Nature of the beast, I guess

Ginny had her 6k service, as planned on 23rd May. Somewhat surprisingly, it only seems to be a fluid change, oil, brake fluid and that's about it. The 12k doesn't seem to be much more, except for spark plugs, so I guess this is just the nature of the engine and maybe more tech, actually means less maintenance. It's certainly a lot more sophisticated than the Sprint triple.

I spoke to them about the concern I had with the oil level and the guy explained that Ginny has a dry sump, so checking the oil isn't quite as straightforward as with a wet sump bike. I had no idea 😕 He reckoned that using a litre of oil about every 800 miles was the norm for that engine, so I guess I had better keep a closer eye on it in future. With that in mind, I bought a litre @ £17.26. I later bought another litre online, from a dealer in Northern Ireland and with an Ebay £5 voucher, paid £9.90. Thanks Ebay.

£17.26 p/ltr. Ginny takes 4.5 litres

Whilst there, I asked Coopers to quote for supply and fit of two new tyres. Quite ridiculously, they said £360. I had already seen the tyres I wanted online for £160!

I got chatting to a couple of guys who were also in for service (bikes, not them!). One also had a K16. He agreed that Ginny would never make the Spain trip on the tyres she has, having already covered 6k miles. Each rider if different but the concensus seems to be, to expect a max of about 7.5k out of a pair.

The other guy put me on to an ex BMW mechanic, who now runs his own business and who will fit new tyres for me, supplied via mail order. As a pukka BMW man, I'd rather trust him to fit tyres, than a general tyre fitter. At least I know, he knows what he's doing and has the appropriate tools for the job. Subsequently, I spoke to him and ordered my tyres from Black Circles. With a 5% discount code, the pair were £160 and a few pence. Fitting is £20 per wheel, with a £6 disposal fee on top. Ginny is booked in for Friday 7th.

That's all the news for now.