We take the baby to the doctor

BMW Autorad, the BMW motorcycle agency in Capetown has closed down! Why am I not surprised? If you read this crap, and it doesn't look like many do, you may have read a while back about the shoddy treatment I received at their hands including expensive servicing and spares, the worst of which was that my differential packed up at 87,000k's and I had to replace it at a cost of R20,000!

At that time I asked for a quote on trading the bike in on a new model and all I got was an email from the Dealer Principal ~ Sorry but we are unable to offer you a trade in price on your motorcycle ~ Was the writing on the wall back then?

I had decided then that I would look for someone else to maintain my bike, the warranty was up anyway, thus it was that on a warm and calm Tuesday morning Janet and I saddled up for the ride down to "Maxwil Trading" in Kilarney Gardens which had been recommended to me by a friend.

I am on leave for the week so I had washed the bike on the Monday morning after returning from the Freedom Road Rally, Janet took the day off to accompany me.

That motorbike is now eight years old and has done 94,000kms, still running sweet but I do like to get the service done every 10,000k's, I was over by 4,000 and I have a couple of little niggles one of which is the back brakes feeling a bit "spongy", time for the doctor to check her out, I hope he's a good one!

Extended patches of very thick fog on the R27 slowed us down quite a lot so it was well after 08h00 by the time we delivered the bike to the mechanic, we had a discussion during which I said to him; "Remember, this is the most important motorbike you have ever worked on!" I was serious but he and Janet both laughed, he said: "I get that a lot."

Linda darling lent us her car for the day so we could get around and by mid morning we found ourselves at the Viper Lounge in search of liquid refreshment, I ordered two Castles and the barmaid looked at the clock; 10h50, says she "I can't serve you until 11h00."

"Right!" I said,"I'm going to hold my breath until you give us a beer." and I took a big breath, she looked at me, laughed and took two bitterly cold beers out, it worked! It was a hot day for goodness sake.

As it turned out the bike was not finished by the end of the day, the back brake disc was worn and had to be replaced, I did not want to rush the job so we decided we could leave the bike there after my friend Joe said I could take his other car, a bloody big V8 Jeep Cherokee to go home. What a nice vehicle to drive but I had to really concentrate on keeping that beast at 120kmh to 130kmh on the west coast road, damn those speed trap gantries!

We had a nice day, a good lunch with our friends and I'm going back to collect the bike on Thursday. I will tell you my impressions about Maxwill Trading and the work done by that mechanic, it looks like it's a one-man operation and he certainly seems to know what he's doing so I am confident.

As you all know very well biking is not a cheap pastime but I don't mind paying the price for quality work.