Ross Noble's Sit Down Tour: Pork pies and racetracks

Comedian and bike enthusiast Ross Noble rode the 500,000th Triumph, a custom painted Speed Triple, on a tour of the UK in May to commemorate half a million bikes being produced at the Hinckley factory.

The six-day tour was entirely guided by suggestions made by followers of Noble’s Twitter page @realrossnoble.

In this first instalment of the tour Ross watches the 500,000th Triumph being bolted together and rolling off the production line, before riding it to the home of pork pies and first stop, Melton Mowbray.

A quick pie later and the tour heads to Snetterton in Norfolk to meet up with MCN’s editor Marc Potter and test the Triumphs on track, before following suggestions to visit Bury St Edmunds in search of the smallest pub in Britain.

The one-off Speed Triple was auctioned after the tour at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, with all proceeds going to the Riders for Health charity, which works with African ministries of health and community based organisations to help manage vehicles for outreach health workers, allowing them to reach even the most isolated villages with health care.