Adventure Bike Rider Forum

Left work at lunchtime yesterday to find my G650GS wouldn`t start, a flat battery! No worries i`ll call the RAC and get it recovered, thought I...so here`s the tale.

Called the RAC at 12.34, who sent a man and a van, the man didn`t have any idea about bikes so passed the job on to a recovery vehicle at 13.25.

I called the RAC at 14.30, who said the vehicle would be with me by 15.00.

I again called the RAC at 16.00 enquiring where the recovery vehicle was, it`ll be with you soon I was told.

I again called the RAC at 17.00 enquiring where the recovery vehicle was, it won`t be with you until 18.00 I was told. I was extremely polite but very unhappy at this point.

I again called the RAC at 19.00 enquiring where the recovery vehicle was, it will be with you soon I was told. I was just about polite but very, very unhappy at this point.

At 19.45 a huge flat bed recovery truck arrived. The driver proceeded to take photo`s of my bike, I thought so I couldn`t claim for any existing damage issues, of which there are none! No, he was whats app`ing his mate to ask how to load my bike for recovery ?!?!

By 21.30 I was fuming, they actually wanted to fasten the 19 inch front wheel in a 17 inch wheel clamp type thing, which it clearly din`t fit, and then use ratchet straps from the flat bed onto the plastic bodywork to secure the bike. I refused to let them do this, removed the bike from the truck, and phoned the RAC who said they`d call back soon. Bollocks to this I thought so secured it at work and taxi`d home, home by 22.30, not happy and been out of the house since 05.30.

08.00 this morning, still no call from the RAC, so I called them to be informed they couldn`t recover me today! I got the manager on the phone and went into a rage with her, give her her due, she was ok, after explaining to her the previous nights events she would get a designated motorcycle recovery truck, arranged for 09.30.

My mate gave me a lift to work, sure enough, 09.30 the same fookin truck from last night turned up, with exactly the same gear as last night...fook me, CF Auto Recovery if you`re interested.

Called the RAC, got another truck arranged for 11.00...you can`t make this up mind...the same type of truck where the driver told me he didn`t have any motorcycle recovery equipment but could be back in an hour with a trailer. Fair enough, but, an hour and 45 minutes later he returns with a trailer that he had obviously dragged out of the undergrowth and he needed to go and get a puncture fixed on the trailer before he could put the bike on it, it`s now 14.00.

I called my mate who`s rarely at home, but local to my work to see if I could borrow his trailer, he`s in, I can and he arrives 30 minutes later. Whilst loading the bike the man with the crap trailer calls explaining he needs a new tyre for the mini rims on the trailer and can`t get one until Monday... :silly:

Anyway, 20 mins after loading my bike onto my mates trailer the bikes home.

In summary, it took the RAC 26hrs to try (but fail) to recover my bike from a major industrial estate in Co Durham, to my home 12 miles away.

I`ll be calling them on Monday...but don`t expect anything from them. You have been warned.

We waited over 4 hours in Helmsley for recovery via BMW earlier in the year. When the recovery driver eventually arrived, he said he'd been working for 18 hours and he was so busy chatting away that he didn't notice the sharp left hand bend at the top of Sutton Bank hmy:

I said "brake.....Brake......BRAKE!!!!" before he slammed on the anchors and stopped on the wrong side of the road nearly touching the barrier, which was the only thing between us and a drop of several hundred feet. I was not impressed with their service.....

Yea the couple of times Ive been recovered by the AA its been a van man who cant do anything even though I already said they couldnt fix it then a minimum 2 hours for a flat bed to arrive with a front wheel contraption and lots of straps.

A mates Pan European [500+lbs] was recovered on one of those ladder rack gizmos, the guy ratcheted the from down so tight it burst a fork seal.Not a happy chappy to say the least.

The AA do have a dedicated flat back for bikes which recovered me from Northants but as he travels the whole UK its hit and miss if hes in your area when you need him.He said Harley riders were the worst they were very touchy over marking the chrome when strapping down.

In April had a puncture on my Transalp so call the RAC @ 20:00 be with you by 21:00,
21:20 phone again be with you by 22:00 no explanation. 22:30 nothing try again the truck has been delayed on the M5 from Birmingham, wtf is it doing coming down from Birmingham to Stroud (south of Gloucester)!
Finally arrives at 23:45 home 8 miles away @ 00:30.
Would have been quicker to get a lift home dig out my trailer and get the bike myself.
Was going to use my TA on the club run into Wales & over Gospel pass but was too late to do the repair in time. Had to take the CB750 which was not the most ideal bike for a wet muddy road run!
At least mine was quicker than yours.

However 3 or 4 years ago my Harley Sportster broke down seemed like battery had packed up(turned out to be broken earth lead). Was insured with EBike with included breakdown. Phoned up 'man will be with you within the hour', arrived in 3/4 hour checked if he could fix it-no so on the trailer and home.
Something that was not all-bad with EBike in those days.

A woeful story, just surprised you didn't ask the first guy to use his jump pack to boost your battery to start the bike and then allow you to ride home carefully (without stalling or stopping for fuel!).

Bloody Hell what a balls up. I would have been livid. I was messed about by my insurance company over rescue for my bike a few weeks ago. Ive now joined a dedicated recue company for bikes called Start Rescue. You get an app on your mobile that lets them know by your phone signal exactly where you have broken down. Happily Ive not yet used the service yet but the reviews are pretty good.
Nick.

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

I've been recovered by the AA in the past; can't remember if it was their own truck but it had a bike bogey/clamp/stillage-thingy that the bike was secured to before being winched up as if it was a car. Also seen bikes on spectacle lifts with some kind of add-on.

The starter pack was huge, and when I told him where the battery was he was lost. I was unsure if you could jump start from the 'remote' live...i now understand that you can. :S

The trouble is like on my F800GS, the battery is under the false tank and after taking this off even with small clamps its so tight its hard to get a good connection with jump leads onto the battery.

So, is it ok to jump from the remote live?