The first time estimate AAA gave was 4:00pm at which point they called me and asked if the truck had arrived, they then called the truck and would bump the time back a half hour, this repeated itself for the next 3 hours. In retrospect I should have changed but I kept telling myself they’d be here soon, so I sat in a little take out place with my soaked boots, drank some microwave coffee and worked on the blog. Finally, at 7:30 the tow truck showed up.
The guy gets out and in a thick southern accent says “that’s not a traeck” “they told me I was pickin up a traeck”
“Sorry, not sure who told you it was a truck but I told them it was a motorcycle” This went on for a minuet or two and it wasn’t until he called his supervisor and told them that a traeck had 3 wheels that I realized he was saying trike. I am going to mark that one off too exhaustion on my part.
Either way, I have a motorcycle and the issue is that he doesn’t have any straps. Good thing I have my massive crashbars, he is able to hook his chains on them and together with the one strap I was carrying we get the thing secure… ish on the flatbed.
Especially after the day I’ve had
I can’t help kind of hoping that it fails and his insurance will buy me a new one. No such luck, we make it the 20min down the road without incident. I leave the bike on the doorstep of what I now realize is a dealership and take a Lyft to my Airbnb. Its good to be dry and warm.
At least they’re open on Saturdays, they gave me a call back in the morning; a quick estimate put the repair for the forks and rotor at $2600 that’s $1100 more than I paid for the whole motorcycle. Shit. I look around on craigslist for and find a good looking KLR650 nearby for $2000. I give him a call and explain my situation saying that I still plan on trying to fix mine, but I wanted to see if his was still available as a backup.
An hour later he texted me saying that even if I didn’t want the bike, he had a small utility trailer with a heater and bed that I could stay in if I needed a place to work on the bike. I arranged to take him up on his offer after my Airbnb finished and started looking for parts.
In the meantime, I watched a lot of tv at my Airbnb waiting and hiding from the rain. Turns out Monday was Veterans Day, so I waited another day.
Tuesday, I have to go to court for the accident, in Georgia anytime you rear end someone its “following too closely” and you have to show up in court. It also happens to be my birthday.
In the early afternoon I get a u haul and pick up the bike before heading up to court. I end up with a $200 dollar fine but no points on my license (in GA you can plead nolo contendere every 5 years and not get points). I suppose I should be happy with that outcome, still it messes up my perfect driving record.
The next day I take the U-Haul with my bike in back the 40 min out to Aarons house. I meet Aaron he shows me where I will be staying, a little converted utility trailer outfitted with heat and ac. Looks a bit cozy but comfortable.
I park the U-Haul in their driveway and start taking things apart. The parts aren’t here yet so, once that’s done there isn’t much to do but wait.
Aaron and his wife invite me in for tacos and we spend the next couple hours talking and hanging with their 4 dogs. They are both going back to school for nursing and plan to become travel nurses. They are such kind, welcoming and all around cool people, I am really grateful for their hospitality.
They even set up a little kitchen on their front porch for me.
In taking the bike apart I noticed that I had broken a spoke, so I started calling around local shops. I finally found one that said it would cost about a $80 if they could replace just a couple spokes, they also have a KLR wheel and fork in stock for $250. Figures if only I’d known that a couple days ago.
When the used forks arrived, they were in much worse condition than described; one had the drain screw ground off and both fork caps were rusted on. I tried for a good 5 hours to get them off with no luck, in the end I decided to screw it and buy the ones from the shop I knew would work. I lost a $100 but I don’t have the time or tools I’d need to use the ebay ones.
I put the new ones on in under an hour. It took a little longer to swap the rotor, I decided to get a 320mm upgrade kit and a steel brake line in hopes to prevent this situation from happening again.
My U haul rental was up so, I drove it the hour back to Buford with the bike in the back. The catch being that somewhere in the last week I drained the battery, so no test drive, just drop it in the deep end 40 miles away from my stuff. I unloaded the bike at the dealership that I got my first estimate from and they were kind enough to jump it for me. I left the bike, took the U haul back and walked the 5min back to the dealership.
Overall the ride back went quite well. I’m not really sure if the brakes are all that much better, and I think one of the bolts is knocking a little. I also noticed that the front fairing is a little crooked, and I still have replace one of the mirrors, but otherwise it seems I’m back in business!
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