Since Fort Nelson the service light has been on on my motorcycle. I knew it needed an oil change and that the brake pads were shot. My rear fender was loose. I tried to tighten it but it was tight huuuummmm. My fear was that it would come in contact with my rear tire and cause damage. The closest authorized BMW repair shop was Blackfoot Motorsports in Calgary.
Today was finally the day to get those things fixed.
I recognize that it isn’t great for dealerships to have drop ins as it disrupts their schedule. When I arrived I was told they were booked up for a month! After I explained that I was passing through after being in Prudhoe Bay, they said they would make room for me. I settled in for a long day of waiting.
People You Meet
One of the best things about waiting at a BMW service department is the people you meet. As I was waiting another BMW pulled up. I recognized the bike from Yukon or Alaska.
I big Chinese guy got off the bike and I asked him if he had been up north. He told me he had just ridden the Dempster Highway to Inuvik! Over the next few hours Shuen (at least that is how I think you spell his name) exchanged stories of mud, dirt and rain ha ha ha.
It turned out that Shuen lives in a city outside of Shanghai and was in Montreal for cooking school. He had to be back in China August 20. But first he was heading to Vancouver for some “real” Chinese food. When he gets back to China he wants to work in a restaurant, but also do motorcycle excursions in China.
China
For those of you who don’t know, I use to do work in China and go there regularly. I love the people, culture and language. Although, I am not fond of their food ha ha ha. I will stick to our americanized Chinese food which you can’t get in China. Sometimes I will turn on a Mandarin speaking TV station just to hear it. It makes me “home sick.” One day I will be back there. I would love to become fluent in Mandarin. Another goal for another time.
Repairs
As the hours passed, news came to me about the condition of my motorcycle and what needed to be done. Yes, the brakes were shot. The problem was that they said there were no BMW 1200 brake pads in all of Canada! How can this be???!!!
Then the news came that they found 2 after market pads in Quebec. But it would take a couple of days to get them to Calgary. What??!!! I explained that in Anchorage I had parts the next day. Different system they said.
The next news was that they discovered that Ducati uses the same pads as BMW. There was a Ducati dealership in town that had them. YAY! Rather than waiting for the delivery from them they put on pads from a new bike and would replace them with the Ducati pads when they arrived. One problem solved.
The next problem was that the bearings on my rear fender were worn out. They couldn’t just replace the bearing but would have to replace the whole fender at a cost of $230. I told them to just remove the fender.
The next problem in line was that the bearing in my front tire were gone. They had the bearing but not the dust seal. Apparently the bearing already have a seal in them. So the solution was to just replace the bearings, clean off the old dust shield and reinstall it.
The last problem was that my rear tire was worn. What???!!! I just got it in Fairbanks less than 4 weeks ago and had only put on 5,700 km! If I had to replace tires every 5,600 km this would be a very expensive trip. I am not impressed with the wear of the Heidenau K60 Scouts. I wasn’t going to get new tires at this stage and probably not the Heidenau K60 again. My old Metzeler Tourances’ lasted 12,000 km. I will be on pavement for the next 2 months, so the plan is to run the Heidenau’s bald.
By 5:30 pm I was out of there.
The Route for August 2, 2016
Calgary.