Shipping the Bikes

Since the “Shakedown Trip” things got a little on the hectic side due to life in general. The leaving date for the adventure looked so far off everything was put on the back burner. In other words procrastination set in! Paul and I were a little at odds as to how we were going to get the bikes transported to South America. I wanted to fly them to Buenos Aires as we could put them on the plane a couple of days before we left and would have them as soon as we got there, plus we would have plenty of time to finish off all that was needing to be done. The plan then being to ride down the east coast of Argentina to Ushuaia and then up along the Andes to Colombia. Paul figured this was a little expensive and opted for shipping them to Valparaiso, Chile, going down the Andes to Ushuaia and back up a similar route but continuing up through Argentina and on to Colombia. Shipping would take around 65 days but could blow out depending on a lot of variables. In the end I relented against my better judgement, and the pressure was on!

Due to procrastination and the late call there was a lot to do to get everything ready for the shipping date. Paul was under the pump to get his murals at the market done, paintings for exhibitions and galleries and clean the unit before his partner Beck got back from a quick trip to the U.K. I had to finish marking, write reports, clear my desk (as I am having a year off) and get things organised as my son was coming out for a 3 week visit from Norway over Christmas New Year. On top of this Paul and I had to do an oil and filter change, tappet adjustment, get new tyres fitted, replace the chain and sprockets construct and put on homemade tool tubes, wire in some extra power sockets to recharge our electronic gadgets and modify a couple of BMW crates, kindly given to us by Adelaide Moto, to suit our bikes. Another mate of mine managed to find enough plywood sheets he didn’t need to enable complete coverage of the bikes. Oh, and Paul was going to make and fit a special carrier for a Pelican type case to contain his camera and art gear. Oh dear!!!

Having never done the tappets on the bike before we enlisted the help of a friend, Dean Maynard. A motorcycle mechanic in days gone past, an owner of a DR 650 and recently returned from an adventure from the Isle of Man TT to Vladivostok http://www.itsalongwaythere.blogspot.com.au/ We rode the bikes around to Deans and Paul managed to role his into the shed and up on to bike lift before I knew what was happening. The morning and afternoon rolled by and it didn’t look as though Paul’s bike was going to vacate the lift as Dean worked feverishly giving the black DR a good going over. In the end I headed home and left the boys to it. Apparently it was a late one as the tank needed a lot of persuasion and modification to go back on.

I managed to organise another day to meet up with Dean and I did the tappets under instruction as I like being hands on and really want to know what to do when on the road. All went well and I asked Dean if he could take the bike for a ride and let me know what he thought as he had something to compare it to. He came back and the verdict was “handles like a bucket of s%#*, the head stem bearings are too tight”. I had thought it was a bit ordinary but put it down to the bike being a bit agricultural and old technology. I actually didn’t really like to ride it, actually hated it, so always rode the GS. After a bit of mucking around all was adjusted correctly only to find that the bearings were notched due to being over tight and needed replacement. Off I went home feeling a little dejected and wondering what other problems may be lurking within the bike.

During the week Dean ordered a new set of bearings and I machined up tools on the lathe to remove the old and insert the new bearings. On a very hot weekend Dean and I set to work replacing the bearings. We managed to do it in a very short time thanks to Dean’s mate with a press and got a ride around the Adelaide hills in as well. What a difference, it was like a new bike and actually changed my whole perspective about riding it, it handled so well, I loved it. I also learnt a little more about the bike and will be forever grateful to Dean for his help.

I rang up to order the new tyres for the bikes and discovered that the Heidenau K60s we wanted weren’t available in the country and hopefully would arrive before we had to pack the bikes in the crates. I managed to get the oil and filter change done, put a new chain and sprockets on and make the tool tube before my son Thor arrived from Norway, as well as finish the year off at work. Work finished on the Thursday and Thor arrived on the Saturday. Luckily the flight was scheduled to arrive Saturday evening as Kath had booked in to have a stall in a market and Paul and I were to get the tyres fitted as they had arrived a few days before. The bikes had to be in the warehouse and crated on the coming Wednesday. This was a little awkward as Thor was only out for three weeks and I didn’t really want this to eat into our time together. As it turned out he was very keen on bikes and we finished my bike off together. When Paul came around on Tuesday, Thor wired in his auxiliary plugs for him and then we set about putting the finishing touches on the crates. When the day came to an end we loaded everything up on a mate’s trailer and in the back of the ute for an early start on Wednesday morning.

Down to Port Adelaide to the shipping company’s warehouse the three of us went. They directed us to a corner of the warehouse where we were able to unload and crate the bikes. A little against occupational health and safety rules but we managed to get it done. As for the paperwork, well Paul didn’t get his printed out, and he managed to lose mine somewhere between the car and the shipping office. 

Once again the shipping company were most accommodating and they allowed us in to the office and use their computers to access and print the required paperwork. All done in stinking heat and three hours, not bad we thought!! Off to the beach at Semaphore for lunch and a well deserved ice cream! Time now to relax a little and enjoy Christmas and New Year ready to put the finishing touches on the preparations for leaving at the end of February.

Thanks to all who helped!