180,000 km Service

Time for another service and this time it really needs it. I missed the last small service and I'm more than half way to the next major service, so a major service it is.

It's a bit more than a service, there is some maintenance/repair required as well. In May last year, Moto One picked up that I had a leak in the left front fork which wasn't obvious. Well now it's quite obvious.

See for yourself. Not having washed the bike for awhile really brought signs of the leak out.

The taillight is part on going saga and misapplied stress.

The indicator shells are just a poor design and after awhile just fatigue and fail. There is a rod that runs across and through the taillight assembly. The shells are clamped to this rod via a 'U Bracket' and a couple of screws. The screws screw into a rectangular bloack of plastic that is part of the back of the shell. What happens is that the plastic block fails and that's the end of the shell. My temporary solution is to use a pipe clamp (Black arrows in the pic) to hold the shell onto the rod on the outside. While not pretty, it's better than Gaffa tape and is quite strong.

Matters came to a head when I layed down the bike in the garage and the left tailight and a canvas chair came into intimate contact. The whole bike was held up by the left front rear view mirror leaning on the brick wall. The inside of the taillight is mounted by a flat oval shaped piece of metal to which the indicator rod is welded. Well the rod ended up being torm out of the oval ring and the whole left hand side of the taillight was just hanging there. Gaffa tape to the rescue here.

Since BM Motorcycles (BMM) are in Ringwood, this service will end up being a bit of pain. I will be travelling down Monday, drop off the bike and have a loan bike to take me home. I only have use of the loan bike for one day, so I have to travel back Tuesday night. Now the tricky part is that the bike may not be ready for me because of the amount of work that needs to be done on it. I'm either going to have to stay the night or find another way home, which means Wednesday starts to be involved as well. Hope my boss is in a good mood.

What really happened

I decided that the loan bike was just a waste of time for no real benefit. I instead rented the smallest car from Budget for two days, much more satisfactory. The guys at BMM were right, the did need some of the extra day. I left work around 11:30, drove to Ringwood and handed the car back. I then walked back to BMM.

For some unknown reason the lens' on the front indicators are clear and amber on the back. Well now I have clear lens' all around. Nor sure how I'll go locating a coloured bulb from the nearest service station.

For some reason, I didn't get the old taillight assembly back. So far everything that BMM have replaced have come back to me. Wonder why the change in policy?

Drove home and parked out of the back of the business I work for. It was now 5:00 pm. My does the day go fast! I worked for about half an hour before decided to head home. As I was admiring the nice new shiny taillight assembly, my eye was caught by an object on the concrete. Looks like an indicator lens. Sure enough, the post that holds the right lens to the indicator shell had failed and the lens had popped off onto the concrete. Not happy.

I go inside and ring BMM but the phone never picks up. I thought they close at 6:00?

I tear off a strip of clear adhesive tape and tape the indicator back onto the shell. A rather sad ending to the day.

The next morning I ring BMM and tell them the sad story and they said "Well that's the second one we fitted, the first one broke!" It seems that the supplied screws are too long and that causes the post to break. Hmm, maybe, they tell me that they will send another lens to me. I queried the return of the original equipment policy and was told, "Just a minute, today is garbage day and they came an hour ago." Oh great. When he returned, he told me the assembly was still there and they will hold it for me. Just as well, there's quite a few pieces that I can use that are still quite serviceable. They promised to mail me a replacement lens.

And more ...

About a week later I set off or home from work. Before I set off I admire the taillight assembly. When I get home I'm not so pleased, the left hand indicator lens is missing! I fitted the replacement lens I was sent but I am still a lens short. Another phone call I guess.