Riding up Springbrook mountain road this afternoon, my lady on the back, bike going great guns!
About halfway up there's a single lane section with a Giveaway on the downhill side, I was clear to go up, and did just past there and accelerating in second the bike suddenly quits!
No electrical power....
I roll to a stop, lucky there a fairly wide verge on the roadside right there to stop on.
Fiddle with key and Killswitch.
Nothing ...so off with sidecovers and seat.
Short battery terminals with a spanner (wrench), there's power at battery...
Ok fuses, check, check
Oh here it is ignition, gauges , instruments 15 amp is blown!
Get my spare fuse, I have 2x15amp spare.
Ok try the first and key on, click!
It blows, check yeah is blown.
Ok not gonna waste my last fuse.
What's the last thing I touched electrically on the yellow bike.
Speedo when the sensor crapped out,
Ordered a new one through a lead from here and fit a GPS speedo to tide me over, had to cut a coupla speedo wires to power it up and earth it.
Fine for 2000kms till the new sensor arrived then I refit the Vic speedo and joined the 3 relevant wires, soldered and elect taped them and refitted headlight shell.
Everything great for next 1300 miles and then stopped today.
8 or 9 bikes passed at different times during our attempt to fix, none stopping or even acknowledging us,
Times have changed.....
Then a young fellow on an MT07 stops to offer help,
He's an electrician and pronounces my wiring joins good so while the headlights open I try my last fuse .
Ignition on, OK , kill switch on, fuel pump whirrrs, OK....looking good.
Fire bike up, She runs! Rev rev rev OK!
Now prior to this I've already called Roadside Assist on my phone, I pay extra on my insurance for all my bikes and cars and they're all insured and I'm covered for breakdown assist on all, a good deal..
There's a tow truck on its way.
But now the bikes running!
So I turn it off and we start refitting headlight seat sidecovers when phone rings...Tow Truck driver saying he's about to leave Molendiner, about 50 mins away..
I tell him the bikes now running and I'm gonna try to ride it home.
So he aborts his trip out here.
Bikes back together, girl gets on, I fire it up again, Great!
Give it a coupla revs up to 2K and it then dies!!!
Ok start to pull bits off and get to fuse, well my helper who stopped does while I ring tow truck driver back.
He tells me he can't come out without the OK from the breakdown insurance people so I ring the breakdown line again and they say there's no record of my bike being insured with them! WHAT!!!
They transfer me to the insurance company line but by now everyone I select 5 for bike insurance I get a recorded message saying they gone home at 5pm and ring back Monday in office hours....sheeeeittt!
Farrrk so I ring Breakdown again and get same story that my bike rego number ain't in their system, nothing they can do...
I tell em I have 6 vehicles insured with then and I'm stranded on the roadside in the mountains and it's getting dark quickly..
They put me on hold while they look for a supervisor....
My roadside helper has a 15 amp fuse spare so he takes headlight shell off while I strip sidecovers and seat, we try his fuse and it blows again.....
Ok I say it's all down hill for about 5 miles winding road I tell him and my girl that we gonna roll down the hill on the bike, my girl on back holding the phone while we still on hold.
And our newfound friend is gonna ride behind us with his hazard lights on...
Interesting and almost silent ride back down, I know the road well, it's twist and turns , one lane bridges etc.
I brake only as much as necessary and keep up a decent pace.
My helper says later on he was actually having some trouble keeping up to me at times!
Anyway we get to the bottom and there's a good place to stop, a park, a toilet block , and some overhead lighting it's now starting to get dark.
I go to try Roadside Assist again but there's no phone reception where we are now!!!!
What to do.
Mates bike has veryskinny back seat and no pegs to I'm not gonna get on that, also he's a new rider and never pillioned, so that's right out...
There's a shitty old car parked near toilet with a young driver I walk over say Gday and ask which way he's going...He says he's lost!
Ok where's he tryna go?
Nerang! Back our direction OK so I tell him my plight, ask if he can drive me back to my lady's place and get her son to drive me back to the bike.
And as soon as my phone gets reception I'll try the Breakdown number again...
He's fine with that and I jump in his car and we are off down the road to the second part on the windiest..
Down through the Twisties we go while I watch my phone for signs of reception.
He being a young driver steers with his left hand while holding his phone and smoke in his right hand.
Negotiating a very twisty downhill road....
I start to fear for my life.
Ask why he's looking at his phone.
He says he's still tryna figure out where he is!!!!
I tell him it's a long winding road with no sideroads and we are on the right track so he stops looking at his phone screen but still keeps his phone in his right hand and steers with his left!!!!!
Evidently most of our youth drive this way.....God help us!
We make it to Tilly's house alive I sling the young bloke a few bucks for fuel for going out of his way. He thanks me and leaves.
I bang on the house an tell out for Ben, my lady's son, tell him what's happened and I ring the Tow Truck driver as I still had his number from when he rang me.
He says his boss won't let him leave without ok from breakdown insurance place...
So I ring them yet again and start to get the story of my bike not being in their records..
At the end of my patience I calmly explain my bike is by the roadside halfway up a mountain road my lady is still with it...it's getting dark rapidly and the fact I have 6 vehicles insured with them and that on Monday I'm going to cancel all my insurance with them!
This has the desired effect, he put me on hold and a few mins later his boss comes on full of apologies we work out that there's been a mistake at their in in the paperwork when I sold my Vegas cancelled the insurance on it and reinsured the Kingpin with them.
They're very sorry and the Tow Truck is on its way...
Hooo fkn ray!
Ben drives me back to the bike.
Our young helper is still there with my lady...turns out they used to live next door to each other over 20 years before and he was friends with her son Ben...So it turned out to be a little roadside reunion!
My bike got loaded on the truck, Tilly went home with her son.
I got a ride back to my home/workshop in the tow truck despite the breakdown people saying I couldn't cos of covid!
Tow truck driver isn't a covidder and he's old school so no probs about me riding in his truck.
Bikes secure and we headed my place.
Unload the bike ..Thank You!
What a fkn day!!!
Haven't bothered tryna work out what wrong with the yellow bike.
It can wait...
We might be able to all sort it out later..
About halfway up there's a single lane section with a Giveaway on the downhill side, I was clear to go up, and did just past there and accelerating in second the bike suddenly quits!
No electrical power....
I roll to a stop, lucky there a fairly wide verge on the roadside right there to stop on.
Fiddle with key and Killswitch.
Nothing ...so off with sidecovers and seat.
Short battery terminals with a spanner (wrench), there's power at battery...
Ok fuses, check, check
Oh here it is ignition, gauges , instruments 15 amp is blown!
Get my spare fuse, I have 2x15amp spare.
Ok try the first and key on, click!
It blows, check yeah is blown.
Ok not gonna waste my last fuse.
What's the last thing I touched electrically on the yellow bike.
Speedo when the sensor crapped out,
Ordered a new one through a lead from here and fit a GPS speedo to tide me over, had to cut a coupla speedo wires to power it up and earth it.
Fine for 2000kms till the new sensor arrived then I refit the Vic speedo and joined the 3 relevant wires, soldered and elect taped them and refitted headlight shell.
Everything great for next 1300 miles and then stopped today.
8 or 9 bikes passed at different times during our attempt to fix, none stopping or even acknowledging us,
Times have changed.....
Then a young fellow on an MT07 stops to offer help,
He's an electrician and pronounces my wiring joins good so while the headlights open I try my last fuse .
Ignition on, OK , kill switch on, fuel pump whirrrs, OK....looking good.
Fire bike up, She runs! Rev rev rev OK!
Now prior to this I've already called Roadside Assist on my phone, I pay extra on my insurance for all my bikes and cars and they're all insured and I'm covered for breakdown assist on all, a good deal..
There's a tow truck on its way.
But now the bikes running!
So I turn it off and we start refitting headlight seat sidecovers when phone rings...Tow Truck driver saying he's about to leave Molendiner, about 50 mins away..
I tell him the bikes now running and I'm gonna try to ride it home.
So he aborts his trip out here.
Bikes back together, girl gets on, I fire it up again, Great!
Give it a coupla revs up to 2K and it then dies!!!
Ok start to pull bits off and get to fuse, well my helper who stopped does while I ring tow truck driver back.
He tells me he can't come out without the OK from the breakdown insurance people so I ring the breakdown line again and they say there's no record of my bike being insured with them! WHAT!!!
They transfer me to the insurance company line but by now everyone I select 5 for bike insurance I get a recorded message saying they gone home at 5pm and ring back Monday in office hours....sheeeeittt!
Farrrk so I ring Breakdown again and get same story that my bike rego number ain't in their system, nothing they can do...
I tell em I have 6 vehicles insured with then and I'm stranded on the roadside in the mountains and it's getting dark quickly..
They put me on hold while they look for a supervisor....
My roadside helper has a 15 amp fuse spare so he takes headlight shell off while I strip sidecovers and seat, we try his fuse and it blows again.....
Ok I say it's all down hill for about 5 miles winding road I tell him and my girl that we gonna roll down the hill on the bike, my girl on back holding the phone while we still on hold.
And our newfound friend is gonna ride behind us with his hazard lights on...
Interesting and almost silent ride back down, I know the road well, it's twist and turns , one lane bridges etc.
I brake only as much as necessary and keep up a decent pace.
My helper says later on he was actually having some trouble keeping up to me at times!
Anyway we get to the bottom and there's a good place to stop, a park, a toilet block , and some overhead lighting it's now starting to get dark.
I go to try Roadside Assist again but there's no phone reception where we are now!!!!
What to do.
Mates bike has veryskinny back seat and no pegs to I'm not gonna get on that, also he's a new rider and never pillioned, so that's right out...
There's a shitty old car parked near toilet with a young driver I walk over say Gday and ask which way he's going...He says he's lost!
Ok where's he tryna go?
Nerang! Back our direction OK so I tell him my plight, ask if he can drive me back to my lady's place and get her son to drive me back to the bike.
And as soon as my phone gets reception I'll try the Breakdown number again...
He's fine with that and I jump in his car and we are off down the road to the second part on the windiest..
Down through the Twisties we go while I watch my phone for signs of reception.
He being a young driver steers with his left hand while holding his phone and smoke in his right hand.
Negotiating a very twisty downhill road....
I start to fear for my life.
Ask why he's looking at his phone.
He says he's still tryna figure out where he is!!!!
I tell him it's a long winding road with no sideroads and we are on the right track so he stops looking at his phone screen but still keeps his phone in his right hand and steers with his left!!!!!
Evidently most of our youth drive this way.....God help us!
We make it to Tilly's house alive I sling the young bloke a few bucks for fuel for going out of his way. He thanks me and leaves.
I bang on the house an tell out for Ben, my lady's son, tell him what's happened and I ring the Tow Truck driver as I still had his number from when he rang me.
He says his boss won't let him leave without ok from breakdown insurance place...
So I ring them yet again and start to get the story of my bike not being in their records..
At the end of my patience I calmly explain my bike is by the roadside halfway up a mountain road my lady is still with it...it's getting dark rapidly and the fact I have 6 vehicles insured with them and that on Monday I'm going to cancel all my insurance with them!
This has the desired effect, he put me on hold and a few mins later his boss comes on full of apologies we work out that there's been a mistake at their in in the paperwork when I sold my Vegas cancelled the insurance on it and reinsured the Kingpin with them.
They're very sorry and the Tow Truck is on its way...
Hooo fkn ray!
Ben drives me back to the bike.
Our young helper is still there with my lady...turns out they used to live next door to each other over 20 years before and he was friends with her son Ben...So it turned out to be a little roadside reunion!
My bike got loaded on the truck, Tilly went home with her son.
I got a ride back to my home/workshop in the tow truck despite the breakdown people saying I couldn't cos of covid!
Tow truck driver isn't a covidder and he's old school so no probs about me riding in his truck.
Bikes secure and we headed my place.
Unload the bike ..Thank You!
What a fkn day!!!
Haven't bothered tryna work out what wrong with the yellow bike.
It can wait...
We might be able to all sort it out later..