After I acquired my new-to-me 2004 ST (w/42K miles) in October of 2018, I immediately set about methodically going through it. The many high quality articles here were absolutely instrumental in the successes I had. I will certainly fail to remember all of the many things I've done but after pulling it out of storage this spring I was hoping to start the year with most things done. Unfortunately, that was not to be. I ran into some issues and with some
misplaced hesitation I reached out to
@Igofar and he responded, and that's what this post is really all about.
It's not worth listing all of the things I learned, but perhaps as an example this will help: I took
nine pages of notes from just our first conversation. I would wager I'm up to more than double that at this point. But it's more than just notes.
The list of stuff I checked or addressed early on included the preload adjuster fluid change as well as minor adjustments to the dampening, the SMC function, and an over-the-phone brake system check (as much as could be done that way), some clutch checks, and so on.
For example, I had trouble with headshake after new tires were installed (this is a common issue with many potential causes). But because I had done a number of other things at the same time I wanted to make sure that I didn't inadvertently cause the issue. Again, conversations were had and I tried a bunch of things, many of which helped me to understand my bike better and some unrelated but still material improvement was made. Ultimately, it was a bad tire but the willingness of the "OCD Garage" to help me work through the other items that I could check without spending money was really great. Purely because of the many things that he had me check I had the confidence it was the tire (and, indeed, it was). Plus, my forks are aligned now and I own some new tools and fancy moly goop.
I also had trouble with a minor oil leak, another common problem. As a Systems Engineer, I really appreciated the way that Igofar explained what usually leaks, the paths the leaks follow, and how to diagnose and repair these issues. As they say - if you want to really understand something, explain it to somebody else. In my industry, we call this a "Theory of Operation".
Before I took my wheels in to have new tires mounted and balanced, I resolved to learn what other items I should address. Another conversation yielded pages of notes and a laundry list of TO-DO items, but more significant was the way some of the procedures were explained and why they were important. I would not have bothered to clean the pistons (with the "tooth floss" method using some old paracord), clean and
lightly grease (with the right stuff) the studs the calipers slid on ("until they slide like a trombone"), and so on.
I write this today after having had another brief conversation and in 15 minutes he was able to narrow down the most likely suspect. 30 minutes after that I was performing a test ride, and when I got back I can say (yet again), Winner Winner Chicken Dinner. A brief follow-up conversation helped me to understand not just what the adjustment did but also why - for me that's a big deal.
For those of you with these absolutely fantastic bikes, this forum is chock full of people willing to share their experiences and offer assistance. I can personally attest to my positive experiences here and in particular I'd like to thank
@Igofar; he's easily spent a few hours with me and it has been much appreciated, my bike runs better than ever, and I've learned a great deal. If you're having trouble with your bike, consider reaching out to the OCD Garage -- seriously.
so I'm allowing him some guilty pleasure while here
and visit the Barber Motorcycle museum early the following week. 
