My motorbike is a Triumph Tiger Explorer.

An ex dealer demo, therefore loaded and “affordable”, I bought it in January 2013, with about 1500 miles on it, but classed as new. I put 7700 miles on it by September, and enjoyed every mile – it is a great bike.

Shaft drive, fast, 135hp gives it lots of power. My first ride, I came across a ford, as in water over the road, not as in 150. I had no way back, and had to cross it. Very slippery! But I managed to keep her upright, and we get on well together.

By July, she was misfiring and running rough. Lone Star Triumph, the Austin dealer who sold it, are usually very good, but wanted me to book it in weeks in advance, which I could not do, as it was my only set of wheels.

I soldiered on, and moved to Kerrville that month. By September, I had bought a truck, so I booked the bike into Alamo Triumph of Boerne, near San Antonio.

I figured it just needed a service, so rode there and hung around. And hung around. By five, they said it had to stay in overnight, because there was a problem. They kindly drove me home. Next day they said they had to get a warranty replacement part, but it was out of stock. This was not a problem, as I was due to go on the road for business.

In October, I rented a trailer and picked her up, towed behind the truck. Y’all have to have a truck in Texas!

Then I was back on the road again, and also moving out of my rented apartment. So along with all of my “stuff”, she went into storage, until Christmas Day, when I rode her to my new house in Kerrville.

Since then, she has sat, forlorn, gathering dust, on trickle charge.

Until today, when I took her for a quick ride. I had been feeling guilty about neglecting her, and it was a beautiful day for a ride, albeit short. I have been meaning to ride her for weeks, but lacked time or weather until today. Feeling better, I headed home.

The mailman had been, and I had a letter from Triumph. Yup! Recall. Potential danger…replace ECU…dealer warranty…

So I called Alamo and she will go back again.

So what? Well, it just felt spooky that the day I ride my bike, I get a letter telling me to get it to the dealer pronto, because the ECU might decide to go into emergency shut down mode at any moment. I had almost taken a long spin out in the hills, or even to Austin, but decided not to.

After a break from riding, I confess to being nervous and not too relaxed, because the other drivers on the road are all trying to kill me. Sometimes, when the rhythm feels wrong, I turn around and go home, because if you are riding out of kilter, mistakes happen.

So I took this letter as a good omen: I did the right thing, had a short ride, and now she will go back to Alamo, who have ordered the ECU.