe.
Contact Mark Hill at MHP 01483 473473 to add some pure British built quality to your bike.

17th July

Still bikeless after last months van incident, the good news is that finally the Triumph is being set about by a team of expert mechanics over at Jack Lilleys... actually in reality its more like some poor spanner monkey got the short straw and was given the job of whipping the engine out so the rest can be sent away for its frame repairs.
The bad news is that it wont be ready in time for the European Superbike School I've been invited to at the end of July so I'm desperately searching for an alternative set of wheels.

So to keep myself busy and to take my mind off the fact its been the best weather in ages and I've had no bike to play on I've been having a look at underseat exhausts and listening to sound clips on this website I was told about via email.
Check out www.t595.net for lots of Triumph ideas and pictures of modifications. There's more to the site than just that, so if you own a Triumph and want some inspiration have a look.

The other smart item I have come across has been a pair of crash bobbins sent in to me by a reader of the magazine. A big thanks to David Braithwaite of elso Precision in Northampton. (01604 701363) He can supply bobbins to fit the Speed Triple with or without carbon frame protectors, starting at just £16.50 for a pair of high density nylon bobbins. There's also the choice of completely aluminium bobbins which sound quite spangly. All bobbins come with stainless steel bolts. Kelso also do bobbins for other bikes.

I will be fitting mine as soon as I get the bike back.

26th June

Arse and double arse.

After being reversed over last week by a very hefty van as I was leaving Brands Hatch, damaging both me and the lovely Triumph I then get a nasty letter today from the van owners saying that it was all my fault. Also stating that I should be thankful it was a van not a child in front of me. Well, I've never seen a 25 foot long, double wheel base toddler reversing out into a main road before so if anyone has be sure to let me know.

So now I'm bikeless and hobbling. The Nitrous kit and Xenon light conversion have both been put on hold until the Triumph is fixed and I'm left looking for a new helmet, jacket and jeans.

On the plus side a very kind SuperBike reader has offered to send me some crash bobbins to fit to the Triple once its fixed.
So keep those suggestions coming for the mods, I currently have plenty of office time on my hands.

13th June

All the best laid plans go up the spout as I got an early call from the man with the Xenon lights to say the parts hadn't arrived yet. Which meant that Saturdays Xenon light conversion will have to wait till next week.

Bugger.
On the other hand my brother fashioned me some very nifty looking headlamp extension brackets out of aluminum . Top quality from my number one sibling, thanks Jason. ( contact Mintdale Engineering, 01246 550316, they're up north in Derbyshire and produce some of the smartest bits of precision automotive engineering gubbins ever to grace the British Isles, not that I'm biased at all...)

Shortly after the bad news about the xenon conversion I got a call from the mad fella at Branded Untouchable who are going to be doing a NOS conversion on the Triple.
"Sorry to have to break this to you but the chap who will be fitting your nitrous kit has got tonsillitis. Can we re-book it for 2 weeks time?"

Double bugger
So I headed back to Chesterfield for a well earned weekend of riding around some of the best roads in the country. This time I wasn't let down.
Breakfast at Grindleford station cafe, followed by a ride along the snake pass, back up the cat and fiddle had me grinning like a psychotic bunny boiler.
The roads were absolutely fantastic, for 2 hours there was hardly a straight line in sight I can only describe it as being on your favourite roller coaster and then you find out they extended the track for 70 miles.

I'm off to Brands this week to see how the Triple likes to treat me on track. As long as I keep it in one piece then the NOS kit, Xenon lights, high level exhaust, re-sculpted seat, belly pan and a trip to Milan is all on the cards.