Just had a call from Watsonian Squire, who tell me my mended bike will be back next week. Here's hoping they don't give the job to Laurel & Hardy again, or I probably wont see it until Autumn.....
Apparently the engine's been stripped down and no damage was found other than the sprag clutch was found to be loose & rattling, and was replaced with the new improved model - which is what I thought was done the first time the sprag was replaced!! This presumably was the source of the bits of mangled metal, which must've made their way straight down to the drain plug magnet and caused no harm!
A cap-head screw was missing from the kickstart gear cover, which sounds external so can't be the cause of anything drastic.
The bike was taken for a 50 mile ride and reported to be running as sweet as a nut! That rackety noise it was making must then have been coming from the failing sprag after all! Hmmmmm......
An anti-climax, but also quite reassuring, except for those with the earlier sprag clutch perhaps. Not a foregone conclusion of course, but two of us here at least have had the sprag fail twice. Apparently the new version is more robust.
I'll report back as soon as the beloved G5 is home and has been ridden. I'm greatly looking forward to it. Having now become acclimatised to the hooligan W650, it will be ...... interesting.......