Russian motorcycle mechanic...

**98tls** · 4th February 2012, 18:58

Headed away to the Vincent county rally today with no intent on staying the night just a decent ride,we left late and by the time we got to Ranfurly thought bugger it have a beer here and head back,great ride over the pig route and when approaching Maheno decided on another pint,outside the pub was a couple of blokes on late model Triumphs (Speedmaster and something similar) whilst yarning to them 3 blokes pull up on bikes go inside grab a beer and sit down outside with the rest of us all good until this Russian dude starts on the TL

at first i thought fuck me this must be what its like to be interrogated by the KGB

hes a TL expert it seems and as hes pointing out all its faults he touches said part at fault,"the brakes the forks no good" he tells me i reply "there off a GSXR fella" he says "no there TL" he asks me "why you have those $300 levers,much better things to spend $300 on"i roll my eyes and decide to sit back and enjoy the peformance

when hes done he tells me "im a mechanic for Suzuki",i had pretty much ignored him by that stage and was talking to his 2 mates who seemed totally normal,i gathered they were from Timaru so if indeed he is a "mechanic for Suzuki" then good luck to the Suzuki shop in Timaru

We decided enough was enough and set about leaving,as we did the Russian had moved on to the 2 Triumphs and was setting about telling the owners there bikes history

Ive met some characters

in my time on 2 wheels but this guy shot straight into the top 10.

**slowpoke** · 4th February 2012, 19:35

Originally Posted by 98tls

Headed away to the Vincent county rally today with no intent on staying the night just a decent ride,we left late and by the time we got to Ranfurly thought bugger it have a beer here and head back,great ride over the pig route and when approaching Maheno decided on another pint,outside the pub was a couple of blokes on late model Triumphs (Speedmaster and something similar) whilst yarning to them 3 blokes pull up on bikes go inside grab a beer and sit down outside with the rest of us all good until this Russian dude starts on the TL

at first i thought fuck me this must be what its like to be interrogated by the KGB

hes a TL expert it seems and as hes pointing out all its faults he touches said part at fault,"the brakes the forks no good" he tells me i reply "there off a GSXR fella" he says "no there TL" he asks me "why you have those $300 levers,much better things to spend $300 on"i roll my eyes and decide to sit back and enjoy the peformance

when hes done he tells me "im a mechanic for Suzuki",i had pretty much ignored him by that stage and was talking to his 2 mates who seemed totally normal,i gathered they were from Timaru so if indeed he is a "mechanic for Suzuki" then good luck to the Suzuki shop in Timaru

We decided enough was enough and set about leaving,as we did the Russian had moved on to the 2 Triumphs and was setting about telling the owners there bikes history

Ive met some characters

in my time on 2 wheels but this guy shot straight into the top 10.

Haha, I bet there were a few people enthusiastically pushing him from behind the Iron Curtain. All taken in good spirit by you though mate, much better than a lotta people I know....or me for that matter!

**98tls** · 4th February 2012, 20:16

Originally Posted by slowpoke

Haha, I bet there were a few people enthusiastically pushing him from behind the Iron Curtain. All taken in good spirit by you though mate, much better than a lotta people I know....or me for that matter!

He sort of blew me away really mate,imagine a nice cold beer outside a country pub having a yarn to a couple of blokes on bikes then

**GrayWolf** · 4th February 2012, 22:21

hahahahhaa
did you give him the KB website details? He'll fit right in here

**5150** · 4th February 2012, 22:43

Originally Posted by 98tls

He sort of blew me away really mate,imagine a nice cold beer outside a country pub having a yarn to a couple of blokes on bikes then

Nek minit.....

**Deano** · 5th February 2012, 06:10

Originally Posted by 98tls

He sort of blew me away really mate,imagine a nice cold beer outside a country pub having a yarn to a couple of blokes on bikes then

I think we've all met 'one of them'.

**Taz** · 5th February 2012, 06:22

He's onto something though, no one needs $300 levers.

**DMNTD:Me** · 5th February 2012, 07:54

Originally Posted by Taz

He's onto something though, no one needs $300 levers.

Too true but plenty want them

**YellowDog** · 5th February 2012, 08:26

Originally Posted by GrayWolf

hahahahhaa
did you give him the KB website details? He'll fit right in here

I think he's already one of the 'Know it all' members

My $300 levers were worth the money. If I'd waited a couple of years, I could have got something very similar for $100, but then I wouldn't have had 2 years of enjoying using them and would have been pissed off by the crappy OEM lumps and then sold my bike and lost more than $300 on the sale and bought a worse bike and been more pissed off as it would have been as good and regretted not buying those $300 levers on my original bike and then bought them for my replacement bike but regretted that and sold that bike too losing more than $300 and and and and...........................................

**98tls** · 5th February 2012, 09:18

Originally Posted by Taz

He's onto something though, no one needs $300 levers.

Na Taz he was wrong again,the levers cost bugger all on Ebay.I wonder how he fared with the 2 blokes on the Triumphs,maybe he turned into a "mechanic for Triumph".

**The Lone Rider** · 5th February 2012, 09:42

Was his name Alex, or Aleksey, or Mahon..?

**GrayWolf** · 5th February 2012, 10:22

Originally Posted by 98tls

We decided enough was enough and set about leaving,as we did the Russian had moved on to the 2 Triumphs and was setting about telling the owners there bikes histor

Next time,
ask him about the Cossak, Dnepier, Urinal (ural) history and sit back to enjoy.........

**98tls** · 5th February 2012, 10:31

Originally Posted by GrayWolf

Next time,
ask him about the Cossak, Dnepier, Urinal (ural) history and sit back to enjoy.........

Hopefully there wont be a next time but shit i wish i had of thought of that yesterday,i was at one stage going to point out that the old TL cant have been that bad a bike in its day as it won IBOTY but thought na fuck it that would only keep him ranting on.