Bikez

Yeah, I stopped with the “Z” for a while, but it’s more fun and people were asking… they were also asking about the bikes, so here’s an update.

After the bog incident on the Top of the World Highway, I bent and sheared off my front steering stop.

Not a big deal, but an indicator that there might have been some collateral damage. After repeated attempts to fix it (including riding into a wall in Prince George), the vibration was really bad for about 3,000 miles… yeah. This is one of the reasons Alex and I hightailed it to San Diego to get it looked at. I told them about the issue and we had diagnosed it over the phone as a bent lower triple clamp. They said the part needed to come from Germany and it would take 2 weeks. Needless to say that was very disappointing, but Alex and I decided when we departed Sunriver that we would drive to Reno (400 miles) then on the San Diego (500 miles) … in two days through 100+ degree heat to get the bikes there early – just in case the part arrived early.

One Night In Reno…

Some drunk knocked on my door at 3am, and in the dark I stubbed my tow so bad I broke my pinky toe. Not fun.

On to San Diego

At this point, it was Thursday and we dropped off the bikes. Mine to investigate the repairs, and Alex’s for service. I called the next day and they said they didn’t have a chance to look at it yet and that they were waiting for the part. By now, Alex and I were in LA visiting with family and friends as part of the plan.

Cousins and old pal Mateo outside the Academy of Motion Pictures Museum

I was pretty annoyed that they hadn’t even taken the bike apart especially after we rode all day and night to get it there early. I must have made an impression because even though the service department is closed Sunday and Monday, when we rode in to pickup Alex’s bike on Tuesday they said my bike would be ready Thursday!! That put huge smiles on our faces because it meant we were back on schedule. Unfortunately at that time Eric and Ray decided to bail. That Thursday we headed out to Tecate and on our way to La Paz.

Re-kitting the Bikes

Well, Alex decided to ditch his hard cases for soft, and we both shipped back more than 100 pounds of gear.

Here are the bikes looking lean and mean after getting gas on our way to La Paz.

Needless to say, the bikes are running like brand new and with the extra weight gone, they are fun to ride again!