Frigging hell; what a day today turned out to be. I called the Honda dealer in Bathhurst to buy some clutch plates, but he was unsure if he could get them as the freight plane had failed to arrive that morning. So we decided to ride on and see how it went, after calling in at Autobarn to get some oil and an angled ring spanner for adjusting the clutch.The bloke who served us (Austin) was really helpful and phoned his wife to find a garage on our planned route from whom we might get some plates. Actually, he did more than that and found us a garage and a mechanic about half way who would be able to help us.
Which was just as well, as we needed him. The clutch quickly deteriorated and although I could change gear, the poor old bike gradually lost speed until by the time we reached Junee, it could only just top 40kph. But as the mechanic Austin had found us was in Cootamundra, about 40 kms further on, we decided to ride on to there.
However, about 10 kms out of Junee, as the clutch needed adjusting, we stopped. Big mistake. The Honda mechanic from Wagga had not only done it up with an air compressor driver thing so that we couldn’t loosen it by hand but had also stripped the screw head. So we couldn’t move it.
It's funny how you don’t really notice stuff around you until you get stuck. And there we were, stuck in the middle of nowhere, where there was the little shade and the most snake concealing grass.
It was 39 degrees. But we had water and food so it wasn’t all bad. And phones with full power.
So we called the Cootamundra mechanic to see if he could help us; he could but would need to order the plates, which would arrive tomorrow. And that of course, meant we would need help moving. But we’re NRMA members, so we belled them. And that’s where things started to go downhill rapidly.
According to them, I could only be towed back to Junee, where there was no motorcycle mechanic but not to Cootamundra where there was. But they had no means of getting me there because they weren't equipped to move motorcycles. But they had sold me a motorcycle policy on the basis that they could. So the NRMA, the main roadside rescue people in Australia unable to rustle up anything capable of moving a small bike not very far. Surely that couldn't be correct - could it? Yes it could.
But we needed to get on, so they undertook to find one of their approved service users to lift my bike, providing that I paid. Not great but if that's what it needed to get going. And they promised to call me back with a name and a price.
But of course they didn’t, and I phoned to see how things were going, the new bloke told me that according to their computer record of my earlier call, I had put the phone down. WTF? Why would I do that when I had called them for help because I was stranded and unable to sort things out for myself? I was waiting for their call but was in the middle of nowhere, but nobody had considered that the connection may have dropped out or that I may be in real trouble and passed out in the heat, been hit by a truck, bitten by a snake or whatever. Nor apparently had the first operator tried to call me back, despite having asked me to repeat my contact number twice. Idiots.
The second operator was more helpful but also insisted I could only go back to Junee, despite the lack of a mechanic etc. So after much wrangling which got me nowhere, we were even more stuck, and NRMA still insisted they could not help. It was very hot and it was too far to walk in either direction. We were very stuck. But despite the long grass, no snakes had yet appeared, so things were still on the good side. Just.
Nadine called the Cootamundra mechanic and he agreed to come out, and he would take about 45 minutes. But then she tweeted about the NRMA while we waited - and suddenly they were back on the phone wanting to help us. Turns out I had ‘ been misinformed’ and of course they could get me to Cootamundra as that was the nearest mechanic, and of course they could find a way to get me there under my policy. Funny; wasn’t that the opposite of what they’d been telling me for two hours?
But hang on, Cootamundra man was already on way, so why couldn’t they use him instead of looking for somebody else and making me wait even longer in the stonking heat? No they couldn’t do that as it was against policy. But you have a member stranded, you’ve failed to fulfil what you offer on your membership deals, you have given out the wrong information, and now you’re trying to make things more difficult for me by refusing to use somebody who can help and is already on way, when you have no alternative to offer? Best we do a bit more tweeting then.
Cootamundra man arrived shortly afterwards, loaded my bike onto his ute, Nadine and Gordon kitted up, and we all set off.
Then the apologies from NRMA started. But too little, too late. Apologies are no good, although they did agree to use Cootamundra man’s towing services.
What a bunch of clowns. None of them had any idea at all of what they were doing, and their service was appalling. The operators were clueless, although one did try to help, and it took a bit of adverse publicity to stir them into action. And this is Australia’s roadside rescue service. What a rubbish outfit they are. But they still have my money.
Cootamundra man, who is actually called John dismantled the clutch and found that yesterday's Honda mechanic had buggered it up a treat. Not only had he stripped the screw as we suspected, but he had done them so tightly that the plates were unable to move. And the oil that he had apparently changed was as black as black; curious, given that it was allegedly new late yesterday afternoon.
We always do our own servicing where we can and we look after our bikes. But sometimes we can't because we don’t have the tools or the bits. And that is what happened here, and that is why we sought professional help, but it turns out that both Honda and NRMA shafted us.
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