Bikeshite. Euro trip disaster 2007.

[Barry Cade]

Foreword*

 

It was 2007, my camera was shit and I was skint.

 

 

As some of you may know,I was away for 2 weeks last month to Europe on my(Italian)bike on my own,thought some of you may be interested,so here's the story I wrote for my local bike club...

didn't go smoothly at all! Here goes.

Due to catch the ferry from Rosyth on the Tuesday at 3pm,had the bike all loaded and was happy with the way everything was strapped on,messed around for a bit in the morning and had a shower and stuff getting myself prepared for the off.about 2pm I went out to the garage and got myself dressed in my bike gear,made a last check of everything,wheeled the bike out the garage,shut the door and jumped on.Pressed the button and the B****** wouldn't fire!! Never EVER done that before....

kept pressing the button in disbelief,but no,nothing happening.Pulled off the tailpack,my tent,tank bag and everything else and checked and double checked everything,decided to pull the plug out (which is a bit of hassle-all the fairing has to come off...) and had a look,it looked fine,but I had a spare,so I chucked it in,and it started..thank F***!!

Got to Rosyth no probs,and had a reasonably good crossing.Didn't bother with the aircraft seats,and found an exhaust vent at the back of the boat,right at the top,so settled down there for a kip,outside in the warm air.Woke up early,had a coffee or 3 by the time we docked in Belgium.Bikes were all OK on the ship,so I set off on my way to Germany.

Finally made it to Rosyth

 

 

 

On holiday at last,seeing the bridges getting smaller,pint in hand..

 

Got out of Zebrugge and hit the Autobahn,where I was to be for the next 8 hours..pretty uneventful,apart from fuel stops every hour and a half,bike was always at 95%+ throttle,and was going great,but everytime it was started after a stop,it was blowing out smoke....I tried to ignore this for now...

Finally made it to my aunties at about 9..haven't heard from her in years,and she's 86, so no idea if she was OK,or even still alive..rang the bell but no answer....feck...what do I do now? Too late to pitch the tent,and everywhere in the village was closed.
I needed sleep now,so I rode around the village I know so well from when I was young,then looked for somewhere to kip for a bit.Found a reasonable looking bench on the outskirts of the village,next to a wood,and settled down.I must have slept for an hour or 2,the woke up with a jump,my helmet was moving.....I grabbed it and found a hedgehog tryng it on for size.... didn't sleep much after that!

about 3 am I decided to push on to Wolfsburg,to see the Autostadt ,another few hours on the autobahn and I was there,but too early to get in,I was absolutely shattered by this time,so said "Fu*k it" turned round and headed back to Visselhovede.... In that 24 hours I had covered over 700 miles,on a 650 single...which was getting harder and harder to start,and caused a smokescreen every time...
 

When I got there my auntie was in! She's deaf as a post now,but otherwise in pretty good health
so I got a good feed,and a nice comfy bed.Brilliant! The next couple of days I just wandered around sightseeing,but finally came to the conclusion my bike was ill...temp was going well up,losing water,pipes going solid after running..we all know what that means....GRRRR The head gaskets gone. The guy who rents the shop my auntie owns was kind enough to take me to the local Aprilia dealer,where I was told it would take 7 WEEKS to get a gasket

So we drove in his Vw T25 double cab syncro!!!

 

 

to his mates,who knows a bit about bikes,did some phoning around and found a dealer in Garbsen (Ital Moto- AMAZING PLACE- Dukes,MV's, Aprillias everywhere!) He very kindly drove me the 80 miles to collect a gasket from them- the man's a hero! Anyway, started ripping the bike down with the few tools I had brought,and his socket set, then found the engine has to come out to do the head gasket....yep right out.

 

 

 

Part 2...


Put everything back together that came apart,struggled on my own to get the engine back into the frame,topped up the oil and water and pressed the button,it fired up first time and sounded fine.Let it warm through and checked everything again.all good so far!!

Had a run round the town,and made sure,and then went to the pub a happy man,planning my journey to Autostadt,and Berlin the next day.
Next morning it was pissing down..but I had missed enough of my holiday,so decided to go anyway.Set of on the autobahn and all was fine with the bike,BUT you've never been properly scared unless you have been on the autobahn in the pissing rain with a bike with a single,dull taillight which tops out at just over the ton.The endless lines of trucks on the inside lane,running about 6 feet apart mean you have to use the middle and outside lanes...the spray is unbelieveable! The roads over there are also like ice when wet,far worse than ours,and much,much more diesel lying around,and plenty of strips of shiny overbanding too-be warned!! When you have 2 mph in hand passing a caravan in the fast lane,and the LED lights of an Uber Audi suddenly fill your mirrors,doing about 150... I'll leave the rest to your imagination!

Made it to Wolfsburg in 1 piece,and enjoyed the rest of the day,great place to see including a factory tour,seeing Golfs being built from scratch,and wandering round all the old Lamborghini's and Bugattis...

 

When I left Autostadt,it was after 4,so I decided against going to Berlin for the night and headed back North. About 50 miles into the journey,in the fast lane at a ton,the engine died...stopped,cut out..dead.
Coasting in rush hour traffic,through 2 lanes af mad BMW drivers and crazy Polish truckers is no fun! But i made it to the hard shoulder.Made some simple checks but was getting sparks and fuel,so it was something serious.....

Could see a motorway sign in the distance,so I pushed the bike along the shoulder for a km,and came to the sign which said there was an Autohof (truck stop) in 2km...2km later I wheeled into the Autohof Peine absolutely shattered. Sat on my arse for about an hour to recover,then had a beer. WTF could be wrong now? The way it just cut dead led me to think it was ignition,but I was getting a strong spark,temp was fine,and the bike was running really well.I had no tools,and no real inclination after the previous problems,and the 3km walk. I fecked around for a couple of hours,trying to decide wheater just to dump the bike and get the train home,have a kip and see what morning brought,or get absolutely arsed...I had breakdown cover,so I gave them a call (I used to be a breakdown driver,so knew what to expect) We can come out and take your bike to the nearest garage,where you pay for repairs,said the woman on the phone....Nah,said I -knowing Aprillia's parts delivery times,and the likely cost,I had about 250 Euro's left till I got home.I asked if she would be willing to get someone to take me and the bike back to my Aunties.....Phone you back in a min,she said......about 1:30 am I got a call saying "yes,we can do that no problem....260 Euros,and you must pay the driver......Thanks but no thanks I said.

 

So,after about another hour af staring at stuff,I thought...Do or Die. I went back into the truck stop where I was causing a fair bit of amusement to the truckers there,and had a rake through the bargain bin..A set of open ended spanners for 3 Euro's and a set of allen keys for 2 Euros..worth a go. Pulled the fairing,tank and seat off the bike,and started totake off the rocker cover.The spanners were useless,and the jaws spread as soon as they were on the nuts...

Back into the truckstop and another rake,this time finding a set of ring spanners,that looked very slightly more robust at 6 Euros. Off with the rocker cover,and saw instantly what had happened,the small pin holding the inlet camshaft sprocket to the camshaft had sheared,so the sprocket was turning,but the cam wasn't. I was a bit happier I had found the problem,but was still immobilised.Smoked a few fags,walked up and down a bit,then plonked my arse on the kerb...it was almost 4.30 am. A few minutes later,a vision appeared smileyhyper.gif
A polish registered truck,with "KART Racing" down the side,loads of stickers on it ,with one being "ROTAX"!!!!!!! A few exchanges of Germlish and we were in the back,raking through mountains of spares,and would you believe,a cam sprocket retaining pin

Bike back together,all went OK,but of course the battery was flat,I had a few goes at bumping it,but only got a massive backfire-mightily pissing off the sleeping truckers!!! The camera had dried out a bit by this time...it packed in altogether for a bit!

 

Note left in frustration...

 

Finally got a jump start and off an old guy in a Merc 190,and it fired up like nothing had happened... That was the best noise I've ever heard,a 650 Rotax single through Predator pipes!! Back on the road,and an uneventful,if cold run home. The sleep..until 5pm,after a shot of straight German Scnapps.

The next few days I just pottered around,and relaxed,but it was time to make for home,so I packed up the bike and said my goodbyes,destination Amsterdam for a night. No more bike problems,running better than ever now!

Amsterdam really messes with your head,not going to say much,if you want to know,visit....its a wierd place! The weather was great,campsite was fine,and at last,with 1 day to go,I was enjoying my holiday.

Next morning I was up early,tent all packed,bike loaded and ready for the off at 7am.The campsite office didn't open till 9....and they had my passport. A can of 7 up and a Ritter sport for breakfast,and at 9am I was back on the road,no more problems again,and finally got to Zebrugge with plenty of time in hand.
 

 

Had this for company..

 

 

Made it to the 'Dam..

 

 

Sorry to the owners of the Superfast ferry, after a fair few pints,and something from Amsterdam,which could't be bought home,I made a mess of the side of the ship....

Anyway, It was a great adventure,great fun most of the time,and certainly character building!!! I'll be off again soon, this time on a BMW R1100RS And hopefully a new camera..

 

 

 

[John F]

Good story... I did something very similar a while ago but on a Suzuki DR500, but I started and finished my trip in North Bavaria (albeit arriving home via breakdown van with a munted camshaft).

 

So yes, I know all about riding something that can barely top 100 mph on the Autobahn in the pissing rain...!