Getting Her Spark Back 🙂 | 5BikeChallenge:

Facing mechanical issues with your bike can be challenging at the best of times, but when you are touring far from home, it can be especially frustrating and scary. As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, what I thought was a battery issue that I had resolved before a 10-day trip from Toronto to Montreal, turned out to be something deeper. I didn't figure that out though until I was several hours into my journey.

At the end of my last story I had been apprised of the diagnosis at Ottawa GoodTime Center, the local dealership, and was waiting for a regulator to arrive hopefully the day after Canada's national holiday.

Only I got it wrong. It was not the regulator that had failed. It was the GENERATOR!

When Steve, the service manager, gave me the diagnosis, I wasn't taking notes. I had actually thought he said "generator", but that didn't jibe with the part price he quoted. I thought I had misheard, and convinced myself that he said regulator which was the only thing that made sense for the money.

I got the good news at noon on the day after Canada Day. Somehow my part, which was ordered in the afternoon just before the first big holiday of summer, had been shipped from Toronto to Ottawa and had arrived technically only a few business hours later!

While they worked on my bike, I went shopping a nearby automotive store and bought myself a lithium jump starter. I didn't want to take any chances.

At the end of the afternoon I got the word: my baby was out of surgery and ready to continue our journey. While paying the invoice, I asked if the new regulator had rectified the problem completely, to which Steve replied it wasn't the regulator, it was the stator. But how? BMW does not sell the stator as a standalone part for my bike, you must order it as a complete generator kit which is priced much higher than the price I was paying. Apparently someone made an error in the initial quotation and Ottawa GoodTime was standing by their quote. Wow, I have to say I have never been witness to this level of honesty in automotive service...ever!

Lessons learned:

• If you are having electrical or mechanical issues, especially before a big trip, don't make obvious assumptions. Do a thorough investigation.
• Lithium batter boosters are incredibly compact and most have USB outputs to recharge devices. A useful tool for touring!
• There are some honest service shops out there, and I am forever thankful that I landed at one in my hour of need.

I returned to Toronto a few days ago after a very successful 10-day excursion and the bike seems to run better than it ever did. I know this impression is probably just my brain's way of compensating for the stress it suffered while dealing with the possibility my trip would be ruined, but I will enjoy it while it lasts 🙂

Thanks Ottawa GoodTime Center!