‘Don’t be fooled by dealer stamps’

The advert promised a fully stamped-up service book but the fact is that a stampedup service book means nothing.

If you want, you can stamp one up with a child’s rubber block printing kit, or swipe a stamp from a dealer’s counter top, or get a friendly local dealer to do the necessary. It happens. It’s never been easier to get hold of a kit that’ll produce a realistic stamp. If you’re buying a used bike, what you want to see are receipts; lots of them. Bills for parts and bills for services carried out. Anything else could be bulls**t. Actually, when it comes to service history, there’s a hell of a lot of leeway. Most service records require a service based on time and mileage: say one year or 6000 miles. Few people do 6000 miles a year, so are happy to stretch the intervals to the mileage only. I have, frequently. It works.

There are some bikes, though, where the time rather than mileage is critical. It particularly applies to hydraulics, especially with bikes equipped with ABS. BMW’s old servo brakes are another instance.

They required a total brake fluid change every year or 6000 miles. If that was done, they behaved. But, people thought that brake fluid could be left longer, and discovered it couldn’t. Ducati cambelts are another example. If left sitting for a long time, the belts settle into position and then slip or jump when the bike is given the beans. Forget service stamps. Look for receipts.