Moto Corsa Save The Day.
Sunday, the day we'd planned to transit North, and I'm making a blog entry. We'd brought the departure forward from Tuesday in the hope of fewer trucks and other traffic on the motorways. Everything had gone well; Og's bike was ready and we had the paperwork in order.
Last Thursday afternoon I had been returning to London from the Midlands when I noticed a little clutch slip under hard accelleration. It wasn't too bad, and could be ridden around, but not something you want to start a 15,000 mile ride with. So after dropping Og at Steves and collecting his bike, I went down to Moto Corsa at Three Cross in Dorset. Despite arriving at 3.00 o'clock on Friday afternoon with the "and I'm just about to go on holiday" story, they were happy to launch into it.
Mike's analysis was gear oil on the plate, probably due to a failed clutch pushrod seal, so the back end came off. The thrust bearing fell out in John's hands, having collapsed; problem found. New bits, reassemble. Test ride suggests that a bit of provocation will burn off the remaining oil, probably, but also reveals an exhaust leak from the right port; the stud has sheared off. So I book in for 1.00 o'clock on Saturday to get that fixed, plus give the fuel injection a once over.
The old stud was drilled out and a new one fitted. Mike had all but finished tweaking the injection when he noticed a rotating rattle on engine shut down. We have a major problem; a clutch plate has sheared off the centre. Better here than Latvia is my first thought!
By now it was approaching 3 o'clock on Saturday afternoon. Anyone else would have said "Sorry mate, come back on Thursday", but Mike's response was quite the opposite. There were two of them there, it was late so there'd be no interuptions, he had some plates for his personal bike, so they should have it done by about seven. They sent me away on the shop hack, with a promise that they'd call me.
I paced the floor like a pregnant father for a couple of hours, and knowing that it would take me an hour to get there I weakened and called them at six. They would have the bike together by about seven, but not final checked. Mike offered to come in Sunday afternoon (apologising that he had a personal committment in the morning!) but we agreed that Monday morning would be fine.
So we'll start a day late, no big deal; but without the great service delivered unflinchingly by Mike and John at Moto Corsa, we'd be grounded for a week.
Mass.
Og's bike attracts interest!
posted by Og @ 9:14 PM
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