Bang on time, Mark's silver machine roared up the track. He had the intercooler and rocker cover off before I could offer him tea.
An hour and a bit later, he was gone. Job done and well done. The speed comes from experience and familiarity. Focusing only on the task in hand and unscrewing no more than necessary, brings simplicity.
Using his ingenious special tool, there is no need to set the crank at TDC, lock the camshaft or refer to timing marks. The old chain just rolls off the sprocket, pulling the new one behind it, with no chance of jumping a tooth and losing the timing. Neat, accurate and simple.
My only reservation, after many years with motorcycles, is a distrust of spring links rather than peened over rivets. But Mark says he's done hundreds of chain transplants with no repercussions, and I believe him 'cos he's a nice guy as well as an ace mechanic.
To change a camchain "by the book" involves dismantling half the front end before you can even get to the timing cover, and then it's a head off, with all that that entails, a huge and expensive job, if all you want is a new chain, and all the rest is sound. His charges are a fraction of that, but the result is the same.
Many thanks, Mark, I enjoyed watching you work.
Website designed and developed by http://www.joeangus.com