Yeah, this is not like the Haroldo of old though, he used to get right back with the next installment.
Brian
Just picked up the bike today. Yes, this has indeed been going until TODAY
Soooo, where did we leave off?.... Ok, after I pushed the bike back to the stealer (for 1.5 miles), with no position that would make it comfortable (Brian, enjoy), they called me back 3 days later because "it was easier to show me than tell me on the phone".
So, when I get there, the left side of the bike is taken apart, mainly that casing where the speedo attached to. There are some bevel gears in there which were mangled and worn out, thus the broken speed sensor.
It turns out, that in addition to the clutch being f-ed, those bevel gears were also broken. In fact, I believe one thing might have contributed to the other...
Anyway, the part alone was $1800, plus gaskets and labor, I would be looking at 2.5K on top of the 2K I had just spent.
I proceeded to ask some angry questions to the tech and the manager, like how come you didn't check hti sbevel gear the first time the speedo broke? They showed me how the troubleshoot it, and it made sense. They hook up a tester to the connector, and thats it. After a small inquisition, I was convinced the technician did the best he could the first time around, and I really had two bombs in my hands.
As this onversation took place, the manager found the bevel gear case on eBay for $100! Someone just happened to be parting out their 08 and the part looked to be in mint condish....
Soooooo, just today and $700 later (eBay part, more dealer parts like gaskets etc, and 4 hours of labor), I picked her up.
She rides great so far....
In summary, I spent $2.7K to fix an 08 with 95K miles on it.
Here is my follow up question:
The last valve check performed on the bike was at 40K miles. The first adjustment and check were done by myself (don't ask) at 13K miles, and valves were grossely out of spec. On the second check at 40K, they were in spec (dealer did it). So, now I'm at 95k, wondering if valve clearances tend to change with age of this bike or not. Given that they were badly out of spec at 13K and then in spec at 40K, I speculate things settled in there and clearance changes are minimal now.
What is the data on this? I'm sure there are many riders with 08s with triple digit odometer readings here... How have your valves behaved along the life of the engine>?
Since this is shim under bucket, does it make sense to assume that valves clearances tend to grow with time (loose clearances) instead of tight, which would be the lesser evil if indeed clearances were actually off?