two2tone91
Registered user
Ladies, gentlemen and fellow tossers. i've been on here for a while now, soaking up all the knowledge from years of posts, and i'm grateful for everyone that has gone to the effort of helping fellow members out/ so i thought i would narrate the roller coaster 6 months I've had with the bike whilst preparing for a couple of Europe trips
I have had my 2010 TC adventure since august. It was the second one that I’d viewed, the first being an absolute dog with more structural cable ties than I would be willing to work with. Then this bike turned up, what seemed to be an immaculate example with no electronic gadgetry for me to fix when it starts playing up, it’s red so it was of course, immediately faster than the grey one id seen before and was teeming with all the Gucci bits id have ended up fitting anyway. Within a day of its listing I had viewed the bike, paid up and was bribing family members to drive me over and collect it. All was well in the world.
A month goes by before I start fettling with the bike, checking everything that could possibly be checked before I start planning a proper trip on it. Then I stumble across my first hurdle, a rear wheel centre hub with hairline cracks around the bolt holes (I assume the bolts have seen a much stronger man than I at some point in their life). So I replace it for a used wheel, cursing missing that when viewing the bike. Another item on the check list for future purchases.
Another month passes pretty hassle free, but I start to ponder why the bike struggles to fire up once it’s warm. Cue a quick battery check and find that the unit fitted, even when new didn’t match the CCA of the standard unit… fine, a new battery it is, could have been worse I thought, another item added to my bike buying checklist.
Two weeks pass this time, and my brother is booked into Honda to test ride a bike. I gear up and go out to the GS to wind up the remote preload on my non ESA ohlins shocks, nothing’s happening, no pressure at all, assumed failed seal in the preload adjuster. OK I thought, it'll be an o-ring and I shouldn’t be too much drama. Cue a conversation with 3 different ohlins specialists who were quoting around a month turnaround, and decide to have both shocks rebuilt as I have nothing identifying when the ohlins units were originally fitted. The month passes, bike propped up on its stand and wooden blocks looking sorry for itself, and finally they are back, looking brand new and have notably improved the handling of the bike. OK I think, not ideal but well worth doing before the weather picks up and i lose valuable play time in the sun!
Then Just last week the wire into the spotlight connector broke away and I’ve had to replace that too...
(I also note that I treated the bike to a nice titanium Beowulf silencer at the NEC bike show, and am booked into have the bike reprogrammed by hilltop (not interested in a hilltop discussion please), but safe to say i'm pretty far into this bike financially!)
now... historically with any vehicle I’ve had in my life, mechanical problems ebb away at the faith I had in it to the point that I end up changing. despite my sensible head telling me that all the work has been put in already and that I’d only end up doing the same thing with the next one. And yet, along comes the GS, with its long list of pitfalls, (and apparent expenses to keep it mint,) hasn’t lost an ounce of the faith I have in it. I’m beginning to think that this new found trust might be some form of fever, maybe a mental health issue? I believe that alcoholics anonymous say ‘the first step is to admit you have a problem’. so here goes, ‘I am a tosser’…
I have had my 2010 TC adventure since august. It was the second one that I’d viewed, the first being an absolute dog with more structural cable ties than I would be willing to work with. Then this bike turned up, what seemed to be an immaculate example with no electronic gadgetry for me to fix when it starts playing up, it’s red so it was of course, immediately faster than the grey one id seen before and was teeming with all the Gucci bits id have ended up fitting anyway. Within a day of its listing I had viewed the bike, paid up and was bribing family members to drive me over and collect it. All was well in the world.
A month goes by before I start fettling with the bike, checking everything that could possibly be checked before I start planning a proper trip on it. Then I stumble across my first hurdle, a rear wheel centre hub with hairline cracks around the bolt holes (I assume the bolts have seen a much stronger man than I at some point in their life). So I replace it for a used wheel, cursing missing that when viewing the bike. Another item on the check list for future purchases.
Another month passes pretty hassle free, but I start to ponder why the bike struggles to fire up once it’s warm. Cue a quick battery check and find that the unit fitted, even when new didn’t match the CCA of the standard unit… fine, a new battery it is, could have been worse I thought, another item added to my bike buying checklist.
Two weeks pass this time, and my brother is booked into Honda to test ride a bike. I gear up and go out to the GS to wind up the remote preload on my non ESA ohlins shocks, nothing’s happening, no pressure at all, assumed failed seal in the preload adjuster. OK I thought, it'll be an o-ring and I shouldn’t be too much drama. Cue a conversation with 3 different ohlins specialists who were quoting around a month turnaround, and decide to have both shocks rebuilt as I have nothing identifying when the ohlins units were originally fitted. The month passes, bike propped up on its stand and wooden blocks looking sorry for itself, and finally they are back, looking brand new and have notably improved the handling of the bike. OK I think, not ideal but well worth doing before the weather picks up and i lose valuable play time in the sun!
Then Just last week the wire into the spotlight connector broke away and I’ve had to replace that too...
(I also note that I treated the bike to a nice titanium Beowulf silencer at the NEC bike show, and am booked into have the bike reprogrammed by hilltop (not interested in a hilltop discussion please), but safe to say i'm pretty far into this bike financially!)
now... historically with any vehicle I’ve had in my life, mechanical problems ebb away at the faith I had in it to the point that I end up changing. despite my sensible head telling me that all the work has been put in already and that I’d only end up doing the same thing with the next one. And yet, along comes the GS, with its long list of pitfalls, (and apparent expenses to keep it mint,) hasn’t lost an ounce of the faith I have in it. I’m beginning to think that this new found trust might be some form of fever, maybe a mental health issue? I believe that alcoholics anonymous say ‘the first step is to admit you have a problem’. so here goes, ‘I am a tosser’…
