Is that you can't be sure that a ham-fisted Muppet has not messed with your pride and joy prior to your loving ownership. I bought my MTS1200 privately in Jan this year from a Guy who denied any existence of mechanical knowledge, claiming to use the dealer for everything. On the run home (in freezing rain of course), I got an engine management light which was not the best of starts, however as soon as I got home I took a peek and found that the battery live was loose and the suspension wire was not actually bolted to the battery terminal properly. Hmm I thought, he's took his optimate lead off and was obviously not able to grasp the technical concept of holes, nuts 'n bolts and electickery. Chalked that one up to experience and proceeded to put a few thousand miles on her. Yesterday after a spirited run, it really was time for a new rear tyre. So out with the back wheel, what silencer has to come off ?, oh well no great hassle. Silencer unbolted and whilst carrying it to the bench noticed that it rattled !. Odd, must be a stone between the ally covers and the actual unit I though. Took the ally shrouds off noticing that the fasteners were less than pristine and getting more curious by the minute. Nope, no stones but certainly a rattle and two holes in the silencer. Hmmm... what was rattling was obviously between the silencer outer and inner absorption baffle and so armed with my trusty magnet, I managed to tease out the offending rattlers. First bit (no pun intended) was a piece of broken drill, second was another piece of the same drill-bit, third another broken bit of drill, this time a different smaller diameter, and finally after a few hours of teadious teasing a piece of the drill bit he must have started with smaller diameter. So it looks as though he (or his mates) had set about removing the baffles without actually taking the silencer off and working out that on this puppy, the silencer is assembled around a the baffle and that it cannot be removed The offending "rattlers" - you have to admire his persistance, three different broken drill-bits ! Professionally engineered hole 1 And hole number 2 I am assuming that there must have been some rivets or such like in the location of the holes, I guess they were there to secure the absorption baffle whilst the silencer was welded up around it. The baffle is tight and ain't going anywhere so I am tempted to leave as is. Any opinions on weather it's worth refastening, there a fair old gap between the absorption baffle mesh and the outer and so pop rivets (in this case) are not the easy answer. Just thought I'd share :smile: Hopefully that's the last of his hamfistery I'll find although thinking about it ...................... I do have some heat distortion on the headlight lens, slightly melted. Anyone seen this before ? (I have seen another heat damaged lens on e-bay). I wonder if this is a consequence of a very early model (delivered July 10) and possibly a warranty claim, or perhaps his mates stuck some big bulbs in for him. Opinions on, or experience of, the lens issue would be welcomed.
What a weird thing to do! Come MoT time the examiner may not be too impressed... I'm sure there's something about the gases having to escape out of the most end point of the exhaust.
Was it the standard exhaust or an after market? Sounds like a bit of a nightmare - hopefully it'll be the only thing?
Completely standard pipe (apart from the holes). There won't be an issue at MOT time as the holes are in the silencer unit itself which, fortunately is covered by the two Aluminium "shrouds / covers" in order to make it prettier. Believe me if the holes were visible without striping the covers off, I would have picked up on it before I bought the bike. I'm not worried by the holes themselves, just somewhat amused by the previous owners fumblings or the mechanical ineptitude of his mates.To break and loose one drill bit is unfortunate, but three !!?? :biggrin:
The heat distortion on the lens could be where a sticker or where the lens has been taped over, (for track day use) i was warned this might happen when i did a track day on mine, so i removed the relevant fuse
I see stuff like that nearly every day being a car tech ....folks bodging ,cocking ,general fekkin stuff up , bent nails holding stripped ball joint nuts in place , "not got the correct socket ?" hammer and chisel em off , wheel studs super glued in or ptfe tape wrapped round the threads , to long bolts threw timing cases that have forced timing chain against block and locked it up . It used to surprise me but after seeing years of it not much surprises me anymore . I know folk want to save on repair bills but if ya dont know what your doing just leave it be .
Andy - thanks for the input. Stickers eh, well I guess it could have been. If so it begs the question - what should i do when I hit Europe later this year ?, I had planned just to bung some of those halfords type sick on headlight thingies on. Maybee i'll just leave it as is .......... hmmm it's never simple is it ?
You don't need beam control on a bike when touring in EU, just check that your headlights are adjusted correctly for the UK and you should be ok.
