What an eventful fortnight. Motorcycles from the four corners of our earth have graced our doors, we’ve met the Machine Gun Preacher & ridden many miles in the Easter sunshine.

We began last week with welcoming the Honda Fireblade which joined us for some new tyre & essential upgrades to the brakes & caliper rebuilds. The Fireblade was on her way to a track day & our customer was very aware of the need to ‘stop!’ effectively.

Tuesday we welcomed the BMWR1200R to the workshop for a full service & an MOT. She sailed through the MOT & is now road ready for at least another year.

The shimmering Harley Davidson VROD joined us in the afternoon for some wiring upgrades & she will join us again in a few weeks time, as we replace her indicator wing mirrors.

On Tuesday evening we attended an evening with Sam Childers, otherwise known as ‘The Machine Gun Preacher’ Sam has been a biker since his teens, but has dedicated his adult life to saving & protecting thousands of orphans & children in the Sudan & Ethiopia.

We have been working on a Harley Davidson 883 custom on & off since we moved to the workshop last year, for servicing & minor upgrades. Our customer wanted the Harley to have a ‘Spring refresh’ this year which included a newly Alcantara trimmed seat, exhaust fabrication, servicing, powder coating, polishing & an engine refresh.

Daniel took the exhausts apart, re shaped them, cut them so they were both the same size & then wrapped them in tan coloured heat wrap to create that true Cafe Racer look.

The rocker covers were sent off to paint & in the mean time, Daniel dusted the engine over & polished the fins & the gasket covers.

The seat was trimmed by Trimspeed with an Alcantara top & plain leather surround.

Although the changes to the Harley are subtle, they have given this beloved motorcycle a fresh new look for the 2019 riding season.

Last Thursday we welcomed a Triumph Tiger 955i to the workshop. The Triumph had previously undergone works elsewhere, which were regrettably not completed to the standard we would have expected. Having had the headstock bearings replaced, Daniel discovered they had not been seated correctly, which meant the front end felt ‘lumpy’ when riding.

The wiring had been ‘attended’ to, but had somehow lost the connection to the heated grips & had been finished in a less that sightly fashion.

Once the wiring was sorted, the headtsock seated correctly & handlebars adjusted, the Triumph underwent her full service.

With a fresh engine & the front end aligned, the Triumph rode like a new motorcycle & our very happy customer left a wonderful review reflecting this.

Daniel & Katy took the entire 4 days of the Easter break of for some much needed R&R. Their riding antics are recorded in our other blog.

We started the week after the bank holiday, fitting the Scottoiler to the BMWS1000XR. The XR needs to have the electronically controlled version of the Scottoiler, as the traditional model is not compatible.

Daniel took Wednesday off work & headed to Brands Hatch GP circuit for a track day. The Triumph 765 RS was put through her paces & the track didn’t fail to challenge the riders & give them all a great day out.

Following a theme, the first bike up on the ramp on Thursday was a track bike.

The Triumph 675 which was at Snetterton on Monday, had it’s engine management light come on during riding. Following a TEXA diagnostic sweep, it has transpired that the Exhaust Actuator control device had failed (this is the valve inside the exhaust) The fault code was cleared & the customer has been advised of how to proceed going forward. 

Our Blue Yamaha R1 guest has had her valve clearances checked on Thursday, but not without a little drama.

The coolant pipes which go in to the top of the cylinder head, were absolutely solid & even with all of Daniel’s grit & determination, he couldn’t pry them loose. After soaking the pipes in WD40 in place for about an hour, periodically trying to move them; they finally gave, but not without leaving tell tale signs that the rocker cover may not have been off this motorcycle in a considerable length of time (see photo’s below) However, once Daniel had the cover off, the valve clearance check, in this case, proved that all of the clearances were well within tolerance. The service is now complete.

We took a trip up to Slinfold on Thursday to meet the amazing team of Dave Batchelor & Chris Nicols at P & D Custom Bikes.

What a pleasure to meet such passionate craftsmen. Dave Batchelor has been customising motorcycles since 1974 & is recognised as one of the most established motorcycle custom experts in the UK today. We look forward to collaborating on some of their amazing projects in the not too distant future

Our final guest of this week, was the dominating BMWR1200 who joined us today for a diagnostic sweep & security upgrades.

We are really excited that our first breakfast club is this coming Sunday & we are hoping for a large turnout.

We are currently booking from the end of May & therefore are advising customers to book in advance to avoid disappointment.

For all your motorcycling needs, contact Daniel or Katy on T: 01243 576 212 / 07899 654446 E: info@monomotorcycles.co.uk or through our contact page.