Bike surgery

I'd told them I was worried, they reassured me it would be fine, but it was still with my heart in my mouth that the guy I'd met about an hour earlier, and didn't work at the workshop, cut into the frame with an angle grinder.

After visiting two different Yamaha dealerships to work out why my new panniers didn't fit (and an email exchange with the dealers I bought Lena from in Woking!) I had a clearer idea that the problem was with the brackets/frame but still didn't know how to solve it. I went back to the welders that had done some work on the front of the bike back in January. Helped by someone (who happened to be a mechanic but was also waiting to get some work done) we dismantling much of the back of the bike. At which point it became evident that the whole frame at the back was bent down slightly - although I'm not sure whether this happened as a result of dropping the bike or riding with broken panniers for the best part of three months. It did explain why I had a similar problem on both sides of the bike though.

So they suggested making a V cut on the top of the frame on both sides, bending it up and welding it together again. This should also strengthen the frame which would have been weakened when it was bent.

So, first the frame was cut, then bent until the panniers fit. After that it was welded, painted and everything reassembled. Simple...

The welder came highly recommended and seemed confident of the quality of the work he'd done. To the extent that he said if I crashed the bike and the frame broke, it wouldn't break at the weld. Fingers crossed his confidence is well-founded... fingers also crossed I don't end up testing it...

First "strap-less" panniers since Bolivia!!