BSD Performance

Exotic and not so exotic metals - they can both cause heartache.

Always check the sump pan on any secondhand bike purchase. if there's a leak then there's a problem. Overtightening any sump plug will cause stripped threads or, worse still, a cracked pan. It's a bigger problem when your magnesium Ducati sump pan (1199 Panigale in this instance) requires minimal torque and specialised sealant to do the plug refit properly - cases of overtightening are all to common.
Add stone chips to the mix, where the magnesium covering coating gets punctured, and that deliciously lightweight magnesium will corrode in a very short time. And if that corrosion spot is near the sump plug area, just undoing the sump plug can be enough to shock the already weakened magnesium casting to cause a fracture, as we discovered with this unit. A replacement sump pan was the only fix.
Then there's the sump plug itself. Finding metal particles stuck to the magnet side is not uncommon on new motorcycles when being run in. Finding them on a "regularly serviced" 15,000 mile Bavarian-made track day tool is worth investigating further - before your motor becomes 'unfixable.'

Various aspects of pain and joy come with bike ownership...

Take, for example, this stunning Ducati V4 Panigale. A joy to see and ride but a nightmare job to work on especially when fitting a full exhaust system. You really do need fingers like an ant's mandibles. As usual, all pain was forgotten the moment the bike understood the supplied Up Map module and fired into life. Good noise!
The other side of the pain coin (literally) was felt by the customer of a KTM 1290 Super Duke GT and it's inability to charge the battery. It turned out to be a duff stator. But it's what caused the stator to go down that worried us. A penny! Yes, we found a penny inside the genny casing and it was obvious the two had clashed - coppery bits in the oil filter was a major telltale. We have an idea why it was there.
We finished putting the new stator in after-hours on Friday night and was road testing it at 5:30am Saturday morning so the customer could attend Dave Day, the memorial ride out in memory of Hairy Biker Dave Myers.
We do go the extra mile when we can.

And lo, the heavens opened...

At least the Fenland potatoes appreciated the rain. It didn't deter BSD customers, either. We had three customers from the northern states on the dyno, all eager to have their bikes perform as designed before the emissions systems spoiled the ride quality.

On the servicing side, it was definitely a Ducati week. From 851 through to V4 Panigale, we've had them all on the BSD workshop ramps.

More importantly, we have new member of staff. Pete is part-time and flies in when required. Feel free to comment with the usual play on words e.g. "Gave him the bird."

Definitely not buses...

But we did get two BMW M100R come along on the same day. Both stunning performers made better with BSD ECU remaps. Our favourite of the two went to the tastefully tricked out version. To be honest, though, either of these would look good in our own garages
Talking of remaps, Andy and his faithful dyno are now flat out providing customers of all motorcycle genres with throttle response and rideability that we should get as standard. Blame it on the emissions, sir.
BSD remap and service requirements are heavily booked, and we are working as hard as we can with the usual diligence to ensure minimum down time. Thank you again for your faith in our services.