The day came for the gypsies to head off to Portland, and it was time for me to head to my last stop on this ride, Las Vegas. Meeting up with what has become known as the 'Gator Crew'. While we're not all Florida Gators (A graduate from the University of Florida), they are the majority in this bunch.
I departed from Ventura early in hopes of beating some of the Mojave heat, but even by 6:30am the road to Vegas got hot. The ride started as normal, but when I rolled in for a gas stop 180 miles out of Las Vegas, something went wrong. After 8000+ miles, I've learned what my machine should sound like. I feel this is true with my body, as well as my other 4 wheeled machines. With my body, I know when something hurts, my body is telling me address the problem. With my bike I know what it sounds like going down the road. After the gas stop, I made it another 1/2 mile onto the highway, and I heard an (the) issue. The final drive went bad again.
I limped the machine to the next exit which luck would have was not far, and pulled into a gas station. I looked at the back rim, and sure enough, another puddle of gear oil was pooling. 6000 miles ago, I had the final drive replaced with 1 of only 2 final drives left in the world (or left in the world of BMW Service). The part had to be ordered from Germany and the repair took over 2 weeks to complete. Standing at the gas station in Victorville CA, getting cooked by the early morning sun, it became apparent the machine was finished, as is the ride.
I feel very lucky that this issue happened in Victorville, because 5 miles North on I-15, and I'm in 'no country for old men' style desert. No cell or internet service, plus 105+ degree heat. Add to this mix an extremely unhelpful roadside assistance plan, and that might have been all she wrote for me and the bike.
It took 4 hours for the roadside plan to finally locate a towing service then another 2 hours for the service to show up. The main problem here was that no company was willing to tow me the 180 miles to the BMW dealership located in Vegas. I finally conceded and took a company willing to tow me to Riverside CA. I have not yet received an explanation as to why Progressive Roadside was able to tow me from Monroe LA to Dallas TX (250 miles) for free, but couldn't find a provider to tow me 180 miles to Vegas for less than $1600. I will be following up.
The tow company arrived and after figuring they brought the wrong style of tow truck, they got my bike loaded up. I had some time to chat with the first driver, and after flashing some cash, sweet talked them into towing me to Vegas. Funny what having real cash on hand will get you sometimes. When you have a face like I do, having an extra $400 bucks in real American green goes a long way.
The drivers strapped down my bike on the flat bed, but something didn't look right to me. I was assured that the bike was secure, and off we went to get gas (from the tow yard pumps). Well 500 yards away from the tow yard, I looked back and the straps had come undone. The bike was still up, but ready to go over the side of the truck. The driver pulled over and I jumped on the flat bed to check any damages. From the looks of the bike, it seemed the kick stand was bent. It wasn't a good decision, but the driver agreed to let me stay on the back of the bike on the flat bed to hold it upright while he drove to the gas pump in the yard (again, only about 500 yards). Well this drew some attention from the manager of the yard. After the driver filled up the tank and took a reprimand from the shift manager, we were finally on our way to Vegas.
We pulled into BMW Motorcycles of Las Vegas 10 minutes before they closed. I had spoken with the Service Manager and explained my situation. His name is Miller, and he was more than helpful, and cool to boot. The tow driver and I unloaded the bike and pushed it over to Miller and his crew of techs who were in process of rolling all the bikes into the shop. Miller took one look at what I thought was a bent kick stand, and gave some very grim news. The stand wasn't bent, the sub-frame of the bike is bent. How bad is this news? They cannot bend this back as it could crack the weld, which would mean they need to total out the bike. They have to disassemble the entire bike, and replace the sub-frame.
The final drive will be replaced under warranty, and the tow company will be on the hook for the sub-frame, but both of these repairs will take some time. The dealerships best guess, is 3-4 weeks.
After hanging out in a gas station for 6 hours, and then a 180 mile tow, I was ready for a shower and to see the Gator crew. A very nice gent by the name of Gary gave me a lift to the Mirage, and I put the bike and all that had happened behind me. The dealership will call me with the estimate once they have fully inspected the bike, and I'll deal with the tow company on their portion of the repair.
I'll have to scrap my intentions of meeting up with my buddy PJ and Hans on my return trip home.
Vegas was the last stop on this ride. The bike now sits in Vegas awaiting full prognoses. The machine gave me a good ride, and didn't strand me anywhere life threatening. So I will count my lucky stars and keep in mind that the bike can always be replaced, while I can't.
I've got 1 more blog left in me and a follow up article for BMW Owners News. I'm happy and at peace with the world.
Cheers to the road
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| Going to Vegas - pre sub-frame bend. |
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| Miller pointing out the bad news. The bent sub frame |
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