TT Day 3 - Washout

The forecast wasn't good for today... rain and gale-force winds. We still had lots to do on the bikes so made our way to the garage at 09h00 and got cracking.

From Saturday's first practice - Ballaugh Bridge

We fitted a steering damper to the Triumph. An Ohlins unit with an under-the-air-intake to the fork leg mounting. The steering damper K-Tech supplied for on top of the yoke had a different fitting... they didn't know that in 2013 Triumph changed the distance between tank bolts on their new model. Strange... I thought they'd have been onto that by now.

MRA screen for the Triumph - not as high as the one we had fitted before but stronger

Mike Hailwood display and memorabilia for sale in the Hailwood Center

We then headed to the paddock to see what we could do with tyres for the little bike. We have a 'pivot' handling issue we are looking to solve. The Metzeler guys fitted a bigger tyre... but it was just a wee bit too big for the standard rim... so we went back to the tyre we ran on Saturday and will look at changing the bike geometry to compensate.

Some interesting exotica off the EBR that Mark Miller is riding

Quiet day at the Metzeler awning - we had some long discussions and tried a few things

Dom Herbertson's steam-punk expanded Fireblade tank

It then started raining...and the wind :-( We had my Arai helmets serviced (free for all Arai wearers) by James Egan and a new visor and Pinlock fitted. We are trying this new fandangled Pinlock system where the tint turns dark automatically. We'll see how it works next practice.

More rider shots - James Egan isn't doing the TT but is a super-fast short circuit rider in BSB, a SAffer and serviced my Arai helmets. Thanks James!

Taking the shock out and adjusting the ride height... we'll see if it works...

Refuge offered for all the spectators over on bikes and camping...

We also managed to find a clutch pack for the KMR. Clutch was slipping on Saturday so the thickening of the pack by using different steels didn't work. During all of this, the Clerk of the Course announced that the evening practice was cancelled as the weather wouldn't clear in time.

On the day of first scheduled practice and I'm still painting... we got stick for the asymmetric number placing in skrootineering on Saturday. It's legal but the skroots whine. Decided to play it safe and change the Triumph number placement to keep them happy.

Triumph Graphics coming along...

We headed back to the garage to continue working on the bikes. We got the KMR pretty much ready for her next outing with a tweaked geometry and the Triumph not far off with just the graphics and final prep to finish. A few hours tomorrow morning and we'll be ready for practice with both bikes. We also have to get the Lightweight bike dyno'd.

More pics from Saturday's practice from Dave Kneen at the Cregg ny Baa