Yesterday I was in Devon, having a nice surfing and biking break.
I'd been out for a great ride down the A39, then back up the B3254, when I tried to start an overtake and the bike just wasn't giving me any power
I backed off and the engine was still running but when I opened the throttle, it just wouldn't pull.
I stopped, switched off and back on again and when I tried to start it, there was a rattling or clattering sound, so I immediately switched off again and called the RAC.
I had major hassles getting back to the campsite and then getting the bike back to Portsmouth, and then found that Vernon's Motorcycles is closing down in September and isn't taking any more work and Downeys and Bike Moto aren't open until Tuesday
The guy I spoke to at Vernons said (just a guess) that maybe a valve had dropped, but also said that it if it was something more serious, might actually be cheaper to simply buy a replacement engine, rather than pay for the workshop time to strip the current engine and rebuild it!
Still, at least Kudos to the other two bikers who pulled over when they saw me broken down, thanks to them, whoever they are
One other thing, I'd checked the oil a few weeks ago (it was around the top of the scale) and there wasn't any dripping out in my shed or when the bike was standing, but when I checked it after the engine had cooled off a bit, it was right down the bottom of the scale. It was on a bit of a slope and canted over, but I don't think that should have made that much of a difference to the level.