Wing Man TOG ditches in Bavaria

Received the following text at 16.22 whilst driving back from London
Bike Show

"Made the Elefant with Chippy but Tenere died on return leg, Yam
dealer diagnosed fried alternator with melted wire loom. faced 3 or 4
nights wait for parts and cost of 1100 euros plus labour. Sold him the
bike and recovery is putting me on flight tonight from Munich. Not the
ideal end but makes good copy " Don't expect a £660 Ebay bargain to
get you to the elefant and back"

The respone to " You wus push the thing you lazy tnuc" is beyond
repeating even here.

Anybody got news of the others?


London Bike show in my opinion was pretty poor value for £18 quid
Boxerboy

 

Given the current exchange rate that's about 50p.

 

Indeed, which is why you could have got any one of the 2 for £20, 2 for
£14 or free tickets.

 

Didn't know I would be free to go until 6.30 this morning

Boxerboy

 

Other way round fuckwit. The pound is weak - not strong.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, simes

There are going to be a lot of disappointed crumblies queuing up to
complain about dodgy travel advice in the morning.

 

I assume the mathematical genius is a travel agent? Or just pesters old
people about their holidays?

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, simes

So it seems.

 

you must've been away a long time as we get an almost daily blog. Bit of a
saga, really.

 

So did I!

 

It would only have fried on you at great expense.
Consider it a money pit avoided.

 

So it is.

1,100 Euro = 969.881 British Pound

 

While I do work for a large travel agent, I thankfully haven't worked
in Sales for several years.

 

And that's official bank rate. Tourist rate is closer to 1:1.

 

It's a long way to push. I'm assuming that you're going to be making
a monetary loss even with the price of the article to offset it, but
was it worth it overall?

 

Well, yes, obviously I'll run at a loss, but that's not really the
point. And, to look on the bright side, I managed to score a rather
top-hole Hein Gericke riding suit.

And (shameless product placement), it was *utterly* superb. I would not
have been able to make the trip with the winter kit I had before. Built
in kidney belt, Gore-Tex everywhere, body armour (gel-filled, I think,
because in cold weather it frozen absolutely rigid and you had to wait
for about 30-60 minutes before it thawed out enough to be flexible).

Other kit - my own ordinary Spada gloves, old but fine, with thermal
inner gloves, thermal long johns and vest, plus another two layers of
thermal wear on top of the vest, pair of ordinary socks under a pair of
decent ski socks. Decent ordinary leather bike boots, cleaned, polished,
dubbined, re-dubbined, and polished and dubbined a third time, and they
were excellent.

Neck warmer. Silk inner helmet balaclava (gave up on that, actually, as
it made my specs steam up too much).

 

The Older Gentleman wrote:

You mentioned Carole Nash recovery took you and the bike to the
dealership. Surely they also cover recovery of the bike back to the UK?

--
Lozzo
SV650S K5, ZX-7R P4, CBR600F-W, SR250 SpazzTrakka, SR250 Project
SpazzCaffer
I see a bright new future, where chickens can cross the road with no
fear of having their motives questioned

 

Not necessarily. The way it works is this:

If you have a breakdown on the way out, they'll try and get the vehicle
to an approved repairer. And the repairs will be done. If they can't
find an approved repairer (cf: Sweller's old Guzzi last year) or if the
vehicle is beyond easy repair (eg: holed crankcases), then they'll
provide you with transport to complete your journey and get your dead
vehicle home.

So Sweller got a Smart car, to complete his journey (to the Elefant and
back).

I was on the way *back*. They did what they contracted to do: got the
bike to a repairer who could, and would, repair it (remember that they
don't pay for the repairs: you have to do that). And the repair would
have been quite easy: bolt in new alternator, repair wiring, away you
go. Trouble is, it would have been fucking expensive, but that's not
their problem.

I would have to spend four or maybe five days in a hotel. But just
putting me on a plan back home was easier and cheaper, once I'd decided
to junk the bike.

There was something else about the economic cost of repatriating a
vehicle worth £1000 (declared value). Basically, if it costs more to
repatriate the vehicle than it's worth, odd factors come into play.
Sweller's Guzzi died fairly close to Blighty: I was still down by the
Czech/Austrian border.

 

<snip>

I see now, thanks.


--
Lozzo
SV650S K5, ZX-7R P4, CBR600F-W, SR250 SpazzTrakka, SR250 Project
SpazzCaffer
I see a bright new future, where chickens can cross the road with no
fear of having their motives questioned

 

Master V, or some cheap alternative?

Coo. Can't wait to try mine again.