Wrench'n Ride'n

Seems to run in the family...

Why do motorcycle manufactures not put centre stands on bikes? Do they know how hard it makes doing even routine maintenance? The Speedmaster does not have one. It does now. I bought one from Techox eBay store. Fitted it this morning. Needed a bit of filing on one of the mounting bushes. The instructions warned of this. Seems to be well made. Means I can now oil my chain without having to push it for a few kilometers as I oiled the chain bit by bit. Stop making bikes without centre stands you lot.

Here you are thinking I am going to have photos of my Speedmaster with a young lady wearing leather and lace draped over it. You wish. A few postings ago I mentioned that I have made a tank bib from an old leather vest . I finely got around to putting some leather lacing down the sides of the bib. I am no leather worker by any stretch of the imagination. I watched some YouTube videos on how to do this. Bought a hole punch, some lacing and some needles and off I went. I do like the look of what I have made. Typical of me, rough as guts.  I had another old vest lying around. What can I use that for? Top fork tubes could do with covering.  The leather on the top tubes makes my eye think the front end is lower than it is.  I might try to cover the speedo housing next with leather. 

You have worked out that I like to tinker with my bikes right?! Of the 16 bikes I have owned over the last 30 odd years has had something made, bought or customised on it. Its what I do. I can't leave well enough alone. So today I fitted a set of Biltwell Mustache bars to the Speedmaster. Why you ask? Because I can. Cause I wanted some more comfort from the bars. The Triumph ones are good. They are flat drag bars. I wanted more rise. I also wanted the bars to be narrower. The Biltwell's have sure done this. The Speedmaster's risers are already 4" high. The Mustache bars are 3" high. I like where this places my hands now. Being 3' narrower than the standard bars helps me too. I have short arms. Was finding it hard at times when I had the bats at full lock. Not now. I bought my bars from  http://www.mcas.com.au/  Great service from them too. The bars came in the traditional Biltwell covers. I love little touches like this.  The bars went on

You can buy tank bibs from Triumph. They are very well made by the looks of them. I made my own. It is not that well made. I don't care. I like it. It was made from one of my old and very well worn out leather vests. An old bum bag that 20 odd years ago used in the screen that was on the Virago I had back then. This is to hold small things etc. Some padding that is used to stop plates marking dinner table was used to pad between the tank and the leather bib.