Firstpeke
Well-Known Member
....or a revealer of reality.....
For years I serviced my bikes myself, changed my own tyres the old fashioned way and generally all was good in the world of motorcycling.....
When I owned my previous bike, a 1250RT, it was under warranty with BMW and so dealer servicing was needed to keep it in warranty.
Tyre changing was horrendous as the wheel rim did not have a deep well, resulting in much sweating and scratching of rims, resulting in repainting etc..
I decided that it I was not going to fit tyres to that bike again, okay so I lied to myself and did it again... idiot.
Traded that bike in and bought the NT1100D. Great bike, of course under warranty and dealer servicing again, marginally less expensive than BMW, but 8K miles between services and not BMW's 6000......
Got new tyres at a great price fitted at a bike dealer up in Elgin whilst visiting a friend up there, so that was a good result.
Had a new rear fitted in Cardiff after a puncture coming back from Euroland, expensive but unavoidable after a piece of flint made wiggly worms unworkable.....
Shortly after that a new front up in Forres whilst visiting my friend again... not inexpensive but very convenient, so done.
Recently sought a price for new tyres and didn't fancy the fitted price for a pair of Michelin Road 6 so, yes, I bought them to fit to the bike myself..... reasoning that
my brake calipers had not been cleaned previously either during servicing, or tyre changing.... So with just under 30,000 miles on the clock I thought it a good idea to undertake this simple task....
Idiot.
I thought that Honda rims can't have changed that much and of course I get to clean everything, check the brake pads and so on....
Cutting what is a long story short, after some wheel refinishing and considerable sweat and anguish, sore knees and a few days of pain..... my bike has cleaned brake calipers, new Michelin Road 6 tyres and a clean swing arm, chain and adjusted handbrake (it's a DCT).... Not to mention a polished exhaust, which has to come off to work on the brakes properly unless you have a hydraulic service ramp..
I have two sore knees, a sore back and a whilst there is a sense of achievement, there is also a firm decision that it really does mean that despite having achieved all of the nice clean and shiny bits and two new tyres, the time has come to pay someone else to get their hands dirty, skin their knuckles and suffer the back pain.
The biggest problem that many of us have is the reality that we are no longer in our twenties, thirties, forties, fifties or even for some, possibly our sixties... and whilst in our heads we can achieve what we set our minds to do, our bodies are no longer willing to cash that cheque......
For years I serviced my bikes myself, changed my own tyres the old fashioned way and generally all was good in the world of motorcycling.....
When I owned my previous bike, a 1250RT, it was under warranty with BMW and so dealer servicing was needed to keep it in warranty.
Tyre changing was horrendous as the wheel rim did not have a deep well, resulting in much sweating and scratching of rims, resulting in repainting etc..
I decided that it I was not going to fit tyres to that bike again, okay so I lied to myself and did it again... idiot.
Traded that bike in and bought the NT1100D. Great bike, of course under warranty and dealer servicing again, marginally less expensive than BMW, but 8K miles between services and not BMW's 6000......
Got new tyres at a great price fitted at a bike dealer up in Elgin whilst visiting a friend up there, so that was a good result.
Had a new rear fitted in Cardiff after a puncture coming back from Euroland, expensive but unavoidable after a piece of flint made wiggly worms unworkable.....
Shortly after that a new front up in Forres whilst visiting my friend again... not inexpensive but very convenient, so done.
Recently sought a price for new tyres and didn't fancy the fitted price for a pair of Michelin Road 6 so, yes, I bought them to fit to the bike myself..... reasoning that
my brake calipers had not been cleaned previously either during servicing, or tyre changing.... So with just under 30,000 miles on the clock I thought it a good idea to undertake this simple task....
Idiot.
I thought that Honda rims can't have changed that much and of course I get to clean everything, check the brake pads and so on....
Cutting what is a long story short, after some wheel refinishing and considerable sweat and anguish, sore knees and a few days of pain..... my bike has cleaned brake calipers, new Michelin Road 6 tyres and a clean swing arm, chain and adjusted handbrake (it's a DCT).... Not to mention a polished exhaust, which has to come off to work on the brakes properly unless you have a hydraulic service ramp..
I have two sore knees, a sore back and a whilst there is a sense of achievement, there is also a firm decision that it really does mean that despite having achieved all of the nice clean and shiny bits and two new tyres, the time has come to pay someone else to get their hands dirty, skin their knuckles and suffer the back pain.
The biggest problem that many of us have is the reality that we are no longer in our twenties, thirties, forties, fifties or even for some, possibly our sixties... and whilst in our heads we can achieve what we set our minds to do, our bodies are no longer willing to cash that cheque......
