I dropped my Tuono off at a dealer for a brake pad recall and new tires. When I dropped it off I reset the tripmeter, which keeps track of how long the engine has been run, kms ridden and max speed, among other things.
When I picked up the bike I was curious and checked the tripmeter. It had been run for 16 minutes, ridden 3.2 kms and max speed was showing 156km/h.
I emailed them last night and brought up a few issues:
1) I understand that service techs will test ride after completing work, but are those speeds needed?
2) What were to happen if my bike was impounded for a week for street racing? What happens if someone catches it on dashcam or reports my plate for dangerous driving or street racing to the Police?
3) Most importantly, with temperatures at or around 0 degrees, there was no way the motor was brought up to proper operating temp. What damage was potentially done by going WOT on a cold motor?
Here is part of the reply from the dealers owner. I have not changed or added anything, this is a direct copy/paste from their email:
“1. Is it necessary to test ride every bike after a tire installation or should we rely on the tire balancing machine. Test riding after each tire installation is time consuming and tends to make tire installation not profitable. At the present time our policy is to ride each one.
2. Should we test ride only up to the speed that is legal on our local roads - 80 kph? We really wrestle with this one since most bikes we sell and service will travel well in excess of any speed limit. Assumedly owners who buy powerful bikes will occasionally or perhaps frequently test the bikes limits. We feel that as the “experts” who service bikes capable of very high speeds, we would be irresponsible not to test the bikes at speeds in excess of speed limits. The speed at which your bike was ridden is about the limit we use. This practise does expose the technician to a degree of risk of speeding tickets, license suspension and even injury, but it seems like an unavoidable occupational hazard.
3. Does a test ride at higher speeds expose the bike owner to the legal issues that you mentioned. The technician did place our dealer plate on top of your license plate during the test ride, but I must confess that I don’t know the answer to the question. As a result of your concern, I am going to reach out to our insurance agent to try for clarification on the legal issues. I will share my findings with you if you like.
4. Engine warmup – the technician who worked on your bike is very experienced and is well aware of the need to warm up an engine. I have spoken with him about the details of the test ride he took on your bike. The ride was very brief at 3.2 km so the majority of the 16 minutes would have been warmup time. He drove at lower speeds during the outbound leg of the ride and only brought the bike up to a higher speed briefly on the return leg. In my opinion, the warmup was probably adequate. You may have a differing opinion. It was a cold day, about 2 degrees above, so the tech was tempted not to ride your bike, but decided that since your bike is a bike capable of high speeds, it would have been irresponsible not to do so.”
So, thoughts? Is it “irresponsible” for them to not do this? Is this to be expected at all dealers?
When I picked up the bike I was curious and checked the tripmeter. It had been run for 16 minutes, ridden 3.2 kms and max speed was showing 156km/h.
I emailed them last night and brought up a few issues:
1) I understand that service techs will test ride after completing work, but are those speeds needed?
2) What were to happen if my bike was impounded for a week for street racing? What happens if someone catches it on dashcam or reports my plate for dangerous driving or street racing to the Police?
3) Most importantly, with temperatures at or around 0 degrees, there was no way the motor was brought up to proper operating temp. What damage was potentially done by going WOT on a cold motor?
Here is part of the reply from the dealers owner. I have not changed or added anything, this is a direct copy/paste from their email:
“1. Is it necessary to test ride every bike after a tire installation or should we rely on the tire balancing machine. Test riding after each tire installation is time consuming and tends to make tire installation not profitable. At the present time our policy is to ride each one.
2. Should we test ride only up to the speed that is legal on our local roads - 80 kph? We really wrestle with this one since most bikes we sell and service will travel well in excess of any speed limit. Assumedly owners who buy powerful bikes will occasionally or perhaps frequently test the bikes limits. We feel that as the “experts” who service bikes capable of very high speeds, we would be irresponsible not to test the bikes at speeds in excess of speed limits. The speed at which your bike was ridden is about the limit we use. This practise does expose the technician to a degree of risk of speeding tickets, license suspension and even injury, but it seems like an unavoidable occupational hazard.
3. Does a test ride at higher speeds expose the bike owner to the legal issues that you mentioned. The technician did place our dealer plate on top of your license plate during the test ride, but I must confess that I don’t know the answer to the question. As a result of your concern, I am going to reach out to our insurance agent to try for clarification on the legal issues. I will share my findings with you if you like.
4. Engine warmup – the technician who worked on your bike is very experienced and is well aware of the need to warm up an engine. I have spoken with him about the details of the test ride he took on your bike. The ride was very brief at 3.2 km so the majority of the 16 minutes would have been warmup time. He drove at lower speeds during the outbound leg of the ride and only brought the bike up to a higher speed briefly on the return leg. In my opinion, the warmup was probably adequate. You may have a differing opinion. It was a cold day, about 2 degrees above, so the tech was tempted not to ride your bike, but decided that since your bike is a bike capable of high speeds, it would have been irresponsible not to do so.”
So, thoughts? Is it “irresponsible” for them to not do this? Is this to be expected at all dealers?
