When it comes to bad luck, they say that things come in threes. Wee I certainly hope that there is no more vehicular grief in store for me this year as so far I have spent £1700 on a remap and then a new dual mass flywheel for my car. Then about 3 weeks ago I lost 5[SUP]th[/SUP] gear on my van, so that had to be taken out and repaired and while the gearbox was out the clutch and DMF was found to be in dire need of replacing. Price to you, sir - £1800! So, when it came to getting another bike I thought it best to buy new so that any problems like this would be covered under warranty. But Lady Luck had one last stroke to play. After finishing work a little early on Monday, I decided to go for a little pootle around the glorious Oxfordshire countryside for an hour or so and then head home to take my wife out for a meal. The sun was shining, it was pre-rush hour and then roads were clear and twisty. I headed north west sticking solely to B roads and taking roads to villages that I’d never visited before. (On a side note, I wonder why people are so keen to travel to New Zealand or the Amazon rainforest or wherever, when most of us have only seen a fraction of what lies within a 20 mile radius of our birthplace.) One of these villages was South Newington, where the beginning of my saga truly begins. I’d just turned onto the A361 heading towards Burford, when I noticed that the steering had gone heavy and immediately knew that I’d picked up a puncture. Initially I thought it was at the front, but when I pulled up in a lay-by I saw it was the rear, flat as a pancake. Time check #1 – 16.15. No worries, I thought to myself, I have two years warranty with free Ducati Assistance breakdown recovery. Unfortunately, I hadn’t yet stored the number on my phone, so had to ring my wife to get it. She couldn’t find it so I called Moto Rapido and they duly gave me the number. But all I heard was “this number has not been recognised”. So I called MR again and was told this was the only number they had. I explained to them that I had the bike booked in for its first service the next day and would need a new rear tyre. No problem, just let us know as soon as possible so we can order the tyre in. They also gave me the number for Ducati UK, so I called them and was told to try dropping the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] ‘0’ from the number as I was phoning from a mobile. Of course, you can’t call 0800 numbers from mobiles so I tried dropping 2 ‘0’s from the number and this time I got through. To Chevrolet breakdown! Oh FFS! I phone Ducati UK again and this time they offer to call Ducati Assistance on my behalf and get them to call me. Time check #2 – 17.00. My phone rings and I speak to a young lass who sounds like it’s her first day. I explained that ideally I would like the bike recovered to Moto Rapido rather than the nearest dealer (which would have been Ducati Coventry) as I had my service booked for the next day and I’d taken the time off work. She said that she would see what she could do. Time check #3 - 17.14. I got a text from the AA to say that a patrol was on their way and should be with me by 17.30. Excellent! The van duly arrives a little later than expected but no worries. The AA bloke, who mercifully had a lighter so I could have a fag, was a former bike mechanic and MOT tester and took one look at the inch-long split in the rear Scorpion, and said he’d have to call a truck. I explained my predicament about getting to Winchester the next day and thankfully he put that into the AA system as the address to be delivered to. He then left wishing me a good luck. Time-check #4 – 18.00. I got another text from the AA saying that to help me as quickly as possible, they would send Isis Rescue and they aimed to be with me by 19.15. Still no lighter! I lay down with my jacket as a pillow and did some sunbathing and waited. And waited. Time check #5 – 19.40. Mr Happy (as I like to call him) from Isis Rescue turned up and loaded the bike in the back of the van. The first thing he said was that he wasn’t supposed to be doing bikes and that he didn’t like bikes anyway. That was the end of that conversation. He explained that he was dropping me at Cherwell Valley services. Time check #6 – 20.25. We arrived at the services and drove around trying to find the AA truck. No sign but I got a call saying that they’d been there soon. So Mr Happy unloaded the bike and went on his merry way. The AA truck arrived 15 minutes later and winched the bike onto the back. I asked him if it was Ok to stop off at Peartree services on the A34 in Oxford so I could get my wife to bring me the service booklet, my driving licence, a spare set of contact lenses for the next day and a lighter! I hadn’t eaten since the morning or had a drink for about 6 hours, so I paid a visit to KFC and we were soon on our way. I now needed to sort out some accommodation in Winchester. All the B&B’s were either full or didn’t answer so my only option was a hotel. Time check #7 – 23.00. We finally arrived at Moto Rapido and unloaded the bike. I didn’t fancy leaving the bike in full view so managed to find a spot to lock up the bike out of view of prying eyes and then called a cab to take me to the hotel. Time check #8 – 23.45. I got to the hotel where their cheapest room was £109 for the night! After a pint and a large whisky, I fell into bed and drifted into a heavy sleep. The next morning I left the hotel and got to Moto Rapido at 8am. They quoted me a price of £197 to fit a new Scorpion. I’d always planned to change the tyres to PR3s when the original tyres had worn. I’d also lost confidence in the dual-compound-designed-to-work-off-road Scorpions that had lasted a total of 815 miles. They quoted me over £300 for the PR3s but couldn’t get a rear until the following day. Oh FFS! SO I rang Micheldever Tyres and they quoted me £240 to supply the front and rear. I then jumped in a taxi to pick them up. Another £40. MR also charged £30 fitting. So the tyres ended up costing the same as the price MR quoted but at least it would be done that day and I could put the whole sorry saga behind me. I then took their loan bike (Monster 696) to Loomies Café and returned at 2pm to find my bike with new tyres, service done, heated grips, centre stand, panniers and Datatag fitted. £232. So all in all, I spent £650 in 24 hours. Joy! I sincerely hope that my vehicles give me a break and run faultlessly until I have recovered financially from the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] 6 months of 2013. And what is the proper number for Ducati assistance?????!!!!!!!
That was a hellish epic tale, I must confess. I had an easier time of it when my 750sie broke its crankcase a few miles shy of Cadwell - about 220 miles from home. You had a nightmare.
Ouch! Makes my expenses in the last 24 hours seem very small! We got back from Portugal to be told " the boilers not working" and then to run out of gas for the cooker at about 8.30 halfway through cooking tea! £80 for a gas cylinder and fortunately only £60 for the boiler repairs, so I consider myself lucky! Glad the flat didn't cause you to drop the bike, and hope the rest of the year passes without incident. Chris
I think you have had all your bad luck for the year in one hit. Things can only get better (fingers crossed)
Use Green Flag or GEM preferably. These two are the only recovery people I have any confidence in. The rest farm stuff out and have no control over their service, AA I have nightmare tales about - not from me, from others, esp re bikes.
I have to say that both the AA men were excellent. I had a good chat with the bloke who took me from Cherwell Valley to Winchester, talking bikes and cars. He also told me how he was the first an to hitch-hike round the Isle of Wight with a fridge in aid of an cancer charity. Top man! White Makes It Round The Wight With A Fridge https://www.facebook.com/roundtheislandwithafridge?fref=ts
My experience with both the AA and RAC is that unless you've got a flat battery, a biker is the lowest priority for them. Sorry to hear you've had so much bad luck in one day, that's a heck of a financial hit!
A well told tale. Sorry you had to go through it thou, let hope you have many years of non eventful motoring ahead of you. You deserve it :smile:
epic tale..i feel your pain, and have had similar experiences..too many in fact...like the time my fireblade swingarm SNAPPED in half at over a hundred miles per hour.... when my chain snapped the other day, it went ping just a few miles from home..i called my local garage and they collected it in the van 20 minutes later, and i got a taxi back home..this was the least inconvenient tale ive ever had.. im just waiting on the bill to repair the holed alternator cover (which im hoping they replace easily enough)... bloody vehicles hey??
