So what would you do / have done

[beddowsm]

You've probably read the fuel pump thread that details my disastrous trip, and Mike54's thread on what you do to prepare.....but what would you have done in my situation. Anything different that I missed or didn't think of. Will be interested to hear what others would have done differently.

Heres the background....

Trip planned to ride from West to East Pyrenees using as many off road tracks as possible. Months planning the route.

Had a shakedown weekend ride through Wales to make sure the bike was ready. It wasn't, needed a new clutch and front wheel bearings. Bit the bullet and took it to a local performance bike shop to get what it needed done, plus a full service. Cost was just shy of £800.

What happened.......ferry to Spain cancelled. Trip re planned and a new route through France from Calais was sorted. This was to save the long slog through France on tarmac.

Got 170 miles from home and bike sounded terrible. Stopped at KTM garage near Peterborough. Although there wasn't any play in rear wheel the noise pointed to bearings. Rear sprocket bearings had collapsed. Bought some new ones and I put them in.

A few miles down the road bike coughed and spluttered and cut out. Thought maybe low on fuel so topped up from rotopax. A bit better so pulled into petrol station and filled tank up.

A few hundred meters away same problem. Stripped bike down with Felco and tested fuel pump. Not working. So removed and hoped gravity fed would sort. Still nothing. Getting late so into a hotel for a night and did some ringing round. Timcat who was coming on the trip offered to strip his facet from his Africa Twin and bring it following day.

Bike stripped and new pump installed. Still wouldn't let me rev past 3000. Others running out of time so had to leave me. I opted to head to Mikeyboy who offered his help. Slow ride there and Mikeyboy stripped the bike down checking things for a couple of hours. Couldn't see anything wrong, so put it back together again. Still same problem.

So at this point I had run out of options and headed the 100 miles home. Staying at under 3000 revs is not fun! 30 miles from home the bike packed up completely. No power to ignition.

So what would you have done differently. The trip is over for me. Apart from buying a bike today and riding 900 miles straight to Spain Im not going to catch up with the group.

The only thing I can think of is no shakedown ride after the service. But the problems didn't occur for 170 miles.....so would a ride really have shown this issue in time. Obviously would have if it was over 170 miles.....but how many miles is enough for a test???

[Boggs]

Well you definitely did the right thing returning home in my opinion,if you'd got the bike going,how long would it have worked for?,you would have been on egg shells the rest of the trip wondering if it was gonna fail again,esp when you couldn't diagnose the problem,above everything else piece of mind is priceless.

(thumbs)

[Flintlock]

Shot the bike & put it out of its misery.

Seriously-nothing else you could have done.

Looks like you were a victim of sheer bad luck.

On a plus side-you hopefully have had your life times supply after that

[V_King]

shit happens, this is one of those where you actually end up home much earlier than planned. will have plenty of time now to strip the bike and check everything though :laugh:

[SteveW]

That's just shit luck mate. I think you prepared well.
What bike was it?
As I posted on Mike's pre-trip thread, I'd have in place roadside assistance/recovery and my credit card.
I am off to the States on Saturday, even though my GSA800 is still under Manufacturers warranty BMW won't cover the bike in the States.
Before it went into the crate for shipping it had its 6000 mile service and new tyres, I've put slime in the tubes, spare inner tubes, mini-compressor and levers, plus tools that will allow me to tighten/adjust anything likely to need adjustment. I couldn't pack tyre foam and chain lube because they were "Hazardous"
I've got the highest breakdown cover and rider insurance I could find, if the break down is terminal I'm covered to get the bike shipped to Miami for crating back to the UK.
I've got the best medical cover I could find, with off-road cover.

[Tramp]

Mike i know that feeling all to well, kama strikes at the wrong time always but for a reason I believe.

When the bikes fixed reconsider...better here in uk than down the road...

Buy a transalp lol...

[Bernard Smith]

there's trip hassles and then there's just trip shit.

Tough luck about your hols, really annoying I can imagine.

Nought sometimes we can do but just sigh wistfully.

Things like this is why I have two bikes (1990, 1995) the same; some of you will know. When one needs work everything (luggage etc.) just swops over.

Just a thought.

[CRAIGREVO]

Any idea what's wrong with it yet?

[scubabiker]

im wondering too whats wrong with it, sounds like it could be bad fuel maybe? or maybe wrong grade plug?
sounds like rotten luck though, much like my winter trip (3 punctures at high speed, frozen floats, water/ice in airbox, frozen ignition switch...)

[CRAIGREVO]

I was thinking tank vacuum until it lost power with no electrics. :unsure: