Forum

[Paul]

After just 32,000 miles of thrashing the nuts off my old winter hack 350 Bullet the old gal has the cheek to break down! It stuttered with a loss of compression, went bang, then threw oil over my leg amidst a royal clattering of metal against metal. At least it had the honour to limp me home before expiring on the drive outside my shed in a cloud of acrid smoke. I dunno, they just don't build them like they should. I admit I never clean the old bike, and OK I don't fuss over it or adorn it with fancy extras from Mr H's excellent catalogue, but that is no excuse for it to fall on its sword. I threw it in the shed and left it for a week. Taking a look once the burnt smell of oil had evaporated showed that a head bolt had shot through the rocker cover. I had a secondhand spare on the shelf, so I tightened the head bolts down and fitted it. I even treated it to some new 20/50 oil even though it doesn't deserve it. All back to normal. If it goes wrong again in another 32,000 miles I will be very disappointed.
Ride safe peeps

Paul G.

http://s27.postimg.org/5l1oqv01v/APDC0001.jpg

[Bullet Whisperer]

Good for you! More folk should treat them like that, rather than wrap them in cotton wool whilst chugging around at 45mph and treating them like gods. They are simple, relatively cheap machines, which can take a bit of stick on occasion, but, however you ride them, ENJOY them !! Cheers, Paul.

[Chris Tindal]

Hear hear

[rustygman]

I treat my 350 in a similar way, it gets mechanically well treated but used all winter and plenty of weekend thrashings. I always wondered how long it might last before a major meltdown but at only 18,000 miles it looks like my excuse for a 450 conversion from our hosts might be a little way off yet.

[PeteF]

I think the important factor here is its a 350. They are much less likely to go bang than the over bored big brother. I know I thrash my 350 unmercifully sometimes. I have to keep up with the 500s.

[apparently lucky eddie]

I've always felt that the 350 was the sweeter engine by a long way and any perceived lacking in power was more than compensated for by revving freely and vibrating less.