1 Year Anniversary!
Hello!
Today I officially have been riding for a year! HOORAY!
I just have to get myself a new bike now!
HAHA
Thanks for reading over the past year folks,
I am hoping this year will be even more successful!
Cheers
Gordon
Repair Bills and Suzuki
Goodevening all.
This weekend was a mixture of good and bad. But lets be positive and start off on the good.
Got the ER6 back on Friday, one of the windiest days so far this year. It was looking ace in the dark, really shiny and it was cleaned quite well. Got all my still dirty gear on and headed home from the Garage. It was a weird feeling riding for the first time after the accident. But moreover it wasn’t a secure feeling on the ER6. Really twitchy.
The repair bill was quite reasonable. The parts list was as follows:
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Gear Lever £25.98
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Generator Cover and Gasket £52.62
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L/H Front Indicator £23.67
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Front Brake Lever £25.45
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Rear Brake Lever £20.30
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R/H Footpeg and bank sensor £46.62
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Clutch Lever £7.67
So there you go.
On Saturday I went to the Suzuki garage and started arranging the GSR. I chatted away with the guy about it all and gave some details, £200 holding fee which they refund me in a weeks time….silly, and some details about the ER6, at which point he asked what the condition was of it. I said that it was good condition and that it was a test ride bike so has marks on the footpeg hangers. There is also a crack on the fairing. At this point he took interest and asked what sort of crack etc. And eventually he said well we need to do a workshop check before agreeing on the price for the ER6. He wants it in showroom condition so may need to order some parts in. Ok I said and off we went, agreeing that Saturday was the time to do it all.
When I arrived home i went out to the ER6 and took the front fairing off to inspect in in the kitchen and it was scraped to buggery. If he sees this he’s going to know that it was dropped etc so I need to replace it.
So I will call the Garage tomorrow and get one ordered as I dont really want to go in Saturday and they say “ooo it’ll cost you £200 for a new one so we’ll take that off the part exchange price..” when it actually would have cost me £50. At least it gives me proof of them trying to pull my pants over my head. But it’s all depending on what the boys at Suzuki deem to be “Showroom Condition.”
We’ll just have to wait and see. Me and Em went out for a 2 hour ride today and I put the helmet cam on her this time. Which shows a really smart angle. I’ll convert it tomorrow and post it up to let you see. However the lens gets dirty again. I am starting to think that this camera will only be really good in the complete dry weather. But it was a good ride out and already my confidence has came back.
I also got my quote through from Express Insurance, with £395 as the official quote.
So yeah, I’ll keep you posted on what happens with Suzuki.
Thanks for looking folks,
Gordon
On the bike hunt – Part 3 – Yamaha
Hello all,
Yamaha. I had one, then it melted. But despite all that, I was desperate for a FZ6.
Fast as you like, smart as you like and exactly what I wanted.
However I really had to think long and hard last night, as things have started to get a little cloudy surrounding the whole bike thing.
So what came out of it was that most people are offering me £3k for my Buell. The difference to get any new bike is £1500-£2000 and that’s just too much financially. Thus, I spent a wee while phoning around various garages that I had visited for a test ride to see what they had to offer and the outcome was not great.
For most of them I still had to fork out some money. I don’t want to, I can’t afford it, I need a direct swap. This was not a possibility for most of the garages, even for the demonstrators which had only decreased as little as £300 from new…
So I finally remembered the ER6n I test road a few weekends ago, and I wrote about it in part 1. Yes the bars are stupid and it’s not the fastest or the best looking ( I am warming to it though) but it’s cheap, fast enough, a twin (I love twins), cheap insurance and comfy for 2 up. Great. So I called back the guy from Edi-Kwak and spoke with him about a direct swap for the demonstrator which looks like:
He said yes immediately. 4k on clocks, 2005 plate, great condition, Full service history (owned by Edi-Kwak since new) and taxed. 3 months parts and labour warranty too.
I still had some thinking to do so I said “I’ve still got some thinking to do” and would call him back later. The reason was I still had some deals on the table from other garages, Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki Perth. You may wonder why I have left out the biggest Japanese manufacturer here and theres a good reason for it. Honda are just too bloody expensive. £5500 for a Hornet…no thanks.
So a few of the deals were Buell+£800 would get me a brand new Kawasaki ER6n. My Buell+£300 would get me the GSR600 demonstrator, complete with Renthal bars and nose fairing….a good deal I thought.
But no no no. No more money can be spent.
So it was back to the ER6n for me. To be absolutely honest, I am relieved to be going back to Japanese. I am relieved that it is a twin, and I am relieved that it’s different from anything else on the road. So I called up and set Saturday as change over day, the day that Blair is getting his brand spankers GSR600, in Red.
In actual fact, I am really looking forward to having a bike that I don’t worship. I absolutely love the Buell, it’s my dream bike, but I was always worried that it broke or I dropped it or how much it would cost to keep. Now that the Buell is going and I’m getting a cheaper one, I can see myself starting my customising stage of biking. I will most definitely need new bars, new grips and maybe new mirrors. Then it’s seat, exhaust, clocks…you get the picture. And I shall do my best to document it all on here!
Then, after I had made the decision to go with Kawasaki, I called up Yamaha and explained the decision I had made and he suggested I go for their demonstrator I used. 100ish miles on it…he came back with Buell+£1000…instant no.
So I’m set! I will be swapping my beloved Buell XB12Ss Lightning for a Kawasaki ER6n in Galaxy Silver and red.
Plus, it’ll be the first ride in my entire biking career that I will not be riding alone.
And I can’t wait.
