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.
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.