It's actually about 1 am now, officially day 3. What a day day 2 was. My bike is sitting at Dohm motorsports in Charleston WV. My new rear tire is due to be delivered tomorrow morning and should be installed by noon.
The day started well enough, with an outstanding breakfast of Bacon and eggs served up by Mom Laird. Thanks again to Mary and Danny (Mom and Dad) for the great hospitality!
The fun began when we were loading our bikes to leave. My rear tire was flat. Upon closer inspection we noticed a nail. We dispatched Scott to find a plug kit. After removing the nail and plugging the tire (a temporary fix at best) all seemed well. We roamed the "south side" checking out old schools, neighborhoods and even had a chance to talk to the people who live in our old house on Hawthorne St. We enjoyed the trip down memory lane a lot, but it was time to move on.
We left Parkersburg and headed south on I-77 where we planned to make a couple of stops at some places we had lived in even earlier years. But, apparently this was not meant to be. About 20 miles south my tire went flat again. Our first thought was that the plug had not held. I made it off the next exit before going completely flat and discovered that the first plug was fine, but there was a second nail we had apparently missed.
(Let me pause here to say that as I write this, we are experiencing a very strong storm and I am wondering if a boat might not have been a better investment than a new tire!)
Anyway, while I normally would carry a small compressor that plugs into my power outlet on my bike, I did not this trip, nor did any of the brothers. We again dispatched Scott to the nearest town (7 miles down the road to find one). While we waited we plugged the tire for the second time and waited patiently for a means to re-inflate the tire. Soon we were back on the road thinking we had this thing licked. NOT SO FAST! said fate.
7 miles down the road it happened again. I limped off the highway to a gas station. This time the second plug had failed. Undaunted, we prepared another plug while debating how long we might be able to go before replacing the tire. That debate ended with a bang when Jay attempted to air the tire up. The tire made a couple of odd sounds (we thought it was the bead seating) and then exploded with a boom that reminded us of the old m-80 fire crackers (no longer available but many of you have experienced them) . The look on everyone's face was priceless, and it will probably be very amusing at some point in the future. But, it was not all that amusing for me and my wallet at this immediate time.
Our first call was to AAA. That upgraded membership to cover the bike was now worth it's weight in gold. The next call was to the nearest Honda dealer (about 60 miles south in Charleston) to see if they could take care of me. I first spoke to service and they assured me that if they could get a tire, they could fix it tomorrow. I then had them transfer me to parts to see if we could get the tire. In the mean time AAA arrived and I had to help load the bike. I gave the phone to Scott (as I was on hold) and helped the driver get the bike on the rollback. In the mean time a young boy in the parts department informs Scott that they do not have my tire in stock and it will take 4 to 5 days to get one! Upon hearing this, Mark called the nearest Harley dealer to see if they could do anything for us. A guy named Eddie said that they would not work on my bike, but that he could definitely get a tire by tomorrow morning. He also informed us the the Honda dealer could get the same tire from the same supplier. We promised to get back to him either way.
Now if all this wasn't enough, the tow driver informed me that this was his first time hauling a bike. He said he was going to run slowly, and hoped he could find the place (so did I) . We went on ahead to clear up the issue of whether or not they could get the tire. After a couple wrong turns we found the place.
While the young man we had spoken to was sorely misinformed regarding the availability of my tire (I am pretty sure he was part time summer help), every one else was very helpful. The tire was available and could be had tomorrow for the low low price of $340 + installation. I informed them that that was out of the question and asked what other tire they could get. The parts manager stepped up and called the supplier to check actual cost and they ended up giving me the $340 tire for $225. A fair price for an Avon Cobra.
While there, the bike finally arrived just ahead of a big storm. We waited an hour or more for it to let up, then hit Subway for dinner before making a wet trek another hour and a half to our campground. It's a very nice private campground very near the New River Gorge. The rain stopped enough to get things set up and except for the current storm, we should be fine.
One final note. This has really not been my day for inflatable things. In my first hour in the tent all the air leaked from my air mattress. I found the problem, I hope, (a loose valve) and refilled it. So far so good. I hope tomorrow /today brings better fortune.
No comments:
Post a Comment