Back from the shop

Mr. Mike...i assure you i wasn't "cheaper" labor, i was more efficient and
less whiney.... i also assure you, you are mistaken in thinking i wouldn't
make it ten feet from the picket line... see in "my neck of the woods" we
don't stand for alot of chin music from some overpaid pussies that think no
one else can do their job...

Ok,

The F4i tune up came to $254 in parts and 5.5 hours of labor for another
$412 and tax of $48.

You sound *so-o-o-o* pleased with your shrewd bargaining powers.

Why on earth would you think that? Who bargains with mechanics? I've heard
of shopping around for a better rate but not bargaining like at a flea

Who wants resentful people working on their bike? "penny wise and
pound foolish"

market.

A friend, who has since moved away, used to offer mechanics an extra
$50 (taxfree) tip to get it done promptly, correctly, and without
scratching things up. Amazing what a little incentive can get you.

Ah yes, bribery. It works everytime.

When I bought my house the previous owner said she needed 3 weeks to move
out. I pulled out my check book, wrote a check for $1k and said, "Can you
be out by Friday?"

We moved in Saturday. I called it a convience fee.

Why on earth would you have to pay someone extra, just to do their job
properly?

Because your life might depend on it?

Why tip at a restaraunt? Why give employees bonuses and stock
options?

Life lesson #76: People remember others who treat them well.

Dunno. Ask a union member though, central to their worldview appears to be
the concept that doing a job for what it is worth is unacceptable.

You gots to be kidding dude.

Dunno. Have they infiltrated the local ice cream shop?

The only time I ever spent that much money at a motorsickle $tealer
$hip, I rode home on new motorcycles, and the $tealer never saw me
again, unless I was buying OEM parts that I couldn't get anywhere else.

Did it ever occur to you that different people might do things
differently than you, and that what is (or was) best for you might not
be best for other people?

Oh, yes, it certainly has occurred to me that there are attention-
seeking yuppies who need
to be constantly reassured that they are socially acceptable. They
define themselves by their
jobs and their possessions and they strive to keep those possessions
in perfect order so they
can maintain their *status* within their adopted community of other
anal retentive types.

They make banal announcements about how their odometer just turned
16,000 miles and how

yeah but it was a Hardley, so that many miles without trouble is quite
amazing, particularly considering how long his last one went before needing
major repairs.

problem free their new motorcycles have been. I remember one rider who
just had to stop in the middle of nowhere and take a picture of his
odometer to prove that his motorcycle had actually
gone that many miles.

Musta been an engunear. We just love taking measurements and keeping
records.

Again, if it was a Hardley, it is quite amazing. Same for a Chevy.

Got any pics of your own to share Krusty?

It might've, if you had ever matriculated from, say, third grade.

I find it strange that someone who must have attended college in the
past doesn't know what "matriculate" means, and misuses the term in a
sentence.

You probably wouldn't think of typing, "if you had ever *registered*
from third grade," or "if you had ever *enrolled* from third grade."

"Matriculation" is a word that means "registration", or "enrollment"
into an institution of learning.

But it goes beyond merely listing the name of the student in the
records of the school.

Most youngsters probably never heard of "matriculation" before they
enrolled in a community college. But, if they went on to a prestigious
institution to complete higher degrees, they might might later fondly
refer to that university as their "alma mater" and themselves as
"alumni", a term that refers to foster children who are nurtured by
others, *in loco parentis*, without ever making the mental
connections.

Your mom probably took you by the hand and led you to another motherly
type who received you and matriculated you into preschool or
kindergarten when you were four or five years old.

And you may have felt so comfortable with her that you occasionally
forgot she wasn't your mom, and you may have addressed her as such in
error.

If she was a really nice motherly type, she would have just smiled at
your error. I remember a
teacher who told a little boy, "I am NOT your mother. My name is "Miz
Anthrope", and don't ever
call me "mom" again!"

Is this gonna turn into some sort of Freudian love story there
Oedipus?

Aren't you special?

Yeah, as he tells us, over and over and over and over and over and
over and over......

The valves were spot on, no shims in the parts list.

The bike runs noticably better, I guess the plugs do make a big difference.
And the new chain feels much smoother, very little backlash like the old
chain.

They probably sync'ed the throttle bodies too (don't know much about
that - used to have to sync the carbs on my other bike, and it appears
the RC51 only has one big throttle body).

- Kurt

That thing must be huge. 50mm perhaps? Larger?

Now I am good to go for the rest of the season and I can't wait for that
track day.

$75 per hour for labour! Now there's an incentive to start doing your
own work......even if it takes twice as long.