The past two weeks have seen a truly eclectic mix of motorcycles come through the mono motorcycles doors.

Last week we welcomed back the Yamaha WR450F for a replacement piston. The delicate task of ensuring all of the rings were precisely in place, was a two person job (hence no photo) as Katy held the barrel in place, while Daniel clipped the rings in place & slid the new piston into the barrel.

A little part of American history joined us too last week. The Harley Davidson FLS ‘Shovelhead’ started manufacture in 1966 & this particular Harley was registered in 1974.

Little is known about this particular Harley’s history, aside from the fact that she was found in a barn in the US & shipped to the UK.

The patina on the Harley tells a story of so many forgotten years & the paintwork still has the unique design of someones once pride & joy. The Harley Shovelhead’s new owner has a long history with the brand & appreciates the history surrounding these iconic motorcycles.

The Shovelhead came to us as a non start (she was previously running) However, Daniel discovered that the ignition switch had been wired up in the wrong sequence. With this rectified, the grumbling engine fired in to life. Daniel continues to add some new switches for the lights, as the connectors inside the headlight were rotten.

Two BMW giants joined us on Tuesday for security upgrades in advance of touring. The BMW1250GS & BMW1200GS have both benefited from the latest Thatcham Approved systems from DATATOOL.

Daniel & Katy took a long weekend break to Somerset last weekend & took some sunny down time together.

Upon our return, we welcomed the Kermit green Kawasaki ER6F for a full service & headstock assessment.

During the initial test ride, Daniel thought the front end felt particularly heavy. Having checked the headstock & found no play in the bearings, he then tested the tyre pressure. He discovered that the front tyre had 9psi & the rear had 12psi, hence the heavy weight of the bike.

The Polaris buggy with the CBR engine re-joined us Tuesday afternoon, after having been put through for an MOT, she had failed on a few issues. As the buggy is very much a ‘home made’ vehicle & a motorcycle/buggy hybrid, the electrics are a mish-mash of two separate vehicles & can conflict.

With this in mind Daniel fitted a new brake switch, but he swapped the buggy one with a motorcycle version to make it more sensitive. With brake lights, hazards & brakes working properly, we have sent her on her to be enjoyed in the May sunshine.

The glorious Triumph Thruxton R joined us on Wednesday for a full machine detail, metal/alloy polish & an interim service.

The Triumph wheels & spokes were pitted, marked & corroded upon receipt to the workshop & we had been asked by our customer to try & polish out as much as we could.

However, as we discovered in the detailing process, although the Triumph Thruxton R wheel rims may look like brushed aluminium, a polish test proved otherwise. When aluminium is polished, it leaves a black residue on the polishing cloth. These rims don’t. This means the aluminium wheel rims are coated with a protective factory sealant/powder coat.

With this discovery, it made more sense that the embedded marks in the rims, were underneath the coating & therefore couldn’t be polished out. It appeared as if small indents in the coating caused by road debris, had pitted the coating & let water in underneath.

However, despite this minor set back, the naked aluminium casings once polished, were immaculate & shone as if they had just be made. We also treated the chassis & engine with ACF50 sparingly applied for maximum protection. As we have mentioned before, too much ACF50 can actually attract dirt & dust to the areas it has been used on, leaving an unsightly sticky residue behind.

After the exhausts being acid etched, the tank delicately polished to retain it’s matt finish & the service completed, the Thurxton was ready to go home. 

The KTM 1290 Superduke came to us late last week as a non start.

The KTM had a mass of fault codes stored & was showing a GENERAL FAULT on the display & apparently could not see any of the keys, even the master key. After extensive testing, communication with KTM, TEXA Diagnostics, wiring chasing, connector cleaning & attempts at re-programming the keys, two scenarios were met.

The KTM key has a transponder chip built in to it & we noted that there was what looked teeth marks indented in the plastic, right where the chip is place inside the key. This could have interfered with the key identification process for the motorcycle.

However, the most likely outcome was that, as the KTM had not started prior to her arrival at the workshop, the customer had tried all of the keys, including the orange Master key. If these keys are used in the bike in the wrong sequence, the KTM wont have the time to programme them & can actually wipe all of the keys memory; meaning none of them can be recognised by the motorcycle.

Daniel then contacted TEXA Diagnostics directly to ask if there was a mapping solution to programme this model of KTM’s keys. Although we can programme most keys, this particular model of ECU has not had a programme written for it. Therefore, The KTM has now gone to a main dealer for a final assessment & key coding from the Master keys they have access too.

The first of our Aprilia guests was up on the ramp on Thursday. The Aprilia RSV1000 signature road racing bike Noriyuki Haga & Colin Edwards Gen 2.

In true Italian style, she’s showed her red, white & green colours & refused to start. She had power, the fuel pump was working, the fuel was replaced, she cranked, but refused to start. She came to us with no history, aside from the fact she has not been run for over a year.

Once Daniel had gone through the processes of elimination, he then moved on to the injectors & found that they had stuck shut, due to the fuel drying & crystalized out inside.

Once the injectors were cleaned, the Aprilia fired up & has gone on her way for an MOT.

Our second Aprilia, the SL1000 Falco joins us for some TLC including clutch & brake assessments, chain adjustment & to discover why her fan is not working.

Upon investigation & by chasing the wiring from the fan switch, embedded deep in her engine; Daniel has diagnosed that there is a broken wire between the fan thermo switch & the switching earth control to the fan relay.

As an interim fix, we have had approval by our customer, to fit a temporary switch to allow the fan to be turned on manually. It will return at a later date for a full rewire.

This Sunday, 26th May, sees our next breakfast club. With the weather looking fine for this bank holiday, we look forward to a great turn out.

As always, for all your motorcycling needs, contact Daniel or Katy on T: 01243 576212 / 07899 654446 or through our contact page.