Staff bikes: Triumph Street Triple - Bits go on. Bits fall off

No sooner had I fitted a protective radiator cover to my Street Triple than my housemate backed his car into it. Forcefully.

Lifting it from the mud and back onto its sidestand, surveying the bike in the Monday drizzle, there wasn’t much time to appreciate the irony.

Luckily there wasn’t any apparent damage. Handlebars straight. Mirrors twisted but undamaged. No dents or scratches. A narrow escape.

Until ten minutes later when I got on the bike and found nothing between right foot and the wet ground.

After half a minute of tapping my leg like a line dancer I realised the foot peg was missing.

And not just missing. Sheared off. Cripes.

Having already geared up in waterproof suit, gloves, boots, earplugs, buff and helmet I was buggered if any of it was coming off. Besides, I was in danger of being late for work.

And here was the revelation… riding without the peg wasn’t too awful. Enough of a jagged stump was left to hang the toe of my boot on, and made the 14 mile a-road commute just that little bit more raw and challenging. Especially as the rear brake was now rather inaccessible.

The components on the foot peg are numerous enough to keep the repair bill reasonable. The footrest hangar, peg, spring and screws should cost less than £100 and, as it’s just a question of undoing some screws, there’s no need to pay any labour costs.

At least I won’t be getting any stone chips stuck in my radiator grille. The Beowulf stainless steel radiator cover [£44.95] fits snugly across the breast of the bike and looks quite the part too.

Shame it can’t protect the Triumph against incoming car bumpers.

Further reading:
Staff bike blogs | Triumph Street Triple blog

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