Another in our occasional series...

Time for the Autumn update.

Another busy year means that I'm almost up to 48000 miles (77000km) now and the dreaded, expensive 16000 mile service.

The bike has run very well since the last update (12000 miles ago) with few problems.

One of the electric screen motors failed and needed replacing, as did the battery. On a couple of occasions, the tickover has been inconsistent causing a couple of stalls while stationary with the engine cold. This has been quite rare, though.

More persistent has been a slight oil seep (definitely not a leak, if you see what I mean) from the near the rocker cover on the left side. No appreciable amount of oil is lost but if the bike is left for a couple of days, there's enough oil on the engine to give an unpleasant puff of white smoke as the engine warms up. Can't seem to sort this one.

Oh, and I broke the key off in the top box (original Honda fitting). Had to replace the lock but at least this was cheap and very easy to do. Thank goodness it happened when the lock was open!

There was also another factory recall based around the electrics which went without a hitch.

Apart from that everything has been good. The most recent front tyre went 14000 miles before replacement, the rear more like 18000. Pretty good, I thought.

Best of all, no sign of any clutch problems recurring.