I followed Trevor and Mark through the streets of Victoria, marveling at the fact that my old friends were riding with me again…
Trevor and Chenty pose with the Big Fella outside Island BMW, Victoria, Vancouver Island…
We reached Island BMW at the same time the camera crew did, and the interview continued there as we discussed more details of my journey…
Both the Big Fella and Mark’s Great White had been booked in for a service and within minutes of our arrival, our bikes were ridden into the workshop and put up on their respective lifts…
Mark’s bike is already on its lift, while the Big Fella gets pushed onto his own “operating table”…
Charlie Boorman’s technician, Bernie, prepares to give me the lowdown on the Big Fella…
I was amazed to discover that Charlie Boorman’s mechanic on their “Long Ride Down”, was the Island BMW’s chief technician, and knew that my bike was in good hands…
If anybody could advise me of the state of my bike, Bernie was the man to do it…!!
Trevor and I sat down in the reception area and caught up with our news… I related parts of my journey through South America and Mexico, while he explained the progress they had made on the building of their home, and the other construction projects that Trevor was managing…
It sounded as though he had his hands full…!!
“How are you going to manage being away for the next month…?? I asked…
“A very understanding client…!!” he answered, and I wasn’t sure if he was referring to his wife Chenty, or one of his other clients…!!
Four of the five casings that hold the studs were cracked…!! Not good..!!
We were interrupted by the service manager, who asked me to follow him into the workshop… I walked behind him as he led the way, wondering what the problem could be…
I had never been summoned into the workshop by a technician before, and could only believe that something seriously wrong had been discovered on the Big Fella…
“We’ve found several cracks on the aluminum bracket that holds the rear brake discs…” he said as we arrived at the bike…
“Oh yeah…!! I know about that…!!” I replied… “Been riding with it like that since South America…!!”
His eyebrows shot up as he digested this bit of information… Bernie took a closer look at one of them and with a fingernail, pulled a part of the cracked casting away with very little effort…!!
“Now look what you’ve done…!!” I quipped… “That was a perfectly cracked stud casing before you broke it…!!”
Although there was smudges of oil in the drive chamber, it was decided that it was probably “normal” considering that the unit had already covered almost 170 000 km up to this point…
Island BMW had a spare spider bracket in stock, the new ones made of steel instead of aluminum, but they did not have the spacer ring to go with it, so a decision was made to put it back together and hope for the best…!!
I returned to the reception area and had barely sat down when the manager returned… He needed me to look at something else they had a problem with…
“There’s a little play on your rear drive…!! We might have to replace it…!!”
I asked Bernie’s opinion, and after give the rear wheel a few pushes and pulls, he said that he had seen far worse than this, and that he thought it would at least get me to Alaska…
That was all I needed to hear… “Decision: leave it as it is, just clean out the chamber where the universal joint is housed and say a little prayer as you put it back together…!!”
Bernie then stripped the 22 litre fuel tank and tried to find out why it could not take more than 19 litres even when it was empty… Up to the time of my fall in Peru, I had often put 21 or more litres of fuel into the tank…
The only problem we could find, was that there was a lot of metal shaving in the bottom of the tank, which Bernie removed with a magnet… We never did figure out where the metal shavings had come from… If they had come from the fuel pump itself, the pump would no longer be working…!!
Despite removing the tank and the fuel pump, we did not manage to find the “missing 3 litre” fault that had plagued me for months…
For the remainder of my trip up to Alaska and across to New Jersey, this problem would persist and remains unresolved…
The engine oil was changed, as was that in the gearbox and drive unit… The spark plus were checked and pronounced in good shape…
“Considering what this bike has been through, and how far it has traveled, I can tell you that although it is a little tired, your Big Fella is in good shape…!!”
Coming from Bernie, this was as good a clean bill of health as I had hoped to receive…!!
He took the Big Fella out for a ride and returned with a grin on his face… After advising that the clutch was still performing just as it should, he then informed me that my front brake discs were “warped”, which caused the slight vibration I always felt just before the bike came to a dead stop…
There was nothing that could be done about that little problem, as I was not prepared to replace the discs at somewhere around $1 000.00 for the set…!!
I was very impressed with the professionalism shown by the Island BMW guys and gratefully accepted the discount they offered on the service of my bike…
Mark was not so lucky…!! His service cost almost double what mine had, and while he mumbled about the cost, I teased him by telling him he would have to put a lot more mileage on his bike to qualify for “special discounts”…!!
By this time the TV crew had left to edit their footage and promised to advise us on the day that it would be aired…
We left BMW and headed for the ferry terminal that would take us over to Salt Spring Island, which my good friends called home…
Same day, another ferry…!! This one took us across the channel to Sal Spring Island…
After a short ride from the harbour of Fulford, and a nerve-wracking ride up Trevor’s steep and twisting dirt driveway, we parked the bikes close to what I assumed was the front door, and dismounted…
“This is it…!!” Trevor declared proudly…!! “This is where you’ll be staying until we leave on Friday…!!”
It was difficult to figure where the old house had been or where the new one started, but once I had been shown around, and saw the extent of the renovations which Trevor and Chenty are largely undertaking themselves, I was stunned at the size of this project…
We enjoyed a cold beer in the kitchen while we continued discussing our plans for the next few days…
Late that afternoon, we finally arrived at Trevor’s home, which he is in the process of renovating… The Prudhoe Bay Posse were assembled and ready to roll north…!!
Their home is situated on a narrow ridge that looks down into a broad valley far below… The views are stupendous and reminded me of the home I once had on the mountains above Nelspruit, back in South Africa…
There is a lot to be said about being able to stand in your home and see for miles around… After all, how many homeowners around the world can say that…!!
I was excited at the prospect that we would be setting off soon, and began going over the route in my mind, using Trevor’s suggestions of roads that he had ridden before and was keen for me to experience…
This is the view from the main bedroom I think… Scaffolding optional and temporary…!!
We spent long hours reminiscing about our rides through South East Asia before turning in for bed…
Despite having not seen each other for over 14 months, it was as if we had never been apart… A sure sign that the bond we had made was as strong now as it was then…
I had a very good feeling that our ride to Alaska was going to be memorable…!!
©GBWT 2012
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