First service

January 20, 2009 - Tuesday

I ended up taking the Beastie in to the mechanic's yesterday after all. It started raining around midday, and I left work early at 1600 hours in order to get home and head back into town before the mechanic closed. It was very warm, and though the snow that had frozen over on our garage drive wasn't gone, it was slushy and I could roll the machine out. I refueled it at the nearest gas station and then headed int Zürich. After 500 meters the "check engine" light came on, but it ran fine. It backfired mildly twice, but that was just the rest of the diesel. It doesn't pull properly between 2500 and 3000 rpm, and idles irregularly, but that's all stuff that should disappear with a recalibration of the ECM. My gear was sopping wet when I reached the mechanic's, though I was fairly dry with the exception of my knees. I walked in, greeted Fabio and said I was bringing the bike in for service. "What? Already done 1600 kilometers?" he asked in surprise. "Not quite. 1300." Peter, the mechanic who's generally in charge of my bike, rounded the corner just then, and I told them about the spark plugs and the spitting and the whole nine yards. Snow was forecast for today until Thursday, so I told them they could take their time. It didn't snow today after all, though. That figures. I could have driven it today. But it's better I got to talk to Peter in person about what needs to be looked at. If there's no snow tomorrow, I'll ask about picking it up over lunch; if that nuiscancy white stuff does show up, I'll let them keep it until Thursday.