To Russia With One Bike

The saga continues:

We have a phone number for the Kawi dealer here. We call ADAC insurance to arrange a tow to the shop. We call Germany. They call Russia. Russia calls the dealer for the address. Russia calls us. That's how it works. A flatbed truck shows up. We load the bike and he ties it down. I suggest a better way. Nyet. Off we go. Jean and I are riding along. After about a mile we stop. The bike has fallen over. No damage as it hasn't fallen off the truck. We pick it up and retie it. After much hand waving, we do it my way. We offload it at the dealer and have coffee.

A couple of so called mechanics manage to change the spark plug. Is better??? No. Mechanic tomorrow.

They give us a ride to the hotel. We will know by 10 am what the problem is. We call at 9:30 to see if there is any progress. Come at 11 am. You will have a new motor. Have I mentioned that language is an issue? We show up at 1:00 pm to find yesterday's driver sitting in his Lada with the bike on a trailer behind it. Don't know if he has been waiting for 5 minutes or two hours. Off we go to the mechanic. It's back downtown where we have just come from. A private m/c shop. The mechanic is Uncle Sacha who seems to know what he is doing. He does a few checks and then digs right in. Everybody is very pleasant and we are offered a ride back to the hotel. I think our driver was chosen because he spoke English. Very pleasant and well spoken.

About an hour after he dropped us off, he was back with the bad news. There is a broken part in the counterbalancer and parts could be had in about 4 weeks. So now it's decision time. Both for us and for ADAC Insurance. We will have to decide what we want to do and the insurance company will have to decide what they are willing to do. Stay tuned. We should know tomorrow??? Although things don't seem to happen very quickly here. The weekend gets in the way, so we are here until Monday. Lots of phone calls with no result.

Monday morning we decide to move on. After a trip to the shop, we pack up and head out. No result from the insurance and time is passing by. It's a sunny day so we get back on plan and go halfway to Moscow. It's a full load for the Kawi-2 up with luggage, but we chug along, bottoming out over any major bump. Another good day and we are in Moscow.

Ross

Standing at "Mile 0" Marker in Moscow

Footnote: Turns out 'Uncle Sasha' and company are Hells Angels! This is their club house and full patch riders come and go with other bikers and 'civilians'. We had heard from a friend of "Meaford Sue" how he had been helped by another Chapter of the Club in Vladistock and how great they were and we had the same experience. They are storing our bike while ADAC decides it's fate. Before leaving, we exchanged stickers and ours now proudly resides among those of a number of European and Russia Angels!

 

 

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