Matt's blog - Preparations for The Great Speedmonkey Road Trip

With The Great Speedmonkey Road Trip approaching I've been preparing the Triumph Street Triple and, to a certain extent, myself for 1500 miles of gruelling riding over 4 days - which is more than I normally ride in a year.

We've had some decent weather so I have ridden the bike quite a lot.  I've even put in some motorway miles to acclimatise my wrist and neck muscles to the high speed buffering that results.  On twisting back roads you tend not to notice fatigue due to the adrenalin.  Hit the motorway, though, and you notice it soon enough.

The bike needed a few jobs.  First up was a thorough all-over clean.  In my garage I sprayed every surface with WD40 and gave it a good rub down.  Some of the dead flies had been there for months and were seriously fossilised.  I had to drape a wet rag over them and leave it to soak for a while until said insects could be removed.

I also gave the chain a damn good clean.  Next up was a trip to the jet-wash to get rid of the WD40 and all the crud built up underneath.  When I got home I gave it a thorough dry and polish and sprayed the chain with lube.

I don't have any storage on the bike aside from the rather puny rear seat so I ordered a luggage rack from Renntec.  That turned up a week after it was ordered and lived on my work-bench in its packaging for a few days.

I also needed new tyres.  The old ones were fitted to the bike when I bought it in late 2011 and had 'squared off', which means a flat area had worn down around the central band.  I called the dealer, Bulldog Triumph who said they couldn't fit any tires for another 3 weeks!

I called up Mark at Ride-In Bike Tyres in Reading.  He had a set of Bridgestone BT16s in and could fit them in 20 minutes so I kitted up and shot down to his tiny workshop.  If you are a biker in West Berkshire then give Mark a call.  His prices are cheaper than anyone else's and he can normally fit you in when you want.

Bridgestone BT16s being fitted at Ride-In

Shiny new rear tyre.  That's Mark fitting the front tyre

The final job was to fit the luggage rack.  It's a bespoke rack designed and built for the Street Triple and fitted perfectly.  It was a bit of a shock how tiny it is but it's a bit late to do anything about that now. I'll just have to do my best to strap my kit to it when I head off up north for the trip

Looks neat and fits the bike perfectly

Now I've just got to keep putting the miles in and hope the weather stays good for the trip.