Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB

Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB (https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/)

- The HUBB PUB (https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/the-hubb-pub/)

- - old vs new (https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/the-hubb-pub/old-vs-new-95024)

Quote:

Originally Posted by backofbeyond (Post 584457)

the supplying dealer

I recently spent up to one day (a whole Sunday no less) looking into changing a 4 wheeler; that was as long as I was prepared to waste of my remaining life in such activity.
And, here in the UK they are open for only 6 hours on Sundays so the clock was ticking.

After two main dealers I ended up with a family run garage company who get their new cars via the allocations made to one of the previously visited main dealers.
That's the moral of this short story; don't waste time with the main dealers but find the business that is interested in you as a customer.
By 3.30 pm that day the deal was done and I went back to doing more interesting things than chasing around car showrooms.

Quote:

Originally Posted by *Touring Ted* (Post 584480)

£620 !! For headbearings and a blocked breather. OMG !! BMW have fixed prices for jobs like this. I would suggest he asks for an itemised bill.

F800's BMW always have notchy bearings. It's because they're roller ball and not tapered. And they have almost ZERO grease from the factory. The roller balls are meant to give more feel. But they're just shite. And cheap.

If they wouldn't ride it due to bearings, then they need shaming. Unless they were so bad the yokes fell out of the frame. Which I doubt.

Any BMW dealer who knows BMW's would know that a cutting out F800 is likely to be breather hoses under the airbox that fall off or kink.

But like most dealer techs, I reckon they're probably ex-tyre fitters and on minimum wage. Sent on BMW training courses where they just eat biscuits and watch slide shows then come home with certificates calling them Master Technicians.

Can you tell me which BMW this was. Just because I'm nosey.

I think you are right Ted. The dealership was Dick Lovett Bristol Cribs Causeway. Fairly new dealership mainly a car sales set up with a bike showroom on the side!! We used to have a really good old school BMW set up at Bath Road M/C where the Technicians Knew their stuff. Still there but franchise taken away when new place opened.

Funny enough my neighbour actually told them it maybe the breather hoses after reading a load of issues on the net... He is off touring France this week so I'll get him to check his invoice when he returns. They also told him his rear pads were very low but when they told him the price he bought pattern ones and did it him self .. crazy money

Cheers
Bones

Quote:

Originally Posted by tremens (Post 584069)

Also, with reliability it's not that simple - maybe current bikes break less often although that's arguable but if they break usually you cannot fix them by yourself. So which one would prefer for RTW trip? I take 15 years old yamaha or honda any time of the day over newest models.

I'd nearly always rather have something I have half a chance of understanding / fixing myself too.

A couple of weeks ago I dusted off my 18 year old Honda VFR that has been sleeping in the shed for 9 months, charged the battery, changed a bulb, pumped the tyres up and rode it 2000 miles to Spain and back. 90's Hondas are as tough as old boots.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wilko373 (Post 585089)

Was it Ron Haslam who took a showroom VFR and raced it in superbikes after he lost his ride, and finished well up the field?
great bikes

It ain't just bikes I'm afraid, I have a 4x4 duster and want to change the rear axle oil so I contact dacia UK tell them I want the torque settings for the drain and refill plugs, they say our tech team will b in touch. After some more emails get sent huge spec sheet with everything under the sun but not what I want, they then say contact ur local dealer...... I would but I can never get thru the call handling centre

Quote:

Originally Posted by moggy 1968 (Post 585158)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSKa882y0Hc

'Tis still spoken of today in VFR circles, along with the late great Joey Dunlop' s unbelievable superbike win in Ulster against the Yamaha R1s on an RC45 (VFR750R) in the v4's last great swansong.

https://youtu.be/t-VEc5EV-TY

My travel style on bikes tends to be to go where I want to ride and get hold of one so I've done more miles on rented bikes than my own in recent years - but riding the VFR is like putting on a comfortable pair of old slippers. I doubt I will ever sell it.