Yes well the leak wasnt a problem till maybe a month ago as id had to remove the bottom fairing to fill in a hole that the previous owner had put in it and there was no leak when i did that, They told me they replaced the radiator cap because they thought that it was releasing pressure to early or something?

As far as the price goes as you said it is not expensive for the actual parts its the labour involved,which is including a full rejet and dyno tune, not just gaskets

If you know of anyone on the forum who you think might be a little more clued up i could contact it would be much appreciated like everything so far,

i plan on bringing it home in the next few days so i can save up a little money to get it done so ill check out everything myself and see if fixing it myself would be an option. I have had no experience in mechanics apart from changing ignition points in an old suzuki so im not wanting to do anything wrong haha

A full rejet, I doubt it. Start by reading the articles in the document library on this site.

Was the engine running well when you discovered the water leak, disregarding the flat spot. If so then unlikely to be a head gasket problem. To be sure you have a head gasket problem you need to do a compression check unless there is water coming out a spark plug hole. If the head gasket water leak is external you would able see it.

Take the fairings off and with the engine running to pressurize the cooling system you should be able to locate the source of the leak.

Ok I'll read them thanks, come to think of it the first time I noticed it was after a big ride where it was going fine apart from being the first time id had started overheating. I'll bring it home tomorrow or the day after and try running it to find the leak and update everyone from there Thanks

So as an update i decided to part with the money and gave the mechanics to go ahead with fixing it, also because i have absolutelly no clue how to do it myself.

The problem was the head gaskets and was told it appeared that the old gaskets had been removed at some stage and replaced with the same ones dodgidly, they also pulled the carbs off again and installed new larger jets (forget the size they put in) checked the valve clearances etc again and put it all back together and THE END RESULT......

I dont know haha i got it back late friday afternoon worked all weekend and for the first time in a few months here in Port Macquarie its raining. So i hopefully have a day off this coming sunday fingers crossed and plan to go riding then. Thanks for all the help and suggestions ill let you know how it goes when i take it out.

Ive only skim read through this but i agree with magg in that your being ripped off, you dont fit bigger main jets to sort out a 4-6k flatspot. That part of the rev range is covered by the needle height and as a general rule RVF's run rich in that area as stock so if you have a flat spot there try dropping the needle height, ie removing the washer. Did you find out what size washer was under the needle to start with?

I like the comment on the last invoice "Bike is running a little rough after the carby overhaul, suggest doing a few rides with high octane fuel" Please dont take your bike back there

If I was told my bike was running rough after someone had done a carb 'overhaul', then they'd have it back to do it properly at their own expense - or they'd be giving me a refund!

I love a good bed time story, recycled headgaskets (how did they determine that), bigger main jets to fix a mid range rich mixture issue and high octane fuel as the final fix all, what will they think of next.

What a waste of money.

Garage work is expensive but you are paying for somebody to not only do a messy and phsyical job but most importantly you are paying for their knowledge and skill and vast array of tools to do the job properly, many people forget this and thing garages are just robbery.

I would have issue paying 60gbp (100 aud) an hour for a professional to sort my bike out if I couldnt do it myself.

Having a look at your receipt and dyno graph I reckon having done all of those jobs countless times I could do it in around 10 hours if nothing goes tits up like a bolt snapping etc.

So that'd be around 1000usd.

BUT your bike isn't working like a dream as these bikes should. It sounds like you've paid some mechanics who don't know either enough about bikes, or this bike to do the job properly, and fobbed you off after being unable to get it running right with some excuses. ergo waste of money.

Head gasket excuse sounds like bullshit. they could only guess at best unless there was some kind of sealent on them (seen that before!) but even so id expect before and after compression tests results. copies of the valve clearance mesasurements and torque values of various bolts.

Getting the bike to run right is not rocket science, cammo has a great guide up with pictures, providing your engine isnt knackered and your valve clearances are in spec it will run like watch afterwards.

Main jets mainly affect full throtlle, mid-range is all to do with needle height and rising rate on CVKS (this is your piston spring and needle height) hence raising the needles (richening up the mixture) sorting this out normally.. Rick O sells a kit.

High octane fuel will do piss all, even if you want it though forever. If a garage told me that id ask them to try and justifiy the logic behind it and then demand my money back after proving it wont do anything in this case.

Unlike newer bikes you need to do things manually, no computer software to play with. half a day with an expert and even the most abused carbs can normally be made to sing.

Hey man, i'm from Sydney.

Do your work yourself. Every single mechanic in sydney overprices shit for these RVFs, they claim they know these bikes but truth is, they don't, had my carbies 'overhauled' twice in the span of 5 months, now runs worse than ever and i've lost a grand on that. Advice, just do it yourself, I'm currently doing small jobs and just going to work my way up, rebuilding my fuel tap and replacing hoses, then going to do valve clearances, eventually i'll do the carbs :D.

Oh and to give you an example on how they overprice shit....one very reputable workshop here in sydney with rave ratings *rolls eyes*, tried to charge me saying anew windscreen would cost 150 dollars and a new screen brace would be 300 dollars and, when i was still a noob, overcharged me for replacing forkseals cause i at the time had no idea about bikes. They were the first to rebuild my carbs btw and it ran worse, then another 'reputable' place looked at it and said it was shit and they could do it properly, so they tried...i pick it up, find that it has a huge flatspot at 6k, (massive pulling power from 8k onwards though) but hard to start and cant idle when cold...they said..'ah, all rvfs are just like that' -____-

Oh and, they did a major service...why does my bike still run and sound like shit? (okay once warmed up, it goes awesome, it's so much more powerful than any of the other rvfs i've ridden so far) I realised paying a mechanic in sydney is like throwing money down a bottomless pit. Just take your time and learn to do it yourself.

Sorry for the rant, I have a year+ of frustration to vent out