Think You're Having A Bad Day?

I got a call from my friend Ben last night. Here's his tale of woe:

For the last few weeks he's been having trouble with his Triumph Sprint ST, The battery wouldn't stay charged. He replaced the battery but the replacement proved to be defective so he got another one. No fun and no autumn riding.

Then the starter started making  noises. Off to the dealer to find that the starter mechanism was chewed up. Possibly from trying to start it with a low battery. No bike for a couple of weeks.

Since he had prepaid for a track day he borrowed a friend's track bike. And crashed it. Not good although the friend was unperturbed. "Just fix it and it's OK"

The dealer called and said the Triumph was ready so Ben went over to pick it up. $1150 later he was out the door with a new starter and starter drive. Fifteen minutes later he was on the side of the road with a dead bike.

The owner came out with a truck and took it back to the shop where they found that the regulator had failed. This might well have been the original source of all the problems. Of course, the part was not in stock. The dealer (Second Wind) was good enough to cross reference the part to a Speed Triple and take it off a brand new bike on the showroom floor.

Ben is back on the road and a happy camper. Now he can do another track day on his own bike. Life is good. Until he crashed again on the track yesterday. Cold tires in a tight corner. Lots of plastic bits on the track and a hole in his clutch cover.

JB Weld to fix the hole, a cardboard box to put the plastic into, and some duct tape for his leathers. A little sore but still vertical he now has to face the final black cloud. He has to ride the bike home 40 miles in the rain!

Ben's attitude in his own words, "I am really annoyed!"
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