Cant believe its been 4 years since the 550 arrived in sunny doncaster 8-O
Cant say that the bike has been 100% reliable but its with a sorry heart and a red face that i say that most, if not all problems Ive encountered have been introduce by old sausage fingers himself - yes thats me
Anyhoo, here's 4 years worth of fun and games with the hasleberg:
1. Fork Seals - replaced by some git at the local bike shop. He put transmission fluid in the forks and some cheapo seals and within a few weeks the forks were fubar'd. Ended up getting them repaired by a pro who rebuilt them properly and tuned them for my weight - Cost me an arm and a leg but been a dream ever since - The bike was a month old.
2. Sump plug - Sausage fingers over torqued the sump plug and stripped the threads. Had the same guy install a helicoil, worked like a charm and cost 15 quid - but it no longer wanted to shift gears - poo! Had it looked at by Dave Clarke racing who diagnosed the helicoil was catching on the selector drum. easy fix and he did the 'dave Clarke crank mod' while he was in the motor (this involves changing the crank bearings and introducing another seal to help the float, whatever that means?) - cost me an arm and a leg.
3. Stator - Sausage fingers remove the stator to clean it, but reassembled without torquing up the bolts enough - probably scared off by (2.) - Stator went walkabout mid ride and the wires got lunched by the front sproket - was somewhere in the Yorkshire dales region at the time about 100miles from home. Luckily another Easy fix with some twisting of wires and insulation tape, 10 minutes later i was back on it. - Free of charge
4. Front Brake - Front lever broke around the bit that holds the barrell/adjuster/plunger thingy in - no idea why as it just fell off without persuasion from sausage fingers. The bit that broke off took the barrell/adjuster/plunger thingy with it. I had a spare lever but this was was useless without the barrell/adjuster/plunger thingy. again i was about 100 miles from home, somewhere near that bit at the bottom of the map, Wales i think they call it.
5. Front brake - Sausage fingers purchased a new barrell/adjuster/plunger thingy and fitted, believe it or not i fitted it incorrectly, yes ill say that bit again - i fitted the front brake lever plunger incorrectly, thats the bit a blind 5 year old with a syndrome could manage! as usual chaos ensued - I put the spring in the wrong way round (spring which fits behind the rubber seal in the master cylinder) It eventually wormed its way into the master cylinder valve and stopped the fluid from returning - The brake caliper started to bind - then smoke - then spark! it was at this point i realized something wasn't quite right, it seized completely and wouldn't release - took some figuring out this one, stripped the caliper and everything looked fine , but as i was somewhere around middle England at the time 100 miles from home, i had no choice but to find the problem - and Find the problem i did, un-wound the spring out of the master cylinder and hey ho - brake was like new again - FOC
6. Fuel - So, was out riding around Mordor one afternoon, a hell of a long way from the Shire - Bout 100 miles i reckon- when fuel stated pissing from the Carb (just started another thread on this by the way) already tight on fuel and no where near a fuel station - apparently there was a trail of petrol 3 miles long behind me - we lit it up in hope of seeing a line of fire over the hills but it wouldnt work - bummer, anyway managed to get it to stop leaking without having to strip the carb, got home safe and sound - FOC
Anyhoo, thats about it, other than regular oil changes which envlove ignoring all the bits of engine on the sump magnet and a few valve checks shes still running like a trooper, good for another 4 years me reckons. As you can imagine, old sausage fingers and his hassleberg have developed quite a reputation amongst my riding buddys - luckily they're all pencill necks on brand new KTM'S, so couldn't give a **** really.
Awesome bike.
Cant say that the bike has been 100% reliable but its with a sorry heart and a red face that i say that most, if not all problems Ive encountered have been introduce by old sausage fingers himself - yes thats me
Anyhoo, here's 4 years worth of fun and games with the hasleberg:
1. Fork Seals - replaced by some git at the local bike shop. He put transmission fluid in the forks and some cheapo seals and within a few weeks the forks were fubar'd. Ended up getting them repaired by a pro who rebuilt them properly and tuned them for my weight - Cost me an arm and a leg but been a dream ever since - The bike was a month old.
2. Sump plug - Sausage fingers over torqued the sump plug and stripped the threads. Had the same guy install a helicoil, worked like a charm and cost 15 quid - but it no longer wanted to shift gears - poo! Had it looked at by Dave Clarke racing who diagnosed the helicoil was catching on the selector drum. easy fix and he did the 'dave Clarke crank mod' while he was in the motor (this involves changing the crank bearings and introducing another seal to help the float, whatever that means?) - cost me an arm and a leg.
3. Stator - Sausage fingers remove the stator to clean it, but reassembled without torquing up the bolts enough - probably scared off by (2.) - Stator went walkabout mid ride and the wires got lunched by the front sproket - was somewhere in the Yorkshire dales region at the time about 100miles from home. Luckily another Easy fix with some twisting of wires and insulation tape, 10 minutes later i was back on it. - Free of charge
4. Front Brake - Front lever broke around the bit that holds the barrell/adjuster/plunger thingy in - no idea why as it just fell off without persuasion from sausage fingers. The bit that broke off took the barrell/adjuster/plunger thingy with it. I had a spare lever but this was was useless without the barrell/adjuster/plunger thingy. again i was about 100 miles from home, somewhere near that bit at the bottom of the map, Wales i think they call it.
5. Front brake - Sausage fingers purchased a new barrell/adjuster/plunger thingy and fitted, believe it or not i fitted it incorrectly, yes ill say that bit again - i fitted the front brake lever plunger incorrectly, thats the bit a blind 5 year old with a syndrome could manage! as usual chaos ensued - I put the spring in the wrong way round (spring which fits behind the rubber seal in the master cylinder) It eventually wormed its way into the master cylinder valve and stopped the fluid from returning - The brake caliper started to bind - then smoke - then spark! it was at this point i realized something wasn't quite right, it seized completely and wouldn't release - took some figuring out this one, stripped the caliper and everything looked fine , but as i was somewhere around middle England at the time 100 miles from home, i had no choice but to find the problem - and Find the problem i did, un-wound the spring out of the master cylinder and hey ho - brake was like new again - FOC
6. Fuel - So, was out riding around Mordor one afternoon, a hell of a long way from the Shire - Bout 100 miles i reckon- when fuel stated pissing from the Carb (just started another thread on this by the way) already tight on fuel and no where near a fuel station - apparently there was a trail of petrol 3 miles long behind me - we lit it up in hope of seeing a line of fire over the hills but it wouldnt work - bummer, anyway managed to get it to stop leaking without having to strip the carb, got home safe and sound - FOC
Anyhoo, thats about it, other than regular oil changes which envlove ignoring all the bits of engine on the sump magnet and a few valve checks shes still running like a trooper, good for another 4 years me reckons. As you can imagine, old sausage fingers and his hassleberg have developed quite a reputation amongst my riding buddys - luckily they're all pencill necks on brand new KTM'S, so couldn't give a **** really.
Awesome bike.
