Well, yesterday was a day of unwanted drama, but I thought I'd share what happened here, as I know I'm not unique in having done this and it may serve as both a warning and a reminder. I had an appointment in the morning for which I'd parked my bike outside and - given that there have been some thefts in the area (Barnet) I thought I'd better take some precautions; so the steering lock was activated, and I put a disc lock on my front wheel together with a padlock on my rear sprocket. I came back out after an hour or so, and thought I'd have a quick vape and check my email before I set off again. Anyway, while I was doing so a car proceeded to park immediately adjacent to my bike. He initially backed in, pulled forward and the reversed again; however, he didn't seem very happy and so carried on manoeuvring, getting ever closer to the bike in the process. I was watching him with increasing concern, and decided that the safest course of action was to just get away before an accident could occur. I therefore popped my helmet and gloves on and - spotting a break in the traffic - gave the bike a bit of throttle. Unfortunately - and I guess because I wasn't following my normal thought process - I neglected to take the locks off the bike. The front wheel was fine as the lock didn't have time to reach the calliper, but the rear sprocket... well, not so much. Not good, and what made it worse was that this happened two days before the big ride-out that I've spent ages organising. I was bloody mortified. I called Hertfordshire Triumph to see if they had a chain and sprocket kit in stock, but they didn't and couldn't get hold of one before next week. I explained that I HAD to be on the road for Sunday, and they suggested that I try Woburn Pure Triumph to see if they could help. Lo and behold, they had the kit in stock, and told me that if I could get there for 3pm (it was now mid-day) they would get be back on the road the same day. I couldn't believe my luck, and immediately called the RAC for a recovery vehicle to take me up to MK. They confirmed that they could help, but as they considered the incident to be my own fault they weren't prepared to regard it as a "breakdown" and would charge me £232 to get me and the bike to where we needed to be. I was absolutely livid - I've been an RAC member for 18 years and rarely make a claim - but my hands were tied; I therefore told them to proceed, and I'm now taking the issue up with them. If I don't get a full refund I'll be taking my business elsewhere at the end of the current term for sure. The driver arrived after about an hour and a half. Despite me stressing no less than thee times (to different people at the RAC end) that they would need to make sure they sent someone who could relay a motorbike, his first words were "Oh - it's a bike". I could have cried, but luckily the guy knew what he was doing and after a bit of head scratching we managed to load it up, tie it down and get on our way. We arrived at the dealership at 3.02, so an absolute result given the uncertainty. The guys there were brilliant (one of whom I later realised was our own @Rich Bryce ), and sure enough it wasn't long before I had two new sprockets and a nice shiny chain fitted to the bike. Well, by now I'd incurred a fair amount of cost, and was feeling a bit sick as a consequence. However, as I was leaving the showroom to go for a walk while the repairs were carried out, something shiny on the wall caught my eye. It was something that I'd wanted for as long as I've owned the bike, and I decided to ease the pain of the unexpected expenditure by, errr, spending a bit more. For this. Yes, I've ditched the horrible stock exhaust, and had a Yoshimura Alpha T fitted instead. They left the baffle out and it sounds INCREDIBLE... so much so that I may be forced to put the baffle back in... we'll see about that one. In the meantime, I have a few more horses, a bike that sounds divine and a weight gain (or rather, loss) of about 4kg in the process. I also managed to turn a horrendous day into something a bit more positive, and I doubt the grin I had on my face as I rode home will be leaving any time soon when I'm on the bike. The lesson here, though? Well sadly it's an obvious one
So very sorry to hear about your crappy day mate, but I loved the way you made it bearable. "Of course you needed a new exhaust! It's not like it's another pair of shoes is it?"
There go I but for the grace of God.....Glad it worked out in the end. Great service by Rich et al at Woburn by the sound of things.
Not on this occasion - I needed to be in MK for 3pm as not being on my own ride-out was simply not an option (and the workshop was too busy the following day (i.e. today).
I can almost guarantee the RAC will not care less. I was a member of theirs for 30 years and they treated me like dirt last year - they made a mistake with something I purchased from them and swore blind it had nothing to do with my car breaking down again two days later, assuming their "technical centre" was right and Ford were wrong. The arrogance until I threatened the Small Claims Court was unbelievable. I had great delight in telling them to shove their renewal quote where the sun does not shine, and why, when I left for another provider. Unfortunately most of us have done the ride-off-with-lock-through-wheel/disk/sprocket thing in the past. The good news is you normally only do it once
That's what happens when thieving scum gets into your head they've a lot to answer for, supposed to ride free
I think you had a lucky escape with the sprocket acting totally sacrificial. Just think, next option could have been with a wheel or drive hub bill (or both) on top
Your story reminds me of a trip years ago to the Campbell monument on lake Coniston. Pulls up sat on bikes chatting to a few mates. We all get off to find a cafe when..... crunch! Mates turn around and I'm laid on the floor with a Kawasaki GT 750 laughing my head off. A note for all; before getting off your bike and walking away remember to put the side stand down!!!!
Years ago I drove a Mk3 Cortina estate with no brakes across Northampton in rush hour to the local licensing office for them to examine it so I could transfer the number plate, all I had was the handbrake, most frightening experience of my life, worth it though as I still have the plate, it was worth about 10 times more than the Cortina.
I'm glad that story ended with a good note! Just the other day I was going for a spin on my Scrambler. I fired her up and was putting on my gear while she warmed up. Then she died, almost drained battery and nothing. Then I started the simple mental checklist, Key on, kill switch off, Gas on. There it was, I had left the petcock off. Too many years riding bikes with Vac operated petcocks. How silly can you get?
Lovely sound. What was even more interesting was your commentary. You don’t sound anything like your Forum avitar. Dare I say you sound right posh ! Enjoy your new sound enhanced ride.
I’m always riding off with the fuel tap turned off, I just about get to roundabout down the road and get a little cough and splutter to remind me. Knocking the kill switch to off is another habit of mine, so I think the bike is fooked and that’s all it is. Takes me about 10 minutes of swearing to work it out!