Kevin, I appreciate your response. Vince too.
Never my intention to upset or disrespect anyone here. I knew I was a bit close to the wire with this thread - not to provoke but to inform. It's a forum after all.
That said, I probably should have let matters lie for a day or two and come at it from a more positive angle. Or perhaps just not posted at all - God knows this saga is boring the backside off me, and probably others are sick of hearing about it too. Others I know are curious to know the final outcome.
Even so, I held back and edited significantly - right up until I said "f***k em".
You will find on this forum mostly very positive reports about my bike. It got me back into motorbiking after a very long absence and I took to it like an addict. I love the look of it, I love the sound of it, and now that I've tried a few other bikes, and even bought another, I am more than ever aware of the unique pleasure of the Bullet ride. I know I''m going to miss it a lot. To tell the truth, when the bike is repaired I'm half hoping my heart is going to override my brain again and give it another chance, if just as a not-quite-to-be-trusted Sunday & evening hacker.
Currently the brain has the upper hand. Currently I have a beautifully made & reliable 650 twin in the garage. At least as beautiful to the eye as the Enfield, and rides like a true Brit! There simply isn’t any sensible contest any more about which would be the one to keep if it comes to it.
I’m not going to list again the issues I’ve had with my G5, right from very soon after I got it, from nuisance "quirks" to downright dangerous. I couldn't have known back then that I'd bought the friday bike. Thankfully I was piling on the miles and all these problems were arising within the first year of warranty. I had nothing but praise for the dealership, who were new to motorbikes and keen to make the effort for one of their first customers. I stopped having any faith in their mechanic more recently for the reason already described.
I had enormous respect for Watsonian Squire, who provided new parts under warranty, and who went beyond the call of duty by collecting my bike two weeks into the second year of warranty, as alarmed as I was by the racket it was making and the metal falling out of the sump.
But now I’m all too aware that I have become the problem customer, the pain in the arse who’s apparently imagining things wrong with his bike. It’s an uncomfortable feeling of course – they did me a huge favour - except that they didn’t! So I’ll deal with the problem myself and hope that they’ll provide any necessary parts under warranty.
I hear what Kevin & Vince say about their experience of RE. I’m sure great improvements have been made in manufacture. My experience has been as reported on this forum – delight and satisfaction constantly chipped away at by unreliable components and slapdash manufacturing standards. Sad but true.
There is no excuse whatsoever for my emails being ignored by WS. I run a business, albeit small, and if I dealt with difficult questions, however they arrive, by just ignoring them I’d be out of business, and rightly so.