Review of 2017

The end of another year! Not an awful lot to report, but things are moving forward.

I've stayed in the same job for another year, and have been commuting each day on my Honda PCX125.

I've been really enjoying riding the scooter, what it lacks in power it more than makes up for in ease of riding. 

My Triumph had been running badly and as the weather had got colder over the winter it became harder to start. Eventually it was so bad that I had to heat the engine with a heatgun before it would start at all! I was very busy at work so arranged to have it serviced and starting problems looked at my local Triumph dealer - Triumph Glasgow. They were in the process of moving to new premises, so I had to wait a couple of weeks before they could take my bike in. Problem was debris that had built up in the tank and had made its way into the carbs - it was now clear that the bike hadn't been used for a while before I'd bought it.

With the Triumph in the shop, I went to my first bike event of the year on my scooter, Bikes on the Beach at Largs. 

Really good turnout and a sunny day, but the trip showed up the scooter's lack of power a bit! There are more 'Bikes on the Beach' events planned round Scotland next year, list here.

Around the same time I sold my silver MZ Skorpion Traveller. I'd had the bike for 17 years and had many trips on it , both home and abroad. This ended my connection with the MZ brand as I'd owned bikes built by them for around 30 years.

Next big event was my two week Trip Round the Neighbours tour of Ireland, France and Belgium, including a visit to the Coupes Moto Legende event near Dijon. Had a great holiday and everything went well - good weather (never had my waterproofs on!), Great roads and cities, bike ran really well and showed its abilities as a tourer, and I really enjoyed myself. 

Next event was the Ayr Classic Show, always a good show and well worth going to.

I was out on the Triumph fairly regularly over the summer, and the next event was The Distinguished Gentleman's Ride. This is a world wide charity ride where riders dress up in their finery and ride through a city (Glasgow in my case). A great day out, but horrendous weather! Couldn't believe how wet it was, but we had a good time and I met a number of interesting people.

Since then I've been for a number of runs and have met up with the local Triumph Owners Club.

As for my other bikes, my Yamaha SZR660 is now complete and once the weather improves, and the 'selling season' starts, I'll take it for an MOT (annual safety test) and it'll be for sale.

I've restarted my Honda CL350 'project', so hopefully it'll get a bit further forward next year.

Outside of motorcycling, main thing I did was buy another car.

I'm still going swimming regularly, and my 'nights out' tally for the year is getting slightly better - 1 meal out, 4 concerts, and one trip to the cinema. No dates this year, so no change there!

Highpoint of going out was seeing Kraftwerk on their recent tour. One of those bands I've always wanted to see, so was very lucky to get tickets for their Glasgow concert.

So that was my 2017. Lots of plans for 2018!