So last week we had the 84,000 service and a few bits and bobs. The nasty flashing red "brake failure" light turned out to be the front ABS sensor (£70 odd). The clutch was agreed to be finished and I asked for a quote, hinting heavily that a 1300 one might be better. They pondered if it was running a bit rich after the test ride, maybe the lambda sensor needs a clean. Oil and filter, bevel oil change, and a new tyre (£135 ish plus fitting), that'll be £511 sir thank you.
I'd asked for another PR3, but arrived to find a tractor tyre had been fitted, on closer inspection when I got it home it turned out to be a Road 5 as they apparently couldn't get a PR3.
Anyway I spent half of Saturday and most of Sunday grovelling inside the labyrinthine interior cleaning out muck and bullets from places that hadn't been reached before. I think the repeated ACF 50 application had just cemented several layers on. Thought it looked a bit like an SV650 without the sides on
I discovered as the grime came off that I have acquired a few scratches up both sides of the belly pan. I assume I have been getting too enthusiastic without turning up the preload. So I turned it up yesterday but was getting bounced about by crappy roads too much so turned it down again.
I finally got around to replacing the 2 fairing bolts either side of the radiator that screw into a threaded tube inside a rubber grommet, one each side of the radiator. This has stiffened up the whole fairing quite noticeably, and the MRA screen is not deflecting as much in motorway turbulence now.
I didn't get all the tank covers off to do everything under there, time and SWIMBO (who had been remarkably tolerant) began to press, but I did brush on ACF 50 everywhere I had cleaned and for once it had time to dry off before being wheeled out into the shite weather. I tried the lambda sensor but the nut was not for turning and I didn't want to knacker it, so left it. All the plastic got a good coat of polish on too, so at the end it was clean and looked it, and I was filthy, very filthy. Not often I see the bike without the tank harness on
So yesterday morning off we set to Amsterdam, and within half an hour we were all covered in shite again due to the not rain but 99% humidity / mist / low cloud turned all the dust to a nasty shitty spray, as you can see from the crystal clear screen below as another 1000 mile rolled past. And that 24 range turned out to be 23 and a 1.7 mile push. I was already aching from the contortions required to reach inside the inner parts the previous two days. Mondays. Gotta love 'em
The only upside was that the whole bike felt very smooth with all the new oil, and the Road 5 appears to be quite a nice tyre, although I am reserving judgement as I've only done 600 miles on a nice round tyre after several thousand on an increasingly square one. In other news SWIMBO saw a K16 at the showroom and hated the look of it, so looks like a K13 is in the frame for when this one gets to that time.
