About Larry

I live in Bandon on the southern Oregon coast and I've been riding for a long, long time, years, decades. We won't go there kiddies but believe me, it's been awhile. During that time I've done most of my riding on the road with occasional off-road forays, most of which were intentional. Some weren't. Until just a couple of years ago I'd never ridden a hack - that's sidecar to those who aren't familiar with the lingo. I figure riding a hack up Alaska's infamous Haul road all the way to Deadhorse should top off my torture tank for quite awhile.

About Mac

Mac hails from Robins, Iowa and has been riding bikes longer than most people have been around. He managed to torture his old BMW past the 100,000 mile mark and presently rides a Yamaha FJR. His newest ride, a 2008 Ural Patrol is waiting on the dealer's highest shelf until the flood waters recede after which they'll assemble it and turn it over to him. The fact that he's heading to Alaska for his first journey on a new rig should tell you all you need to know about him...

Saturday, August 2, 2008

July 31st - Fairbanks in the rain at the mercy of bike dealers




We started our day at the local car wash attempting to dislodge the mud and grime from our bikes. The idea being that any bike shop would be more willing to work on them if they weren't covered in crud and we both needed tire changes. There aren't a whole bunch of bike shops in Fairbanks so we started with the Harley-BMW dealer. They were willing to fix Mac's tire as he had it off the bike and ready to look at. Mine was a different story as both tires needed to be replaced and I couldn't just take them off and hand them over. "Sorry but it's a liability issue" was what they said. Hmm.... that's what I'd call pure bullshit; I'd operated a service shop for years and liability doesn't have squat to do with it, they simply didn't want to work on an Aprilia. This was particularly aggravating since they're supposed to be a BMW dealer and my Aprilia is exactly the same as a bimmer, only the name plate differs. Aprilia built BMW's 650F model for years and that's what mine is by any other name. In any event they did me a true favor by recommending another shop across town who might do the deed. Turned out to be just fine, they not only did the tire swap, they also installed new rear brake pads and solved the noise problem coming from the undercarriage. I'm forever grateful to them.

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