The Bike Is Back

I had a call on Friday to say that my R1 was ready to be picked up after the leaking battery incident, so off to the local Yamaha dealer I went.

It certainly was nice to have her home after 7 weeks in the shop. Once in the shed a closer inspection of the swingarm revealed a very nice respray job.

With the bike approaching 30 000km (18 750mi) I decided to replace the swingarm bearings as well as the chain and sprockets while she was away in a disassembled state. I could feel a much lower resistance from the chain as I pushed the bike into the shed.  Unless I have beefed up a bit?

Yes, I pushed it because there was no way I was putting another one of those RoadStar batteries in my bike! I was happy to wait for something else to come back into stock.

Interestingly, the previous week I had given the old battery that wouldn't start the bike over 3 months ago to a mate. He has one of these fancy C Tech chargers and put the battery on the "recondition cycle" over night. I fitted the battery to the bike and it started it straight up! This from a battery that wouldn't start the bike 3 months ago after spending all night on my old school charger!

I used the old battery to ride back to the bike shop the next day to pick up the new one. It is a Lithium-Ion jobby, looks like a Lego block and is featherweight. I thought I might throw it on the cook's best kitchen scale to see what the difference actually was between the new and old.

984grams = 2lbs

---- = TOO HEAVY!

So it was off to the bathroom scale with the old lead-acid battery. It proved to be too light to get a measurement. By standing on the scale with and without the Exide, I was able to get a weight of 3.8 to 3.9kg (8.58lb)! Over 4 times the weight of the new battery! Woo Hoo, I can eat more pies and that can't be a bad thing!?!

It does look like it would suit a Kawasaki a little more than my Yammi, but who but the most farkle obsessed owner would be worried about the colour match?

 At least it can't spill sulphuric acid all over my bike. Everything else is going to lithium batteries and it comes with a 5 year warranty so I guess I will see how it goes.

Now to find time for some of this.......

Acid Rain

You may remember last month that I had to purchase myself a new battery for the R1 so that this ride could go ahead.

After the ride I washed my bike and put it in the shed, only getting it out again last week for a "tootle" to the shops to pick up some dry cleaning.

As I was putting it back in the shed I noticed some water on the swingarm, in front of the rear wheel. Now, as we have not had any rain in almost 2 months I was suspicious. On closer inspection I could see that the liquid was dripping from the battery box! Oh....no...!

 

Oh f@#k Yes! It was battery acid. I quickly whipped the seat off, had the battery out and began washing down the swingarm. But it was too late. The damage was done.

 

Fast forward to this week. I took the battery back to the store that I bought it from with the idea of chasing the battery distributors up for a replacement and restoration of my bike. I wasn't angry but I had my argument firmly laid out in my mind for when the "its not our responsibility" excuses were trotted out. Well I was pleasantly surprised. I presented the battery, explained what happened and the bike shop staff quickly nipped off to the workshop to show the "boys" the battery. He came back, rang the distributor and organised to have my bike picked up to assess it and test the voltage regulator. All without a further question asked on my part. I was impressed! I was also worried. Worried that a faulty regulator on my 10 year old bike had fried the battery, causing it to split.

 

 

I had a call from the bike shop yesterday and it turns out that my regulator was tested by the battery distributor in the bike shop's workshop and it was charging normally. Whew!

Now the battery distributor is organising for my swingarm to be repaired as well as a new battery. Or so I have been told. I must admit, with me leaving for the US on Monday I am a bit concerned with how this will pan out. I just hope it stays on track nicely, as it has so far. Watch this space....

Speaking of "watch this space", some of you may have seen this guy before but you can never see too much. I especially like his dismount at then end.