- Thu Sep 20, 2012 7:50 am
#17602
Indeed Grunda. Many a wise word has been expressed in these postings. Old habits die hard...Once a month, like clockwork, I get the right hump, normally due to a heavy night with my Goddess, Ninkasi? I go out the back, get three spanners out, and go around the bike. Start at the front, left side stanchion, and go around in an anti-clockwise direction. Some bits need re-tightening, most bits have not moved. On me hands and knees, look underneath. Sometimes quite messy, sometimes, hardly nothing at all. Check tyre pressures, always seem to need re-inflating, every month without fail. I'm also physically grabbing everything that can be twisted, turned, pushed or pullled and thumped or kicked, to make sure nothing is wrong. The kind of thing most intrepid travellers do every day on there big trips. Funny thing, having grown up on super-reliable Jap stuff, all the above is strticly a British type bike thing, as in vibration and bits breaking, fracturing, falling off? I rode one Big Zed for 5 years, and the only bit that fell off that was the number plate? Hacked a CX for 5 years/79,000mls, one puncture and a broken throttle cable were the only roadside failures I had, but I still limped home on both occassions (a can of Finilec and a few turns on the throttle stop screw!) And as for clutches, well, I dont recall ever renewing a clutch or having any trouble with any Jap bike ever. Just keep going...on and on.....I think it's fair to say that the majority of Brit bike/Bullet owners could best be described as being a bit more enthusiastic than your average modern bike owner? My brother, like most of the latter, just rides his new Honda 800 Transalp, puts fuels in it, other than that, it just goes to the local dealer at service time. And that's it. They dont touch em', dont have to. (250,000miles, I kid you not, on a 89' VFR750? Had his own www on it once, one of the highest mileage VFR's on the planet!). But I still think I get more Smiles-per-Mile on the Bullet, unless another Big Zed pops up at the right price..........BT