Breakdown and Sunburn
 

Was heading to Beaulieu for the bike show on Saturday with a friend from work on his Fazer and me on my SV. About 20 miles out on Dual Carriage way my bike started to back fire, sending the dials into spasm and some times cutting out completely, so I dropped the speed down to 60 to try and hear the engine better, but all sounded fine. As I approached a roundabout needing to stop the engine stalled and I couldn’t restart it. Pushed it round the corner out of the way into a bus stop and called the AA. This is where the adventure starts…

At 10:45 I call them up and get given an estimate of 40 minutes after describing the problem. I take my jacket of and sit down with my mate to wait in the sun. 20 minutes latter an AA patrol calls to get a better idea of where I am and tells me he will be there in 15 minutes. 11:45 and I’m still waiting having seen no AA van. I get told that it will be 30 minutes. 11:55 I get called to say a van will be with me in 20 minutes. 40 minutes latter I call again and get told that they are trying to get a patrol out to me and they are very busy. At 12:55 I get a text to say a patrol will be with me by 13:10. At 13:15 a garage calls me runs through the problem with me then says “we won’t be able to fix that at the road, you’ll need recovery but you only have road side cover [true, is free with my Lloyds TSB account, never really read what exactly it means… I have now] there’s not much point in coming out. We’ll call the AA back and get back to you”. 5 minutes latter they call and say they won’t be coming and its back with the AA. 13:45 I phone them up and try and upgrade the policy so I can have recovery, they tell me that I can upgrade but not use the upgrade for 48 hours. I try and explain my situation but the woman on the phone was getting all high and mighty and told me that they are still trying to get a patrol out to me.

I send my mate on his way to Beaulieu, he’s waited enough. At 14:10 I get a call from another AA patrol to confirm my location. 15 minutes latter he arrives! Checks out the bike and finds that it’s not charging the now virtually dead battery. I need a new regulator/ rectifier. The problem now is I’m nearly 80 miles from home and only have road side assistance. I recount the story of how I’ve been waiting for 3 hours and have been messed around by a garage and he sorts me out by phoning his control and telling them that I’ve been waiting for 3 hours (true) that I’ve been messed around really unprofessionally (true, and this is what annoyed him the most) and that I’ve got 20 bikers with me who won’t be impressed if he just drives off (well it helped!). I get a recovery policy for £80 and he tows me and the bike home. But not before giving me sun tan lotion and stopping for a bottle of water at a petrol station.

Moral of this story is check your policy, we all need full recovery! I will be sticking with the AA until the end of the policy then switching to the RAC or someone else.

Big thanks to all the riders who checked up on me, waiting for the thumbs up. Special shout out to the car driver who stopped originally, the guy on the streetfightered Fireblade who stopped for a quick chat and the Bike Cop (even though I think he was pulling a Aprilla rider latter) who checked on me. Thanks to Barry and Russ hopefully I didn’t ruin the day. And big thanks to Steve from the AA, top guy.

I’m off to eBay for a new regulator and, hopefully the sunburn will get better in a week or so, I’m red and that’s no lie, I’ve never been burnt before and this really hurts!

Bummer :(

When you're looking for your rectifier compare the prices with these guys http://patternparts.net/ I got mine from 'em for aound £60. I think my Suzuki dealer wanted about £80 :shock:

That's disgusting. At the very least they're in breach of contract for not turning up. Personally I'd send them a rather large bill for your inconvenience and time wasted. Oh and I'd also want one hell of a letter of apology for all the LIES they told you about another few minutes etc.


.

same thing happened with us while stuck in newquay (mate pranged his car)

but they towed us a few miles, then said they couldnt tow us any further - and just left us there.

go for NCI, they seem pretty good.

have heard so many horror storys with the AA and RAC i think ill be sticking well clear.


just a question tho .. . anyone used carol nash breakdown service ?
what u recon ? is it worth renewing my NCI policy ?

Sh@t out fella! Thats harsh!

I remember last summer i went down to Spalding to pick up a ZXR400 i'd bought off ebay - id been down previous to check it out and it seemed alright.

My mate drove me down when i went to collect it and then followed me back up.

I did the deal, got on the bike and rode off. Happy with my purchase. Approaching a roundabout i noticed a burning smell, thought it was just the brakes (it had been stood for a while), flung it into the roundabout, knee on the floor, and nailed it out onto my exit. A quick glance in the mirror revealed a rather shocking image. Thick acrid white smoke billowing from the bike. I looked down at the engine and there was oil pi$$ing out everywhere. I smacked the kill switch, found neutral, pulled over as soon as i could.

The oil cooler had burst and it had lost 3 liters of oil over the engine, and rear wheel (how i stayed upright with my wheel like that i dont know)

We called RAC out at 7pm, and they finally arrived (after similar promises of 10 mins, 20 mins, 30 mins etc) at 12.30am. We were in middle of no where, no shops, no houses, no street lights.

Wasnt happy but they finally towed my bike back home. I got the bike into my garage at about 4am. Shattered! :shock: :twisted: :cry:

Re: Breakdown and Sunburn
 

Theres one sat in my garage, £20 and it's yours. Original suzuki from a wrecked bike. Works fine though. :D

That is pretty bad! I've been with AA, RAC, GreenFlag and am now with NCI, though I haven't used NCI as yet. I went for NCI as it automatically covers both car and bike and was a lot cheaper.

I thought RAC were better than AA and I had an awful experience with GreenFlag where they left me on the roadside of a dualcarriage late at night by myself, they never did arrive. So much for preferencial treatment for alone women.

Thats trully unbelivable :shock:

Wouldn't recomend breakdown via your insurance, what happens if you have a minor off (on your own) that puts the bike out of action, you call up for recovery and bang goes your no claims?

Oh how all of this sounds familiar! 15 minutes they told me last sunday! I waited just over 2 hours in absolutely baking conditions with nowhere to get shade or a drink! In full leathers!

Fortunately a Spanish family pulled up for a picnic on their way home from the beach and topped me up with cola!

They told me an interesting story, the Ronda Road used to be closed off for racing..like a TT! San Pedro to Ronda is a good 49km and their brother holds the record for just a tadge over 16 minutes! :shock: :shock: Guys I tell you if you knew this road you would know how incredible that is! 8) 8)

Yes I have and I have very mixed feelings. Used them when the raptor had a tank of contaminated fuel and wouldn't run and had no troubles at all - the guy that turned up was helpful, friendly and the people on the switchboard seemed to know what they were doing, so all was happy.

Then a few months ago I had an electrical problem with my FZX and it wouldn't run in the wet. I called them out and to cut a long story short ended up waiting over 3 hours in the cold, wet and dark in a really rough area of manchester on my own. I wasn't impressed.