Not just any day ... it's Fri 13th .. 😫

[kwackboy]

Yes , today was Friday the 13th and it wasn't a good end to my week .. 

Customer asked to have an exhaust replacement but neglected to mention he tried to do it himself and broke a 3 inch seized bolt .. !!

Anyone who's had to deal with this will know.. 

I got comfortable and sharpened my drill bits, one hour later, one broken drill bit and a knackered right arm a fresh new exhaust mount bolt hole was created

Being paid to sit down is quite satisfying... 

[2112]

Nicely done sir 

I dropped my mate off to pick up his BMW GS1200 following a service, his first ever time as a pillion as it happens. I had to explain it won't always be as comfortable on the rear of a bike as it is on the big Victory! His BMW has been afflicted with the dreadded driveshaft issue (the rubber boot that covers the U/J leaks and allows unchecked and quite damaging corrosion to occur, ultimately leading to a nasty failure) which is well known to BMW. So after a hefty independent service (absolutely everything done) it now has to be booked in at BMW to have the recall work done. One of the odd things to come out of the service was that the rear bevel box oil was black and heavily contaminated. At just under 25,000 miles it should have been quite clean? No leaks and no signs of breather blockage or failure either. Other signs of wear & tear in hidden places (under the tank covers etc) suggest it's had a lot harder life than we thought or the mileaage may have been 'adjusted' at some point? It's only had two owners and the service record tallies with receipts MOT's etc but it's put my mate in a bit of a quandry... It's running as sweet as a nut now but after the recal I suspect it will be on it's way next early next year.

[kwackboy]

If bevel oil hasn't been changed for 25k miles it will come out black, I tell my customers change the oil every 10k, its not expensive.

As you said,  it sounds like the bike has had a hard life and not been looked after.

[Rusty Nuts]

Don't know about BMWs but my vn1500 and xv 750 were ridiculously easy to check & change final drive oil. There's not much in there in the first place and it works quite hard. Makes sense to keep an eye on it.

[timangus]

On Friday 13th I picked up a rear puncture in France. Managed to get a temporary repair done and get it to a bike shop for a permanent one.

[Steve T]

kwackboy,

I know you make Your living servicing other folks machines but honestly, if that bike had come to me as covered in cack as that is, I'd have told the fecker to go away, give it a good wash, THEN bring it back so I could fix their bodgery.

Good on you for cracking the issue 

[kwackboy]

This one was an early 1980s vespa PX and the accumulated crud under the back where I was working was just a old .. 

I get what you're saying Steve but if I turned bikes like this away I'd loose half our revenue.

In these current times we can't cherry pick work like we use to ..