I’ve been overwhelmed with messages of support and helpful suggestions since I raised the issue of my disk brake rotors yesterday. All seem to agree that I have been pretty shabbily treated and that I should seek some sort of solution that doesn’t involve paying twice what I had been quoted for the job. I have even been offered another set of rotors for free so that I can replace the existing ones. I can’t believe how helpful people continue to be on this project. A second call to the proprietor of Planet Motor Cycle Disks in Wantirna, Victoria, was no more satisfactory than the first with the owner refusing to accept that he had at least an ethical obligation to do something to help me in that he had performed unauthorised work and charged more than what I had been quoted. In fact, he felt that he should have charged me more.
Despite all this, I am going to pick them up and take it on the chin anyway. Why? Because they ARE the disks that belong on the bike. I have saved a heap of money in other areas on this project through the goodwill of friends and acquaintances so I figure that I can afford to spend the extra even though I don’t really want to. It’s called “taking the long view”
Plus, I am a believer in the axiom that what goes around comes around and I believe that this man’s lack of ethics will come back on him somehow, somewhere along the line.
In other news, despite saying that he wouldn’t say anything about next year until Suzuki had confirmed its plans, Francis Batta announced in a Press Conference on the weekend that he WOULD be staying with Hammamatsu for 2012 and somehow trying to come up with the funds to continue development from sponsorship money. His final words were, “I won’t be leaving Suzuki unless Suzuki leaves me.” And, on the subject of Suzuki, it was confirmed on the weekend that they HAVE been quietly testing a 1000cc bike so it looks like they MIGHT be staying on after all.
I returned the OEM fork tubes today because they didn’t match the fork sliders and I sent the old, rusty ones, away to Brisbane to be re-chromed. That’s going to cost bit more than I wanted to pay, too, but it is the best way of making sure they fit and they also are another win for originality. As well, my good new friend, Edwin Haazer will be sending me a Dyna S ignition system for the bike next week so that I can replace the antiquated points and condenser system. Amazing.
Short and sweet today. Thanks for the feedback, especially Leon for reminding me that Casey Stoner has a mathematical chance of clinching the World Championship next weekend if he widens the points gap on Lorenzo by 10 more points. Unlikely given Lorenzo’s usual reliability, but, then again, we’d have said the same thing about Helmut Bradl earlier in the season, wouldn’t we?