the mad chains...

Well, it has been quite some time since I last posted something over here. To be frank, things weren't going pretty well with me for the last two months that I didn't even post anything about two awesome rides I had ( those stories are yet to come ;) ). So here is what happened, my Yamaha R15, my love, started coughing, wheezing, getting rough and making weird noises even before she hit 27k mark. Now, would anyone be expecting a Yamaha to give any trouble unless she has rode the maximum any machine can? Never, neither did I. But my bike started giving that grinding noise somewhere after the 19k mark and it never faded. I took my bike to a nearby mechanic when the sound started getting horrible and he said the crank shaft alignment is gone. My jaws dropped out of obvious anxiety because you cannot expect a Yamaha to give you an engine trouble at 25k mark.

Here is when the questions come whether I had taken proper care of my bike and yeah I am little confused about it. The confusion rises because I am pretty sure that I had done my part of the job in taking care of the bike but I am not sure about the rest. The mechanic told me that such troubles came only because I never changed engine oil properly. So, I want to make a few things clear here:

1. Right from the break-in period, I have done all the services properly at exact intervals
2. The services till 21k was done from Yamaha service centers ( Pacer, Bangalore Wheels and sprint Yamaha)
3. ENGINE OIL change was done in every 3000 kms intervals and I have never made any compromise on that. Once the service center guy told me that I have done only 2.5k since the last service and I can run another 500 without changing the oil but still I told him to change the oil. 

So what happened in my bike's case if all the services were done from authorized centers? Here is what happened, the engine oils that went on to the invoice/bill never went inside my bike's engine. I was apparently charged for something which I didn't get. I am facing all troubles for the mistakes that weren't mine. I am not saying that this was an intentional act of some employee. They might have forgotten to put it. Because I remember my friend servicing his FZ from Bangalore wheels in Kengeri satellite town and they forgot to put the engine oil cap back. Oil flowed out and the bike skidded over it and he fell down on the road. I gave my bike for service once in the newly opened Pacer service center near Gopalan arcade, kengeri and had to take it back there thrice because each time they forgot to fix a problem which I told them. I went to Sprint Yamaha for the bike's last service at any service centers and they forgot to put the chain cap back and had to go there twice to get it done. at 11k I had changed my break pads from Pacer, Kalyan Nagar and the squeaking sound never went off after that. When I took it back and told them to put the pads properly, he just rubbed the disks with petrol. I lost my faith in service centers and it was only then I decided I would do all further services locally.

But, look at it this way, suppose a doctor forgets to stitch back a cutting on a patient's body which he made for an operation? What if a railway gatekeeper forgets to close the road when a train comes? Forgetting is not an excuse. We are all paying hell lot of money not because we can get a junk pile of shit back. If Yamaha  (or any company for that matter) is rolling out new good bikes, they should also make sure that their customers are getting reliable assistance throughout the country. Now I will think twice before suggesting a Yamaha bike to anyone, not because the bikes are bad but because the services suck. It would be great if there was at least one single reliable service center in Bangalore. and I think the situation is the same with almost all companies. I remember my friend spending more than 25000 rupees on his KTM which was less than one year old then because of severe engine troubles.

And yeah, this might be an exceptional case. I might be the only one having such a complaint and allegations. But that's how things work in this country. They know that they can be careless now and then because a problem will arise only if it affects the mass crowd. I don't care about anything of that sort because I have ended up with a bill that came close to 10000 rupees and have not rode my bike for almost a month. So, my question is very simple, you can go see a doctor when there is some trouble, but what will you do if the chances of you getting killed by him is 50/50 always? You can tie a mad man to the chains, but what if the chain itself goes mad??

PS: you better learn some repair works before buying any expensive bikes in this country because all that the companies care about is cutting off insane profits and it doesn't matter to them what unethical way they choose for it.

I request my fellow riders to share this as much as possible if you have had bad experiences from the service centers because this might convey a message (Well, am not pretty sure about that but at least you can feel that you expressed your protest).