stooxie
06-20-2008, 18:45
So I've finally racked up about 700 miles on the 650R and I needed to get it serviced. Yeah, I'll do subsequent ones myself but I wanted the first one done by pros.
The local dealer has enough business not to care. They won't take appointments and they expect you to leave the bike for 3-4 DAYS until they can get to it. I figured I'd call a dealer further out (from DC) to see if they would be better.
I contact a dealer in Leesburg, about 25 miles from me. Great folks. I can make an appointment and they service the bike while you wait. Perfect! I'll take a nice ride, get some good service, be home in time for corn flakes. (Technically I'm playing hooky from work a bit). Home in plenty of time to pick up the kids. The wife is out of town for the weekend so it's just me.
So, this morning I ride down there. Arrive fine, service guys take the bike, offer to stow my gear, and I potter around the showroom.
About 15 mins later one of the service dudes comes out. "Did you know you've got a screw in your tire?"
I said "A screw?!?! No! It must have just happened on the way here."
The dude says "Well, we don't have any replacements for that size tire, either."
I looked at the rear tire, the dang screw was DEAD center. Man, what are the freakin chances of THAT happening? A bike tire must have a contact patch of 3 inches. 3 inches out of a 12 foot lane. One lane out of 3 available.
Whatever, I paid for a new tire which will show up on on Tuesday and called a buddy to shlepp my butt back home. $220 down the tubes. I rode to the far-away dealer and ended up dropping off my bike for 4 days anyway!!
Now, I know that as much I am considering this to be rotten luck I suppose I should be extremely thankful for two things:
1. No flat at 65mph and no blowout. This could have been WAY worse.
2. That I got friends willing to schlepp my butt 26 miles home in the middle of a work day.
I'm really trying to look at this in a positive light, but it's awefuly hard!
-Stooxie
The local dealer has enough business not to care. They won't take appointments and they expect you to leave the bike for 3-4 DAYS until they can get to it. I figured I'd call a dealer further out (from DC) to see if they would be better.
I contact a dealer in Leesburg, about 25 miles from me. Great folks. I can make an appointment and they service the bike while you wait. Perfect! I'll take a nice ride, get some good service, be home in time for corn flakes. (Technically I'm playing hooky from work a bit). Home in plenty of time to pick up the kids. The wife is out of town for the weekend so it's just me.
So, this morning I ride down there. Arrive fine, service guys take the bike, offer to stow my gear, and I potter around the showroom.
About 15 mins later one of the service dudes comes out. "Did you know you've got a screw in your tire?"
I said "A screw?!?! No! It must have just happened on the way here."
The dude says "Well, we don't have any replacements for that size tire, either."
I looked at the rear tire, the dang screw was DEAD center. Man, what are the freakin chances of THAT happening? A bike tire must have a contact patch of 3 inches. 3 inches out of a 12 foot lane. One lane out of 3 available.
Whatever, I paid for a new tire which will show up on on Tuesday and called a buddy to shlepp my butt back home. $220 down the tubes. I rode to the far-away dealer and ended up dropping off my bike for 4 days anyway!!
Now, I know that as much I am considering this to be rotten luck I suppose I should be extremely thankful for two things:
1. No flat at 65mph and no blowout. This could have been WAY worse.
2. That I got friends willing to schlepp my butt 26 miles home in the middle of a work day.
I'm really trying to look at this in a positive light, but it's awefuly hard!
-Stooxie