OV9

Same thing with RGV/NSR250s. I want one but I'm not shelling out £6k+ for a toy. Well, a toy I'd be wary putting big miles on at least.

JLv3.0 wrote: Fri Jun 07, 2019 9:55 am

Barry wrote: Thu Jun 06, 2019 2:50 pmSeriously tempted by the new Tenere 700. Not to replace anything..

This won't help then:

Not a bike I’d have for myself, but it looks great. The white/red paint job sort of looks best if you want it to look pristine and shiny, but it looks properly epic in the blue all covered in dust like it’s come straight off a rally raid.

NotoriousREV wrote: Fri Jun 07, 2019 6:47 pm I’ve wanted a CBX1000 since I was a kid and first saw one in a magazine. When I was old enough to buy one, they were £5k. Then they were £8k. Now they’re silly money.

The noise is just awesome. There are a handful of CBX1050 for sale on AT from £10k

One with fairing, like Jay Leno’s, would be a perfect all rounder for me.

So my day of riding someone else’s bike is a disappointment. First off, the weather is horrendous: 10°C and chucking it down. Got wet on the 1 hour ride to Colwyn Bay, checked the bike in and they gave me a 2018 Superduke GT (ie the same bike as mine).

I figured that I might as well come back home, but via the scenic route up the A470 to Betws-y-coed, along the A5 towards Cerrigydrudion, then the B5105 (the road that isn’t part of the Evo Triangle our of the village) to Ruthin and Mold, then home on the motorway.

It was fucking treacherous. The A5 between Betws and Glasfryn has diesel on the outside of every reasonably tight left hand bend. The first bend I noticed it on I ended up picking the bike up mid-corner and running onto the wrong side of the road to avoid it, luckily nothing was coming. I’d have definitely have binned it if I didn’t have that option.

It’s weird riding a bike that’s supposedly the same as yours but isn’t. The demo bike has the bars in a different position (there’s a 4 position adjustment you can make to the risers: forward or back, high and low. I have mine on forward/low, plus their bars were rotated forward slightly), the comfort seat (no more comfortable than the standard seat, imo, and they hadn’t wired in the heated seat, which would’ve been useful), different levers, and the standard Angel GT tyres. I liked those tyres when I had them on mine, but swapped to the Road 5s when they were worn out. Going from worn out tyres to new always feels better, so it was hard to tell, but I had thought that there wasn’t really all that much difference between the 2. Now, comparing unworn to unworn, the PR5s are definitely better in the wet. I had a few moments on the Angels (not just the diesel) where they stepped out at both ends.

Anyway, I came home wet and cold, had a bath to thaw out and am sat in my dressing gown hoping everything dries out by 3:30 so I can go and pick my own bike back up.

(Un)Interestingly, it’s the exact same bike I test rode in May last year that convinced me I needed a 1290GT:

So the suspension update was worth doing. Previously, the comfort setting was unusable on most roads because it basically just wound all the damping off so it was like riding a pogo stick, it was just wallowy and bouncy. Now it’s usable, in fact I had it on comfort for most of the journey home, including on the B4501 leg of the triangle. Street feels more planted and less pattery and the bike feels more natural on the brakes now that the anti-dive has gone.

Of course, me being me, things couldn’t all be easy. Despite having booked this work weeks ago, they didn’t replace the rear tyre pressure sensor that the tyre fitters destroyed because “the system showed we had one in stock but when we went to the shelf to get it, it wasn’t there. Do you want me to book it in for next week?”. FFS, my next bike won’t be with a brand where my nearest dealer is an hour away.

NotoriousREV wrote: Sat Jun 08, 2019 9:08 pm Despite having booked this work weeks ago, they didn’t replace the rear tyre pressure sensor that the tyre fitters destroyed because “the system showed we had one in stock but when we went to the shelf to get it, it wasn’t there. Do you want me to book it in for next week?”. FFS, my next bike won’t be with a brand where my nearest dealer is an hour away.

This sh!t really boils my piss. You have a customer coming in, I think its only fair that you ensure you have all the items needed for the job sheet in place before they arrive. It should be the previous days check list, "can we actually do tomorrows work". I have to think and plan ahead all the time, making sure my team have work ready for them, anything they might need should be checked and queued up ready. Car/Bike dealers, nah fvckit we'll just wing it and then charge them £80/hr for sh!t service.. it's worked for years so why change now.

I've had a good rant at Bill Smiths this week for similar, telling me they couldn't supply the parts I needed cos Yamaha don't do that, I subsequently prove them wrong with a single email to Yamaha, and then they come back asking me for the part numbers of those parts!! This takes so long I now have to wait till next week for the order to come through. Fcking useless the lot of them.

https://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/201 ... ined-life/

Barry wrote: Sat Jun 08, 2019 10:20 pm

NotoriousREV wrote: Sat Jun 08, 2019 9:08 pm Despite having booked this work weeks ago, they didn’t replace the rear tyre pressure sensor that the tyre fitters destroyed because “the system showed we had one in stock but when we went to the shelf to get it, it wasn’t there. Do you want me to book it in for next week?”. FFS, my next bike won’t be with a brand where my nearest dealer is an hour away.

This sh!t really boils my piss. You have a customer coming in, I think its only fair that you ensure you have all the items needed for the job sheet in place before they arrive. It should be the previous days check list, "can we actually do tomorrows work". I have to think and plan ahead all the time, making sure my team have work ready for them, anything they might need should be checked and queued up ready. Car/Bike dealers, nah fvckit we'll just wing it and then charge them £80/hr for sh!t service.. it's worked for years so why change now.

I've had a good rant at Bill Smiths this week for similar, telling me they couldn't supply the parts I needed cos Yamaha don't do that, I subsequently prove them wrong with a single email to Yamaha, and then they come back asking me for the part numbers of those parts!! This takes so long I now have to wait till next week for the order to come through. Fcking useless the lot of them.

This is why I do everything myself and the bikes never see the inside of a dealer or indy. Bikes are easy. Do it yourself.

The fact that there is no money in bikes automatically means the shops can't pay decent wages. And we all know what paying peanuts gets you.

JLv3.0 wrote: Wed Jun 12, 2019 2:51 pm

Barry wrote: Sat Jun 08, 2019 10:20 pm

NotoriousREV wrote: Sat Jun 08, 2019 9:08 pm Despite having booked this work weeks ago, they didn’t replace the rear tyre pressure sensor that the tyre fitters destroyed because “the system showed we had one in stock but when we went to the shelf to get it, it wasn’t there. Do you want me to book it in for next week?”. FFS, my next bike won’t be with a brand where my nearest dealer is an hour away.

This sh!t really boils my piss. You have a customer coming in, I think its only fair that you ensure you have all the items needed for the job sheet in place before they arrive. It should be the previous days check list, "can we actually do tomorrows work". I have to think and plan ahead all the time, making sure my team have work ready for them, anything they might need should be checked and queued up ready. Car/Bike dealers, nah fvckit we'll just wing it and then charge them £80/hr for sh!t service.. it's worked for years so why change now.

I've had a good rant at Bill Smiths this week for similar, telling me they couldn't supply the parts I needed cos Yamaha don't do that, I subsequently prove them wrong with a single email to Yamaha, and then they come back asking me for the part numbers of those parts!! This takes so long I now have to wait till next week for the order to come through. Fcking useless the lot of them.

This is why I do everything myself and the bikes never see the inside of a dealer or indy. Bikes are easy. Do it yourself.

The fact that there is no money in bikes automatically means the shops can't pay decent wages. And we all know what paying peanuts gets you.

The flaw in that being that I can’t code the pressure sensor to the ECU, the dealer needs to do it. Plus the tyre fitters are paying for it.

Marv wrote: Wed Jun 12, 2019 2:46 pm

https://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/201 ... ined-life/

Love it. I hate these cunts.

Stop raining, stop raining, stop raining, stop raining, STOP FUCKING RAINING!

NotoriousREV wrote: Wed Jun 12, 2019 3:13 pm

JLv3.0 wrote: Wed Jun 12, 2019 2:51 pm

Barry wrote: Sat Jun 08, 2019 10:20 pm

This sh!t really boils my piss. You have a customer coming in, I think its only fair that you ensure you have all the items needed for the job sheet in place before they arrive. It should be the previous days check list, "can we actually do tomorrows work". I have to think and plan ahead all the time, making sure my team have work ready for them, anything they might need should be checked and queued up ready. Car/Bike dealers, nah fvckit we'll just wing it and then charge them £80/hr for sh!t service.. it's worked for years so why change now.

I've had a good rant at Bill Smiths this week for similar, telling me they couldn't supply the parts I needed cos Yamaha don't do that, I subsequently prove them wrong with a single email to Yamaha, and then they come back asking me for the part numbers of those parts!! This takes so long I now have to wait till next week for the order to come through. Fcking useless the lot of them.

This is why I do everything myself and the bikes never see the inside of a dealer or indy. Bikes are easy. Do it yourself.

The fact that there is no money in bikes automatically means the shops can't pay decent wages. And we all know what paying peanuts gets you.

The flaw in that being that I can’t code the pressure sensor to the ECU, the dealer needs to do it. Plus the tyre fitters are paying for it.

You can't buy the device for the KTM to give you this functionality? I assumed (yeah I know) there would be a GS911-equivalent for Katooms. Few hundred quid on a GS911 for the BMWs and the evil dealer has no sword to hang over me.

JLv3.0 wrote: Wed Jun 12, 2019 3:17 pm

NotoriousREV wrote: Wed Jun 12, 2019 3:13 pm

JLv3.0 wrote: Wed Jun 12, 2019 2:51 pm

This is why I do everything myself and the bikes never see the inside of a dealer or indy. Bikes are easy. Do it yourself.

The fact that there is no money in bikes automatically means the shops can't pay decent wages. And we all know what paying peanuts gets you.

The flaw in that being that I can’t code the pressure sensor to the ECU, the dealer needs to do it. Plus the tyre fitters are paying for it.

You can't buy the device for the KTM to give you this functionality? I assumed (yeah I know) there would be a GS911-equivalent for Katooms. Few hundred quid on a GS911 for the BMWs and the evil dealer has no sword to hang over me.

Nope and it sucks.

Oh, that reminds me. My mate Kai has a motorcycle lift/workbench he needs rid of, so I've snaffled it. Awaiting him to be free to deliver it as it's too big & heavy to fit in a car.

That does indeed suck, and you lucky fucking bastard. Guess which answer applies to which post

NotoriousREV wrote: Wed Jun 12, 2019 3:14 pm Stop raining, stop raining, stop raining, stop raining, STOP FUCKING RAINING!

I know mate, even here in the Costa del Suffolk we've had an unusual amount of rain

Marv wrote: Wed Jun 12, 2019 3:46 pm

NotoriousREV wrote: Wed Jun 12, 2019 3:14 pm Stop raining, stop raining, stop raining, stop raining, STOP FUCKING RAINING!

I know mate, even here in the Costa del Suffolk we've had an unusual amount of rain

Rain forecast for the next 13 days at least here.

The rain. Jesus H the rain. Sick of it. On an unrelated note I just filled the Fazer up, odo showing 255 miles, 18.67l to refill. This bike will run purely on air eventually.

Polite vest guy almost certainly annoyed the police, I struggle to sympathise I must admit.

I've just joined the Manchester RoSPA group. Am I about to become a boring old fart on a BMW RT (sorry, Tim )?