revtothelimit - motorbike forum

I have a Ducati Monster 1100 which I bought in February 2020, just before lockdown 1. I like it, it's passably comfortable, handles reasonably well and is plenty quick enough. I had the rear shock rebuilt over the winter and I've just put a new Bridgestone T31 on it ready for the summer.

But...I like triples. I particularly like Triumph triples. I've had 2 Speed Triples and I particularly like the look of the SE. It's the last of the round headlamp models and comes with uprated suspension, Arrow exhausts and an unique red and white paint scheme. They're quite rare and fetch a bit of as premium over the standard models. As I said I was quite happy with my Monster and then last week I was wandering around ebay late at night and saw a listing for a 1050SE. I made and offer a bit lower than the already reasonable price and the next morning it was accepted. The courier delivered it this morning



2010 Speed Triple 1050SE, 13k miles.

Looks very cool mister,your good health to enjoy.

Nice, I like ( I like the 1100 Monster too though)

You can't just leave us like that though man- we need (lots) more detail of how it is now, anything it needs or you plan etc, and of course pics!

The thing about buying a used bike from the other end of the country is that you get no chance to look it over. The MoT expired in October 2019 and it's been sat in the corner of a workshop since then. Chain, sprocket and swing arm were dirty/greasy, with spots of surface rust on the chain sideplates. They've cleaned up ok though. The paint is lifting off the inside front of the swingarm but I'll attend to that when I grease the shock linkages. Tyres are Diablo Rossos that are neaing the end of their life, but I knew that before I bought it. Front indicators are nasty Oxford led things.

Front forks have an MCT sticker on them and felt pretty good on the little run I had on it earlier. There's a slight uphill bumpy left hander near me that used to upset my previous Speed Triple but this one soaked it up no problem. I may have a run over to Hartside tomorrow to confirm that the handling is better.

So, new tyres and some OE indicators, then go out and ride it. Sunny Sundays, commute to work, maybe a trip to Scotland or Wales

That looks very nice

Is the monster staying ?

Monster is being collected by its new owner tomorrow. It's quite a squeeze in the garage tonight

Needs more pics, I think the back end on these look great with the Arrow exhaust

Nice bike

Though when I saw the thread title I thought Iccy had been down to the bikeshop for new valve caps and come away with a new bike !

So I checked the oil and tyre pressures and hit the road at 7.30 this morning, headed for Hartside. The roads are varied, long fast corners, tight nadgery hairpins, bumpy poorly surfaced bits and random wandering sheep just to keep you on your toes. Not much traffic at that time of the morning either.





The engine is brilliant, pulls strongly from everywhere and sounds awesome, even with db killers in the Arrow silencers. The rear tyre is quite badly squared off and I could feel it rolling off the edge as you turn but it never gave me any buttock clenching moments. Suspension is ok most of the time but on particularly bumpy sections it got a bit out of shape. I checked when I got home and the rear shock compression and rebound damping were turned all the way up. I've set it back to stock so that should improve things.

I spent some time this afternoon bonding. I don't feel as if a bike is properly mine until I've done some work on it, so the rear wheel had to come off so I could take a closer look at the flaking paint on the swingarm. Those of us who have had to remove the wheel on a single sided swing arm will know how difficult it is to stop the wheel turning while you loosen the nut - a ratchet strap through the wheel, attatched to the ABBA stand does the trick



This really shouldn't happen on a 13000 mile bike



I cleaned of all the loose paint, rubbed it down with wet and dry and applied some smooth Hammerite. It really needs the swing arm removing and completely refinishing but that's a job for the winter. At least this will stop any further corrosion - that and only riding it when it'd dry and sunny.

Nice looking bike Druid, was chatting to a mate last night & he has a 2011? Speed triple with some sort of special factory paint job that he's having a bit of a nightmare to get insured purely because of the paint job seems very odd.

Lovely that, mate. I had forgotten about that paint job. Defo the best looking of those 1050 speedys.

Dickyboy wrote: Tue Jun 08, 2021 3:07 pm Nice looking bike Druid, was chatting to a mate last night & he has a 2011? Speed triple with some sort of special factory paint job that he's having a bit of a nightmare to get insured purely because of the paint job seems very odd.

There were a few "specials" around that time, I don't know why a paint job should make it difficult to insure??

bevvo wrote: Tue Jun 08, 2021 6:48 pm Lovely that, mate. I had forgotten about that paint job. Defo the best looking of those 1050 speedys.

You have excellent taste

Druid wrote: Tue Jun 08, 2021 7:27 pm There were a few "specials" around that time, I don't know why a paint job should make it difficult to insure??

The insurance companies regard anything 'special' as infinitely more desirable to tealeafs and load the premium accordingly.

Lovely bike! One of my favourites on the "must own one day" list. Love the engines and it has lots of real road power.

You do love a Triumph ....... had to laugh at the Hartside pics as the last time i rode with you many years ago would have included Hartside pass and down to Alston and you were on a Triumph Triple then as well.

Enjoy the new toy

Bigyin wrote: Tue Jun 08, 2021 9:43 pm You do love a Triumph ....... had to laugh at the Hartside pics as the last time i rode with you many years ago would have included Hartside pass and down to Alston and you were on a Triumph Triple then as well.

Enjoy the new toy

Was it this time? I can't remember if you made it that yeaR, 2010 IIRC.

Druid wrote: Tue Jun 08, 2021 10:52 pm

Bigyin wrote: Tue Jun 08, 2021 9:43 pm You do love a Triumph ....... had to laugh at the Hartside pics as the last time i rode with you many years ago would have included Hartside pass and down to Alston and you were on a Triumph Triple then as well.

Enjoy the new toy

Was it this time? I can't remember if you made it that yeaR, 2010 IIRC.

Probably the year before as i bailed that year before the snow forecast

Think it would have been the year i was on the 636 with Sam on pillion .... OldGeezer had Lois pillion on his ZRX that year as well

Wish I'd never seen this thread, just seen one on ebay for £4k and it's made me regret my recent Guzzi purchase