During a wonderful three week holiday with our family who visited from England, the big red machine had been standing alone in the garage, I did say "Hello Baby" occasionally when I went into the garage but apart from that she stood patiently waiting for my attention.
I was not concerned because she has stood for longer when we went on an overseas trip and on a ride before the holiday she performed flawlessly, our plan was to go for a week away after the family returned to the UK so there would be plenty of excersize to come.
Just before my family left Christie and the boys wanted a ride so I dusted the big red machine off, she started first touch as I expected, and I wheeled out of the garage and down to the road.
During a gentle cruise with my daughter, after my two grandsons, I noticed a rythmic creaking noise emanating from the rear wheel, I had not noticed it before but in a video clip with my older grandson the noise is quite evident.
I thought it might be "sticky" brake pads so I rode up and down the road applying brakes with varying intensity to no avail, the noise persisted, was it perhaps a bearing? Something more expensive like the diff.? I have no idea, not much of a mechanic so I phoned for help, the verdict "Get it down to Capetown so we can have a look." How the hell can something break while it's standing? There wasn't any oil on the garage floor so what the hell could it be?
I think that the BMW agents should have come to collect it but they gave me the name of someone who does this job for them, R1,080:00 to collect and deliver, I had no choice, I certainly didn't want to take the chance riding it all the way down there.
Saturday morning we loaded her onto a trailer, she has never been on one before and I felt a distinct tinge of sadness seeing her like this,
looking a bit like a Harley Davidson and probably feeling very embarrassed the big red machine headed out of Saldanha and down to Capetown. I am going to investigate upgrading to the 2013 R1200RT next week so we'll see how much they are prepared to offer on a trade-in. Hopefully it's not a serious problem, we're going down to visit on Tuesday, I'll keep you informed - donations in lieu of flowers to the "New bike for Andrew fund"
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