My first breakdown on a bike

So last Friday evening, took a ride to a local Mexican take out place to pick up a burrito for dinner. As I pulled into the lot, my 2004 R1150RT shutdown. Not thinking too much about it, turned off the bike, ordered my takeout, saddled up and .......cranking over and over but no joy. Proceeded to do this on and off for about 15 minutes until the battery was at the click click click state. Damn....pull out my MOA membership card, smile, and make the call for a tow back to my house. Initial call goes ok, exchange all the pertinent info, get a text with the tow providers info and then crickets. Give the tow provider a call and they have zero info on the call and tell me they don't have the call. (It's been 45 minutes since my initial call for assistance.) Annoyed, I call old reliable AAA and schedule a call. After that's done I call MOA and cancel my service call - which they were just way to happy to do without a single question. Get a call from the AAA provider saying they're 10 minutes away with a wrecker and I say "you know this is a motorcycle tow, right?" to which the reply is....we don't do motorcycles. Call AAA back and they say they are going to dispatch another provider (from a location which is 1.5 hours from me) and I tell them to pound sand (I wasn't that nice, I admit. I completely lost my cool and patience.) Needless to say, called the house, had my good for nothing lazy teens empty out our yard trailer of debris which we had loaded up that week with all of the yard waste and come and pick me up with my new Rhino tie down straps. Wish that was my first call. They pulled in, we dropped the back of the trailer, pushed the bike up, strapped it down, and closed the rear gate. Fit with about 6 inches to spare on the back side with the front wheel all the way up. Took it slow and steady and got home without a problem.

So two things came out of this....boy am I glad I own a trailer that my bike fits on, and why can't two separate towing organizations get a freakin' flatbed with tie down straps out to pickup a motorcycle in a good sized town. In Massachusetts here and was broken down in the Franklin area.

Received two phone calls from both organizations earlier this week with apologies, blah blah blah and gift cards coming my way. What would I have done if I truly had no alternative. Sit by the side of the road for the night? Was frustrating beyond belief. Anyone else have towing nightmares through MOA, AAA, or other organizations?

Now I have my weekend planned to take my tank off and swap out my fuel pump, filter, and hoses inside the tank. In hindsight, I had noticed some decrease in power on the throttle in the past couple of weeks and had another "shutoff" incident when I pulled into the garage after work one night. Probably should have listened to my "inner voice".

I will say I have ridden more this spring that any other in the past 15 years. Hope I'm not down for too long with the repairs.

At least it wasn’t raining.
Welcome to the forum!
Gary

I think it's hit and miss. Based on my breakdowns (mechanical and otherwise), it depends on who picks up your call for help.

Was riding with two buddies in Arkansas in November 2015, when I realized that one of them was no longer in my rear-view mirror.

We turned around and found him standing by his RT in the ditch. We were 50 miles from nowhere on a two-lane twisty blacktop.

He called the MOA service. It's obviously contracted out to a service company. While taking his call, they tried to convince him that there was a BMW dealer 100 miles away in Little Rock that the bike could be towed to. There was not. Hours later, in the dark, a flatbed shows up, with a driver who was familiar with hauling bikes. The RT was minimally rideable, but totaled. The driver's first remark was, "I usually haul Harleys and they are always laying on their side. I just winch them up the flatbed on their side." He tilted the flatbed and got the RT on it, upright and tied down.

Very late that night, with two of us following the flatbed tow truck, we arrived on the outskirts of Little Rock and checked into a motel. We were so over camping in Arkansas in mid-November. Better bring two layers of long johns; we didn't. The previous night I had put on every bit of the clothes that I had with me, three t-shirts, three pairs of socks, etc. It didn't help.

The next day a fourth friend from East Texas drove up with a trailer to take the RT to Shreveport BMW, the actual closest dealer.

You lost me with the preceding post.
Where was the bike delivered/off loaded if there was no dealer?
Why wasn’t the MOA Services called and allowed to get it right... to the actual dealer?

flyhi2cfar said:

You lost me with the preceding post.
Where was the bike delivered/off loaded if there was no dealer?
Why wasn’t the MOA Services called and allowed to get it right... to the actual dealer?

Click to expand...

The bike was hauled to Little Rock, and the owner decided that it was acceptable, as it was 100 miles closer to home, we had a place indoors to stay for the night, and he had a ride coming for him and the bike the next day.

The MOA service has different levels. Depending upon the level, the tow truck can take you hundreds of miles to a dealer, but you will have to pay for the tow either after 25 miles or 100 miles.

We left Upstate NY and stopped in Winchester Va. Winchester Virginia, Saturday night, skeezy 7-11, I'm on a new 2014 (?)Honda F6B son on an '86 Goldwing and MY bike won't start- dead, nothing...Called AAA the guy came and could have let me off at a Honda dealer where I'd wait two days for it to open...He used a battery pak to jump my bike and we rode to WalMart-I went in to try to get a battery and left the bike running with my son watching it. Well some dude struck up a conversation with my son- He was a Honda Mechanic and said there is a relay problem with that model- disconnect the battery and re-connect....meanwhile I couldn't find a battery- came out, got the message, did it and Viola! good to go. So far my 2016 R1200RT has been flawless...maybe I'll get a battery before it dies though!

AAA will tow a bike if you have the RV service on your account.

tonyfr said:

AAA will tow a bike if you have the RV service on your account.

Click to expand...

The actually have a $30 motorcycle le endorsement...tow, jump...