What have you done with your bike today?

[Asmith61]

The battery arrived about an hour ago, so fitted it to the key fob went in to the garage and the dash lit up straight away and the bike started up, so I warmed it up for 15 minutes.
Very happy that it was a very easy fix 👍

[Brockett]

Now that Colchester Kawasaki has closed. I will be servicing my two Moto Guzzis. Normal engine oil change fee is IRO £300. Today I went to Mototechnics at Stowmarket and bought:
2 filters, 2 filter housing 'O' rings, 2 filter nut washers, 2 drain plug washers and 4 litres 10w60 oil. £140.53. "The man" says I'll only need two litres of oil for each bike at most. At £20.25 a litre I hope he's right.

[Upt North]

£300.00 to change oil and a filter.
At least Dick Turpin wore a mask.
My independent will do it with Motul for about £60.00 on the Strom, that's parts and labour.
Upt.

[NTBooth]

£300 for an oil change!? 

Good job I was sat down reading that.

[Brockett]

Not just an oil change. They said they check that all the fasteners were secure and then plugged it into the Moto Guzzi system to check for updates and to download data back to MG. And then they would cancel the service warning light - something only an MG service agent can do- even though it was 3000 miles short of the service interval and didn't actually have an active warning message.  Yeah !......  hard to imagine why they went bust eh?  Although on the upside they are such nice bikes to ride. Being push rod valves with nut and screw adjusters they are easy to service with the engine, gearbox and final drive all having their own oils. Still wrapped up in the garage waiting for the weather to improve so maybe by mid March  I'll change the filters and oil and we can get out again.   
And for those that recall my friend Steven had his hip replaced six weeks ago and has gone from agonising and crippling pain to walking almost normally again. Today we went out and he bought a nice low mileage 700 Tracer. 

[Upt North]

Good news about your buddy Brock'ster.
The MG workshop is no different to most Franchise shops for 2 or 4 wheels. They need to pay good wages and pay the bills, as we have seen recently these franchise outlets are going under regardless of the ridiculous price of new bikes and the high servicing costs.
I think I was paying about 300 squid for a franchise oil change on my 4 wheeled Beemer because it was under a BMW warranty. I got a lovely video though showing me the underside.....
 

[NTBooth]

Have to justify the cost somehow, I know....how about a nice video of the underside of your own vehicle 

[mr_diver]

As for chassis nut and bolt check on a service... I doubt that very much, you may get the tyres kicked, checked for leaks and look at the brake pads.   MAYBE
Ususally a tech won't even check they replaced the bolts they removed. 

Laxy daisy attaitude to someone elses property is the main reason I won't use dealers for servicing, then comes the price.
I didn't like paying the staff rate when I had tyres fitted in the place I worked.

[Brockett]

When I wrote "check all fasteners" I forgot the    but I was thinking it.

[endintears]

@Brockett
Glad to here Steve's doing well👍
Was a Triumph man in the past if I remember right.

[Brockett]

He did like that 765, but sold it when he was unable to ride. He was warned that he may have been waiting for another 12 months or so for a hip replacement in 2026. The Tracer is a 2017 bike with only 3000 miles and the price was right for a bike to ride as he builds up his leg muscles. With a top box and a snorkle bag on the pillion, it's a great bike for weekends away.

[nigel s]

You are not going out on the bike are you, it's all wet ?
Yes I am and I don't care.
But there is mud like a ploughed field and a semi dry line 18" wide.
 18" ..  That's plenty ..it's a RR.
It's 7c and the heated jacket won't plug in to the RR.
sokay...it has heated grips
But the salt.....
It rained yesterday , it's fine.
You are a prick...
No ..you are a prick.
No YOU are a prick.

  Pre ride mental conversation with myself before taking the RR out for a 150 mile smear over our beautiful but muddy b road system.
Not THAT dirty seen here in front of an obligatory church half way round.......still grinning like loon after soaking in the bath for 20 mins to warm up.

Ho Hum

[Asmith61]

   nigel s ……pre ride mental conversation love it 

Nice picture 👍 ….. I will wait until at least march before I get my bike out.
Definitely a fair weather rider now ( I used to ride in all weathers 🤣 )

[Pannier Down]

Do you call your bike 'My Precious'?

[nigel s]

Pannier Down,

No........

Yes you bloody do...
 



Asmith61,

Not long now.... roll on spring

Ho Hum

[nigel s]

The nice people at the Met Office said I had a 3hr window before the sleet/snow arrives....
Dryish salt free roads and a balmy 3c ( no heated kit on the RR ) and I head off to my 7th nearest Tesco in search of fresh basil..again. Nice to have a mission every now and then 
The choice of Bridgestone T32s v anything sportier ,  proves their worth finding grip on a cold road and fun was had.

Coming out of Tesco an old girl in her 70s ? is loading her car next to my spot and says " ohh nice bike ,  I like a blue, my Bill had a blue Triumph "...
We chat as I load the rest of her shopping into her car and hop on the bike to scoot home.
I wail on the horn as a mid 20s idiot in a Seat Fr/Gti/ Twatmobile ( I know nothing about cars )  parked two cars up tries to reverse into my path.
I go round him after he has stopped half way out and put the bike on the sidestand and get off to explain to the man how vulnerable Bikers are in, shall we say ....strong terms.
Never seen someone wilt so far down in the seat.
Didn't get very far 'cos the old girl had already tapped on his window and was tearing him a new one...
She went back to her car with a cheery wave and I toodled off , pissing myself while glaring in my mirrors...

Met Office says 13c next week ????
I have been thinking spring was round the corner 'cos the  male sparrows I feed at work have got all arsey with each other, chasing around making up to the lady sparrows..... hmmmm.....

Roll on Spring.

Ho Hum

[Dark-Strom]

Checked the green one was still there under its covers and aired it / charged the battery for a few hours.

[nigel s]

Wet roads but being dried by a stiff wind at 8 this morning , no rain, so took the RR b roading to Snape Maltings for a poke around. Then on to Orford.
Coming from Snape to Orford is a great curvy road. Going at &*$ mph  I felt something hit the outside of my right boot, bit of road crap I thought and carried on.
Coming back from Orford, I stopped for a stretch in Harleston and found my right hand bar end weight  was missing
Look at the second pic in Orford and it is gone......TOSS...
Apparently , losing weights is a THING with the Isolating bar end mounts that Honda use.
The weight is NOT attached to the bars but a free to spin isolator inside the clip on.

Still... I am getting more RR " bike fit " now as I get the miles on ...4hrs out on it and not too bad comfort wise.... as long as I avoid towns ....and don't go over traffic calming ramps like I do on the Strom , ouch... lesson learnt ..

Ho hum

[Upt North]

There's always some'at or t'other.
Upt.

[nigel s]

Think I have found out why I lost that barend weight.
I took the left one off to compare the mounts, all good no damage to the lost right one.
But when I tried to screw the remaining one into the right hand bar the throttle stuck up.........
There are two half moons that have to be aligned, and I think the PO fitted it deliberately wrong to get more length
So I put the remaining one in  the vice and took 2mm off the shoulder with a grinder and cleaned it up and painted it.
 All good and now have two barends 
£27 for the weight and screw mind...............

Ho Hum