A totally different bike after dealer service
 

All,

Being a bit of a skinflint I have up until now serviced my bike myself. HeinGerrickes oil, filter and airfilter set, general check over and off we go again. Total cost about £25. However I felt the front brake was getting a bit notchy and once in a while I like to have someone check over the important stoppy, steery, bouncy bits to make sure it will stop, steer and bounce where it is supposed to.

So bit the bullet and took it to a local dealer for a propper service (it's done 20k miles). Got an XR125 loan bike which has if nothing else put me off the idea of ever buying a little trials bike.

Anyway, back to the point of this post. When I went to collect it, they said the fueling was miles out, the rear brake seized and the carbs out of balance. Handed over a huge ammount of money (£280 !!!) and got my bike back,

BLIMEY.

It goes like a rocket now. No more lag when opening up out of a bend, tick over without popping and banging, even fruitier burble on overrun front brake smooth as silk. Althogether a far more sorted bike.

Moving sharply back to the point of this post once again. If like me you do it all your self, it is almost certainly worth giving it to someone else once in a while (please feel free to insert crude joke here) to get a second opinion.

As it had gone out of tune and generally got all out of balance gradually, I did not really notice it until it was sounding rough. It feels miles better now. I'll still do the interrim oil and filter swaps, but once in a while it's going to get a propper going over by someone who does it for a living.

Still trouble starting from cold, but that's for another post.