A mechanically type question thing.

I'd have hoped so, but... there's really not much room in there.

I can't remember exactly how everything's arranged atm, but it might be
possible to do it without removing the carbs.

 

Oh. I was going to get the beer, popcorn and a comfy chair so I could
sit and watch.

 

You never mentioned that the air filter hadn't been changed since
Methuselah was a lad, when everybody was fumbling in the dark trying
to diagnose the problem in the first place.

Hah. Elly's CBR caught me like that. Apart from the almighty faff
involved in depressurising the injection system which was only
possible by shrinking my hands to SJ (small Japanese) size and
wiggling little spanners around benath the tank - the access to the
plugs was shockingly awful. In a fit of slitty-eyed superiority,
Honda-San willed a bracing spar across the frame right above the
plugs.

It took ten minutes to persuade the coil-onna-stick off the top of
each plug, then another ten to get the old plug out. Two fucking
hours it took in total, just to do the fucking plugs.

That's the whole reason behind neglecting servicing, though. Once
you've sorted it, you really appreciate the difference.

Don't leave it so long next time, eh?

 

"They always go best just before they blow up"

 

I know. My mate who used to work at a Kwack main dealer said one of
the reason servicing costs were so high nowadays was that it took so
much longer to do everything, cos everything is so tiny and crammed
together. Still, if we want 100bhp 600s that weigh < 180kg...

 

I know, I know.

I thought doing the camchain tensioner on old Kwak Z-series engines was
an act of mechanical gynaecology, but those plugs were just ridiculous.

I can see why the local Kwak dealers have raised their labour charge to
GBP45 per hour - it's to cover the medical bills for all the sprained
wrists trying to get into almost inaccessible places, just to do
something that's fairly basic maintenance.

I'm almost looking forward to servicing the Bandit: no fairing to ****
about with, no frame rails getting in the way; just whip off the tank
and it's all there in front of you. Lovely.

 

Andy could use them....

 

"Willed"? He can put bracing spars in place just by willing them
there? That is superior.

As my mate used to say in the bike shop - this is what people do to
get their own back after you've dropped atom bombs on them.

 

How much?

Another reason for owning a Suzuki and living in the South - £35 here...

 

Well, he usually drinks my beer anyway, so I might as well make him
properly comfortable.

 

Christ knows what you'll find inside though.

 

Yeah... and the minimum charge is one hour. They've got a list of
examples: getting an oil and filter change done is GBP45, plus parts and
fluids. I can't remember some of the other gems.

Our tame mechanic charges ~GBP25 per hour, and has a tendency to forget
exactly how long he's spent working on your bike.

 

Of course. As Nigel will tell you, this thinking comes direct from a
wooden shed in the far and dusty corner of the production floor,
inhabited by tiny, wrinkled Oriental gentlemen with scores to settle
.... "How we **** up Johnny Round-Eye today?" "Hah! So, we will a spar
in here, hide a bolt in there, make this captive fastening spin, make
that obvious bolt imporrible to lemove without totarry dismantering
whole engine ... "

See above.

 

Somebody said it had recently been serviced, didn't they?

Mind, I don't think I've even checked the oil level, so I'm not entirely
blame-free.

 

Yup, courtesy of George White in Slough.

You say this to the bloke whose car failed its MOT because it was
running with so little oil the tester was convinced it'd seize if
revved high enough to do the emissions test.

 

It's probably alright then.

Pah, he must be a wuss - the little red light wasn't on, was it?

 

AndrewR says...

No it's not. My 9R has the same fuel pipes and suffered a split last
weekend. I got a 2 foot length from our local motor parts supplier for
1-60ukp.

 

ogden says...

Did you have that blonde burd service it? She's meant to be a bloody
good mechanic.

 

Good god man. You were meant to ask me questions like that in public
*before* I sold it, not after!

 

Seemed happy bouncing off the redline when I drove it down there.
Don't know what all the fuss was about.