After near 17 years of 996 ownership i needed More, so sold it and bought an 1198s. Delightfully under market price and so it was almost a straight swap. My way of thinking was that if i needed to spend £2k on it i'd still be quids in....hmmmm...
So, collected on the first official day of winter (it started sleeting for the 100 mile ride home). The first three miles were hellish - it wouldn't idle and three times cut out when entering roundabouts or junctions. Verily i said Fack! Afer fuelling up it took several attempts to get started again so from then on i held the throttle slightly open whenever i had to slow or stop - not too clever when riding through crowded Stamford.
Anyway, by the time i got to Northampton the roads dried and i began to have some fun, in a cold kind of way. Finally got home in the shire (cotswolds) and such was the weather that i didn't ride again for a fortnight. First thing i did was add a linky so i could trickle charge the battery. Did a couple of hundred mile journeys subsequently but the weather hasn't been my friend - not got anywhere near the bike's potential.
Chatted with Geoff at Baines who i've dealt with for years - he suggested getting the diagnosis to check throttle position sensor, so i called Moto Rapido and booked it in. As soon as i said the reg number they said "Ah - we know this bike - not a sensor"
So i rode to Winchester the other day thinking possibly regulator issue, and then we had The Conversation. They dropped the oil and found metal swarf in the strainer. Fack x several.
So, that's it - main bearings at least, dammit. Right now i'm halfway through taking the engine out to take to Baines and looking forward to my wallet being emptied but having a refreshed engine for a new lease of life. Bloody hope so - three days booked at Portimao in may followed by grand eurotour. Yee, and indeed, haaaa!
20221205_161133 by
james serjeant, on Flickr