E
excellentlunch
Guest
As a way to finish the thread I thought I'd post how it all went because it was a bit of a saga.
Forked out the dough for the roadworthy and headed along with some trepidation. Would they notice the leaky fork seals? I carried a rag and gave it a good wipe off before inspecting but cringed when they made me do the brake test saying "make the front forks compress". Will they call me out on the dirty engine, which probably has a slight weep from any number of oil seals or gasket surfaces? Truly, it isn't THAT bad. Would they notice the bits of plastic sheath falling apart from the wiring loom to expose the coloured wires? Surely THAT isn't a problem.
I watched the guy walk around, sit on it, compress the forks and do all the checks, only for him to come back and say, "it's all good mate, but your headlight points right instead of left." See they check your headlight's transition from high beam to low beam and if it dips down and to the right, you ain't roadworthy because your beam shan't shine into oncoming traffic. Turns out my bike must be a North American.
The fella, who was a nice enough bloke, said "get it back to me by 3pm with a good light and I'll sign off on it." OK! Woo! This was exciting, the thing was gonna pass but I had to get me some 7 inch glass to swap in. Many calls and a lot of running around - no wreckers had anything and some joker tried to sell me an aftermarket RD350 headlight with the funky housing - had me stumped but the last person I tried came through big time.
Craig is a no nonsense bloke I used to live around the corner from who is one of a dying bread in my home town: a motorcycle electrician that knows his ****, especially with old bikes. The guy has gone 'above and beyond' so many times for me that it is unbelievable. I always leave the place with a mixture of guilt and appreciation. Guilty because he sorted my ride so cheaply so many times, always giving pointers and spare bits and pieces that 'you might need. take some of these' and appreciation because he is simply a legend. I fear for the day when all we have is 19 year old apprentice service mechanics available to us. Let's hope it never happens.
Long story short - Craig and I swapped in some glass and it passed the test. The road trip is another story, NOT because Fast & Sassy broke down, but because the bike was behaving a tiny bit funky and I didn't quite trust it so I got myself a cheap relocation van and now it's safe in my joint in Melbourne.
Thanks for all the help guys. Now to find myself a petcock (I think mine is toast - the bike seems to starve of fuel when the tank is low and 'res' makes no difference) and work out what that noise is inconsistently around 5000-6000 rpm.
http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?237775-High-frequency-vibration-noise-GS550e
Forked out the dough for the roadworthy and headed along with some trepidation. Would they notice the leaky fork seals? I carried a rag and gave it a good wipe off before inspecting but cringed when they made me do the brake test saying "make the front forks compress". Will they call me out on the dirty engine, which probably has a slight weep from any number of oil seals or gasket surfaces? Truly, it isn't THAT bad. Would they notice the bits of plastic sheath falling apart from the wiring loom to expose the coloured wires? Surely THAT isn't a problem.
I watched the guy walk around, sit on it, compress the forks and do all the checks, only for him to come back and say, "it's all good mate, but your headlight points right instead of left." See they check your headlight's transition from high beam to low beam and if it dips down and to the right, you ain't roadworthy because your beam shan't shine into oncoming traffic. Turns out my bike must be a North American.
The fella, who was a nice enough bloke, said "get it back to me by 3pm with a good light and I'll sign off on it." OK! Woo! This was exciting, the thing was gonna pass but I had to get me some 7 inch glass to swap in. Many calls and a lot of running around - no wreckers had anything and some joker tried to sell me an aftermarket RD350 headlight with the funky housing - had me stumped but the last person I tried came through big time.
Craig is a no nonsense bloke I used to live around the corner from who is one of a dying bread in my home town: a motorcycle electrician that knows his ****, especially with old bikes. The guy has gone 'above and beyond' so many times for me that it is unbelievable. I always leave the place with a mixture of guilt and appreciation. Guilty because he sorted my ride so cheaply so many times, always giving pointers and spare bits and pieces that 'you might need. take some of these' and appreciation because he is simply a legend. I fear for the day when all we have is 19 year old apprentice service mechanics available to us. Let's hope it never happens.
Long story short - Craig and I swapped in some glass and it passed the test. The road trip is another story, NOT because Fast & Sassy broke down, but because the bike was behaving a tiny bit funky and I didn't quite trust it so I got myself a cheap relocation van and now it's safe in my joint in Melbourne.
Thanks for all the help guys. Now to find myself a petcock (I think mine is toast - the bike seems to starve of fuel when the tank is low and 'res' makes no difference) and work out what that noise is inconsistently around 5000-6000 rpm.
http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?237775-High-frequency-vibration-noise-GS550e
