It never rains but it pours!

Sam Hewitt

–

28th April 2018

Keith Carter from Wiltshire recalls his own experiences of rainy days and broken-down motorcycles.

With a nod to Martin Hamer’s tale of his wet and windy Scottish adventure (OBM March, see also page 49 this issue) my take on touring Scotland was somewhat different, leading up to the cop-out decisions I took after several wet-weather experiences.

After mistakenly selling my Triumph Tiger 750 to a chap I knew (it was quite a trouble-free bike apart from the usual bits falling off, and I can’t now remember why I sold it in the first place), perhaps I was taken in by the adverts that a Trident was the bike to have. Not that I bought a new one anyway, for in a lifetime of bike ownership I only ever bought a new bike once, and maybe that experience put me off the idea!

The 860 Ducati could be a difficult starter in wet conditions, but it handled fine once the tyres had been inflated above the mere 9psi that was in them when he bought it! It now belongs to a rider called Dave, who lives locally to Keith and is currently restoring it.

In short my Trident T150 ownership was not a long and happy one. Even before the worn valve guides started leaving a smoke screen behind me, the bike never wanted to start after it had been parked in the rain all day while I was at work.

Taking the chance to part-exchange it at a bike shop for one of those great-handling 860 Ducatis, the V-twin didn’t seem to handle great at all on the ride home.

Thanks to a nameless bike shop, however, it was found that the tyres had only about 9psi in them, and after this was sorted, bike riding became rosy again – in dry weather, that was!

Read more in the April 2018 issue of OBM – on sale now!