Went to pick up the FZ1 yesterday ...
Paid, signed papers, geared up, and hopped on the bike. Almost immediately I noticed that the bike seemed to be lacking power, like it was anemic, or having trouble breathing. I pulled out onto the freeway feeder road and twisted the throttle with a mind to lay into it, but nothing happened. I knew I would have to turn right back around and drop the bike back off to them. Sigh, not even a mile away, and already having the predicted 'weird electrical problems'. The check engine light popped on as I came out of the freeway underpass U-turn.
I had a lunch/beer date with one of the guys I am going to ride to Colorado with, so I went ahead and met them for lunch. The lunch spot was, fortunately, just on the other side of the freeway from the bike shop. So, I met their 5 month old son - Troy the 3rd, had a beer, and talked about the Colorado trip. After that I made another U-turn, and returned the bike to the dealership. They looked surprised to see me, but were very nice and took the bike around back to pull the code. The problem? A frozen velocity stack servo motor. Just the kind of thing that happens when a flooded bike sits up for 2 weeks while waiting for a gauge cluster to come in.
Initially they said about $1000 for the part, but upon checking they realized that they wouldn't have to get the entire throttle body assembly - they could order just the offending servo motor. So, it's only going to be a $300 repair. Again, the bike will have to sit waiting for parts - this time 3 weeks. Who knows, maybe more stuff will corrode while it's sitting there, we'll see.
The insurance has already been notified to get out their ink pen and checkbook. I'm just wondering how much coin they'll have to drop, or how many times they'll have to open this claim back up before they realize that they should have just totaled the bike. I'd hate to see the bike totaled, but I told them from the start that is should just be totaled ... anyway, we'll see. For now, it appears that they want to gamble, and that's fine - I have their roadside service coverage, and am looking forward to using it.
For now, the bike won't be making the trip to Colorado Springs - but no worries, my trusty SV650S is waiting in the wings, and she's just been dying to hit the highway again ...
