Wobble avoidance

Hi again. Well its now less than 2 weeks before the off. The bike is down at Triple-D Motosport in Kendal having a service. I normally service my own bikes, but before a motorcycle trip a few years ago I got into a pre-trip maintenance flap and it all went wrong. I thought I'd recount the tale here for fun:

It was December 2000 and it was 2 am. I was lying in bed thinking about the next day's departure for a bike ride from the Scottish Borders to Dakar with a friend. It was our first 'independent' bike adventure and I was worried. The bikes were going to break down in the middle of nowhere and that would be that - I'd have to eat my friend. As the night wore on I pondered the exact mechanism of my future-demise and somehow came to the conclusion that my clutch would burn out. There was no rational reason for this as the bike was an XR600R with a tough clutch and, anyway, it was pretty new.

As if by some sort of malign autosuggestion, I remembered that I had a new set of spare clutch plates in my 'spare parts pile'. Quick as a flash I was out of bed and heading for the garage in my boxers and dressing gown. By now it was about 3 am and I only had 4 hours to change the clutch, have breakfast and hit the road. The good news was that we were getting a lift down to Portsmouth in a van to save our knobbly tyres on the roads a bit. So, the clutch was changed in record time and my dressing gown was ruined but I was at peace with the world...

Two days later, we were riding off the ferry in Bilbao. I'd like to say that the sun was shining, but it wasn't. I didn't care though, I was off to Africa. By this time, I'd only ridden about 500 metres from the van to the ferry in the UK - but I just knew that all was well with the bike - it felt goooood. I rode down the ramp with my riding buddy and a bunch of new biker friends we'd made on the ferry and we hit the road.

The air was cold that morning - except on my leg where it was a bit warm as a stream of hot oil wept from the clutch cover and was being blown all over my boots and trousers. By this time, I was being flashed by the bike behind me which was also getting covered in oil. I pulled over. I'd broken down after less than 10km - all as a result of unwittingly tearing the clutch cover gasket during my midnight service-frenzy. To this day, I can't describe what a turkey I felt.

So, as you grow older you need to learn from your mistakes. Sadly, I didn't as I managed another early breakdown caused by over-zealous preparation (to be followed by a few other technical problems) on the 2003 Desert Riders Project with Jon Escombe and Chris Scott. This time, I have learned. The bike stays at Triple-D. Cheers for now Andy :-)