Dear moderators/ fellow bikers, I have been a member on this wonderful forum since 2004 and am an avid reader of all the wonderful articles that get posted here and while I rarely post here I have been proud to be a silent XBHP member all these years!! :-) I got to buy my first superbike via this forum..

My tryst with this bike began in 2005 when I picked up a second hand(2001 model) Yamaha 135 (5 speed) and was looking forward to get her modified into a rally spec machine for my own rides. I love the 2 stokers for their immense potency.
I had ordered a lot of modifed spares from Pacer Yamaha for this purpose including a stronger chassis(with added welding at stress points)/ aluminium swing arm/modified ignition unit/ porting and matching expansion.
Now the problems began as I was unable to find a mechanic competent enough to put these together as I did not want to do it myself due to lack of indepth technical knowledge and I wanted to get it done by a professional.
Anyway I took her to a friends workshop who confidently told me he would be able to put her together in no time. After 6 months they were unable to get the bike running right and couldnt figure out what to do!! (they service imported bikes as well!) So after 1 year of waiting I decide to take her back and request Jatin Babkar who always did a good job on my Rd 350's ( I have had 4 of them all sold now) if he could put her together for me which he said would not be a problem..this is back in May 2007!)
After taking my bike he decided that the porting was not done well enough and would need redoing / polishing and hence the expansion would also need to be re caliberated. I told him I trusted his judgement and would go along with him. We replaced a whole lot of parts including the clutch assembly/new crank shaft/bearings/carb etc..( I was going along with whatever his expertise at his job told me)
By Nov 2007 she was finally started up ( I must have made around 30 trips in the meantime to ask him to work on my bike)
My 135 was running really strong even during the run in period and I was really happy with the way she was able to pull away in the 2nd and 3rdgears which is what I wanted in the mid range.. ( she on more than one occassion left the ground in 3rd gear under quick acceleration) the chassis was working well, however the pulsar gas shocks were a bit too stiff..the bike at this stage was cosmetically/mechanically unfinished and I still had a lot more work to be done( i wanted a new set of front forks to be fitted out with dis brakes/ a quick throttle / flat slide carb etc) I wanted to go all the way with this bike and by now I had already spent the following:-
1) Rs 23000.00 - cost of the bike(second hand)
2) Rs 25000.00 - cost of modified parts(new chassi/swing arm/expansion/porting etc)
3) Rs 10000.00 - cost of labour plus other misc parts
I dont regret a single buck I spent on her..as I wasnt concerned on the cost as long as I would get her to my desired state, and this I had told the mechanic as well with due trust and respect to his profession.

I handed the bike back to Jatin in Dec 2007 for the final works to be completed and am to date still waiting to get my bike back from him. He has made me make numerous trips to his garage( i have now lost count) and gave all sorts of excuses/reasons as to why my bike was not getting ready. He claims to not be able to find my bike parts. I even offered to make him an advance payment if was so required.

What I feel really sorry and sad about is the fact that I believe we are all a part of the same brotherhood of biking be it a mechanic or a rider and I have great respect for all the senior bike mechanics in Pune albeit soaring egos! :-)

This thread/post from me is not intended to defame anybody but is written out of my pure frustration at the way we bikers(maybe a handful like me) have had to deal with such unprofessional behaviour from those we once held in high esteem.
I am looking for advise from fellow bikers and also to throw open the thread to any others with similar experiences?