01-02-13, 11:06 AM
You might have competition there, Padraig. There is a lad on here who had his carbs out about 10 times to date!! His problem is runnig longer than Coranation Street!! :'(
Be careful where that bike leads you, bud. It might become a bottomless pit for money and you could get sucked in. I bought (what I thought) was a decent bike but paid a terrible price in bad decision making.
The first bad decision was with all my 20 year experience in bikes and having owned/bought quite a few....on this deal I acted like a "first timer" getting into bikes when I bought it. In my enthusiasm to close the deal in a far and distant land, I checked nothing meticoulously. I bought it private in another County which was a first for me. I rarely buy private due to comeback issues, and buying it in another County sort of hedged me to buy it on the spot because going away to mull on it was not an option with the travel distances involved.
Even then, if I had did a thorough check all over the bike or paid for a second opinion to come with me, I would have spotted a catalogue of things wrong that would have costed a lot of money to fix. That would have at least given me the option of walking away. Instead, I got suckered into bit by a bottomless pit of money spending and bad decion making as follows.
When I got the bike home, I discovered that the brake discs were under the limit and needed replacing. That including the pads, costed a kings ramson and that is were my problems began. Now I was totally committed to the bike and could not walk away unless I took a heavy loss. When doing that job I found that they butchered the bleed nipple on the rear caliper and it was a small bit iffy anyway so I decided to get a secondhand Fazer thou one instead. Then I discovered that the rear master cylinder was butchered and had to get a second hand one, and in the process, I cracked the Master cylinder's mounting riders footplate that had to be replaced too. I was well up to my armpits invested in the bike now.
Then I had camchain problems which the previous owners load pipe masked over. I decided to buy a quite pipe for it and that's when I heard all the camchain rattles. I knew that the camchain was knackered. No problem there. But on inspecting it further, some dipsh!t had the same problem earlier but decided to weld a lump of metal onto the tip of the tensioner to take up the slack further instead of replacing the camchain. The result for me was a chamchain and a new tensioner had to be fitted. It was getting to be a joke at this stage.
I then had an electrical problem that would cut the bike dead unexpectantly at take off. Actually when I first noticed it, I noticed it because I bloody fell off the bike as it threw me off balance. Luckily (my first bit of luck!) there was no damage to the bodywork but I did snap the front brake lever in two which had to be replaced. I eventually sorted it to being a loose wire on a connecting block down by the relays. That I sorted myself at no expense, but it was effecting my moral big time at this stage. I nearly sold it to the breakers for 500 quid!!
Next up was a fork leg that was badly corroded that I didn't spot. Had to get a second hand one.
Now I have tight spots in two places on my chain and sprockets, I just bought a new set as we speak. I said to myself, I might as well go the full hog, so I bought a K&N filter for it as i'm going to balance the carbs pretty soon.
The bike has been running well now for the last 1,000 miles and i'm really enjoying it. Hopefully all my problems (major ones) are behind me. It's a fantasic bike when running well and really suits me. I have a fine bike now, no doubt. But the money that the bike costed and what I put into it would have gotten me a 4-5 year old newer version. And if I ever sell it on, it will always be for a big loss now. I suppose it has thought me a few valuable and major lessons too going forward, so that's a plus too. So be careful were that bike takes you because you could be entering a place of no return like me if someone takes about 4-5 hours to fix it at €50 a hour.
Rant over.!...ha ha! :2guns
Be careful where that bike leads you, bud. It might become a bottomless pit for money and you could get sucked in. I bought (what I thought) was a decent bike but paid a terrible price in bad decision making.
The first bad decision was with all my 20 year experience in bikes and having owned/bought quite a few....on this deal I acted like a "first timer" getting into bikes when I bought it. In my enthusiasm to close the deal in a far and distant land, I checked nothing meticoulously. I bought it private in another County which was a first for me. I rarely buy private due to comeback issues, and buying it in another County sort of hedged me to buy it on the spot because going away to mull on it was not an option with the travel distances involved.
Even then, if I had did a thorough check all over the bike or paid for a second opinion to come with me, I would have spotted a catalogue of things wrong that would have costed a lot of money to fix. That would have at least given me the option of walking away. Instead, I got suckered into bit by a bottomless pit of money spending and bad decion making as follows.
When I got the bike home, I discovered that the brake discs were under the limit and needed replacing. That including the pads, costed a kings ramson and that is were my problems began. Now I was totally committed to the bike and could not walk away unless I took a heavy loss. When doing that job I found that they butchered the bleed nipple on the rear caliper and it was a small bit iffy anyway so I decided to get a secondhand Fazer thou one instead. Then I discovered that the rear master cylinder was butchered and had to get a second hand one, and in the process, I cracked the Master cylinder's mounting riders footplate that had to be replaced too. I was well up to my armpits invested in the bike now.
Then I had camchain problems which the previous owners load pipe masked over. I decided to buy a quite pipe for it and that's when I heard all the camchain rattles. I knew that the camchain was knackered. No problem there. But on inspecting it further, some dipsh!t had the same problem earlier but decided to weld a lump of metal onto the tip of the tensioner to take up the slack further instead of replacing the camchain. The result for me was a chamchain and a new tensioner had to be fitted. It was getting to be a joke at this stage.
I then had an electrical problem that would cut the bike dead unexpectantly at take off. Actually when I first noticed it, I noticed it because I bloody fell off the bike as it threw me off balance. Luckily (my first bit of luck!) there was no damage to the bodywork but I did snap the front brake lever in two which had to be replaced. I eventually sorted it to being a loose wire on a connecting block down by the relays. That I sorted myself at no expense, but it was effecting my moral big time at this stage. I nearly sold it to the breakers for 500 quid!!
Next up was a fork leg that was badly corroded that I didn't spot. Had to get a second hand one.
Now I have tight spots in two places on my chain and sprockets, I just bought a new set as we speak. I said to myself, I might as well go the full hog, so I bought a K&N filter for it as i'm going to balance the carbs pretty soon.
The bike has been running well now for the last 1,000 miles and i'm really enjoying it. Hopefully all my problems (major ones) are behind me. It's a fantasic bike when running well and really suits me. I have a fine bike now, no doubt. But the money that the bike costed and what I put into it would have gotten me a 4-5 year old newer version. And if I ever sell it on, it will always be for a big loss now. I suppose it has thought me a few valuable and major lessons too going forward, so that's a plus too. So be careful were that bike takes you because you could be entering a place of no return like me if someone takes about 4-5 hours to fix it at €50 a hour.
Rant over.!...ha ha! :2guns
