Went on a northwest Montana tour last weekend - seven bikes, nine folks. In 33 years of riding, this is the largest group I've ever ridden with, so I had some doubts, but...
Day one came off perfectly; day two almost so, until the last hour. We were on the Fischer River Road which is essentially a paved logging road - down to one lane at times, very remote. We were coming to the end of it before it would dump us all onto Highway 200 near Happy's Inn which is about an hour west of Kalispell. I was leading and noticed a group of riders had fallen out of sight. Waited a bit, then turned back to investigate. One was running out of gas (about four miles from available fuel). When we got things turned around, I wound up at the tail. As we moved back toward Hwy. 200, the last turn is a very sharp left. My 24-year-old nephew, the least experienced rider in the bunch, riding my brother's classic 1986 700 Fazer, got off the pavement and into the soft shoulder, locked his brakes and went down on his left side at maybe 15 or 20 miles per hour. I saw him skidding through the gravel on his left side and shoulder and the bike sliding, also in the gravel. I pulled up and so did a couple of others. The youngster hopped right up, the good leather jacket, gloves, helmet etc. doing their jobs. The bike, on it's side, was losing coolant fast. We got it upright and saw the radiator cap had been ripped out of he inlet and the inlet was now oblong - about an inch-and-a-half long and 3/4-inch wide. Windshield was broken, muffler dinged, shift lever now bent 90 degrees, a few blemishes here and there but everything else intact, including the clutch lever. Handle bars are tweaked and dirt and mud (the gravel was fairly soft and wet) is everywhere. So, I'm envisioning running 300 miles home to get my truck and trailer to pick up the injured and apparently done-for bike. But, out come the tools and with the cheesy pliers I am able to carefully, slowly work the radiator inlet back into a somewhat round shape. I bend the tabs on the cap back to close to original shape. The damned thing actually fits, turns and seems almost to seat. We have water bottles so top up the radiator. Another rider pulls the shift lever and with a rock and a tree stump hammers it back into a functional shape and back on it goes. At this time, another rider in the group figures out he's lost two fasteners from his front fender (not properly tightened after a recent front tire replacement) and that the fender front has dropped down and been rubbing on his tire to the point the leading edge of the fender has melted away! We rob a couple of other non-essential fasteners from elsewhere on the machine and secure the front fender which now looks a bit strange. Okay...good to go? Not quite. I happen to spot cords showing through the rear tire on one of the bikes in the group, and 300 miles from home. This tire looked marginal but okay at the beginning of the day. One rider heads to Happy's Inn to get gas to get our dry rider mobile again. I head to Happy's to use a phone (no cell service in this remote country) to see if I can contact a motorcycle shop in Kalispell before it closes (this is 5:45 Saturday night), hoping (remotely) to bribe someone to stay around long enough for a new tire. Others accompany the injured Fazer to Happy's Inn with my suspecting it would be spewing its coolant at a fast clip. I have to use a pay phone but reach the Yammy dealer at 5:50. Turns out this place - Penco - actually has Sunday hours so we make arrangements to be there the next morning for a new tire. The Fazer shows up about that time and is barely dripping fluid. Wow! I think we can make town - maybe even home!
Next day, we have the new tire on, the Fazer is just barely leaking, everyone has gas, no more lose fenders... and we all arrive home safe and sound.
Out of gas, wreck, loose fender and bad tire converged on our group all in the space of five minutes. Just absolutely feaky. But with luck and ingenuity we overcame.
Incidentally, Penco in Kalispell is one excellent dealership. Very professional. We were in a jam and they didn't take advantage of it - $223 for a Dunlop tire, mounted and balanced (we pulled and replaced the wheel on the bike). Good folks.
Day one came off perfectly; day two almost so, until the last hour. We were on the Fischer River Road which is essentially a paved logging road - down to one lane at times, very remote. We were coming to the end of it before it would dump us all onto Highway 200 near Happy's Inn which is about an hour west of Kalispell. I was leading and noticed a group of riders had fallen out of sight. Waited a bit, then turned back to investigate. One was running out of gas (about four miles from available fuel). When we got things turned around, I wound up at the tail. As we moved back toward Hwy. 200, the last turn is a very sharp left. My 24-year-old nephew, the least experienced rider in the bunch, riding my brother's classic 1986 700 Fazer, got off the pavement and into the soft shoulder, locked his brakes and went down on his left side at maybe 15 or 20 miles per hour. I saw him skidding through the gravel on his left side and shoulder and the bike sliding, also in the gravel. I pulled up and so did a couple of others. The youngster hopped right up, the good leather jacket, gloves, helmet etc. doing their jobs. The bike, on it's side, was losing coolant fast. We got it upright and saw the radiator cap had been ripped out of he inlet and the inlet was now oblong - about an inch-and-a-half long and 3/4-inch wide. Windshield was broken, muffler dinged, shift lever now bent 90 degrees, a few blemishes here and there but everything else intact, including the clutch lever. Handle bars are tweaked and dirt and mud (the gravel was fairly soft and wet) is everywhere. So, I'm envisioning running 300 miles home to get my truck and trailer to pick up the injured and apparently done-for bike. But, out come the tools and with the cheesy pliers I am able to carefully, slowly work the radiator inlet back into a somewhat round shape. I bend the tabs on the cap back to close to original shape. The damned thing actually fits, turns and seems almost to seat. We have water bottles so top up the radiator. Another rider pulls the shift lever and with a rock and a tree stump hammers it back into a functional shape and back on it goes. At this time, another rider in the group figures out he's lost two fasteners from his front fender (not properly tightened after a recent front tire replacement) and that the fender front has dropped down and been rubbing on his tire to the point the leading edge of the fender has melted away! We rob a couple of other non-essential fasteners from elsewhere on the machine and secure the front fender which now looks a bit strange. Okay...good to go? Not quite. I happen to spot cords showing through the rear tire on one of the bikes in the group, and 300 miles from home. This tire looked marginal but okay at the beginning of the day. One rider heads to Happy's Inn to get gas to get our dry rider mobile again. I head to Happy's to use a phone (no cell service in this remote country) to see if I can contact a motorcycle shop in Kalispell before it closes (this is 5:45 Saturday night), hoping (remotely) to bribe someone to stay around long enough for a new tire. Others accompany the injured Fazer to Happy's Inn with my suspecting it would be spewing its coolant at a fast clip. I have to use a pay phone but reach the Yammy dealer at 5:50. Turns out this place - Penco - actually has Sunday hours so we make arrangements to be there the next morning for a new tire. The Fazer shows up about that time and is barely dripping fluid. Wow! I think we can make town - maybe even home!
Next day, we have the new tire on, the Fazer is just barely leaking, everyone has gas, no more lose fenders... and we all arrive home safe and sound.
Out of gas, wreck, loose fender and bad tire converged on our group all in the space of five minutes. Just absolutely feaky. But with luck and ingenuity we overcame.
Incidentally, Penco in Kalispell is one excellent dealership. Very professional. We were in a jam and they didn't take advantage of it - $223 for a Dunlop tire, mounted and balanced (we pulled and replaced the wheel on the bike). Good folks.
