Interested in doing a 50CC ?

Tele

Premier Member
#84
That is pretty crap service Tele - not by BMW, but by the 6 providers. There's NRMA at Walcha and Gloucester. I don't recognise the location from your pic (don't usually look sideways on that road), but by definition it must have been less than 75km from one end or the other of Thunderbolts well within daylight business hours.

The Taree guy has had to drive 75km just to get to Gloucester before starting the north run on Thunderbolts itself.

How did you get on overnight?

By the way I have a dedicated bike trailer here at home that is always ready to go.
Thank you very much Peter.

I was about 75k from Walcha and about 55k from Gloucester. With no outbound or inbound verbal comms (only the SPOT assistance message and some written details to two passing motorists) I had no real idea as to who may have been coming to assist me or when they might arrive. I assumed (given my location) that someone would arrive around 18:30 or 19:00. My first messages went out at about 14:30, so I figured about four hours or so by the time BMW would get the message, organise a pick up and then have someone physically arrive to that location.

By 20:30 when darkness had descended, the passing traffic pretty much dried up so I had planned on a night in the grass by the roadside. Luckily it was a pleasant evening. Beautiful starry night and moderate temps. I was expecting a towage contractor to arrive at any tick of the clock. I settled down in the most comfortable spot I could find, set up my jacket as a pillow and laid back to wait whatever was to come. It was quite pleasant until the mozzies arrived.

At about 21:45 a car pulled up. It was my wife. When BMW road service had told her they could not find anyone to collect me, she packed some clothes and toiletries, hopped in the car and drove from Newcastle. She had the GPS coordinates , so roughly knew where to look. Took the poor dear nearly four hours to get there due to driving in the dark on twisty mountain roads which are not at all familiar to her. She packaged me up and we drove into Walcha where we were lucky to snag a motel room for the night. Stayed in Walcha until Saturday morning when the Taree towie called and said he would be on site by about 10:00. We drove from Walcha back to the bike to meet up with him.

I was relaxed enough about spending the night roadside. I had half a bottle of water left, so I was OK. (I wish I packed toilet paper on the bike ...........). But I must say, the night in a comfy motel bed with my lovely wife was a much better option. And we stopped at Gloucester community markets on Saturday morning for a very pleasant diversion on the way home.

And by the way: I have had two lengthy phone calls with BMW Motorrad Customer Service managers. They have promised a full investigation into my case including interviews with the staff involved and the contractors who declined to assist on the Friday afternoon.
 

Tele

Premier Member
#85
Tele sorry to hear of your long wait for the truck. That is bad service imagine if it was winter and freezing cold.

Did you swag it beside the bike for the night Tele?

I have SPOT help button set up by the sounds of it similar to you in that my message is sent to a couple of mates saying "Broken down with no phone serv please call BMW assist" .. Tele did that work ok for Louise when she rang BM, I assume she gave them the Coordinates of where you were?

Glad you got picked up ok in the end.
Yes Michael, I have much the same message linked to my SPOT assist button. Thankfully, it worked fine. Louise got the message, called BMW and relayed the coordinates.
When I spoke to the BMW customer service managers (monday) about this I discussed the inclement weather situation and I also asked what they would have done had it been a young mother stranded in a car with a young baby. Would they have left her there overnight to sit in a car for 18 hours?. I impressed upon them that any breakdown has two aspects: human and machine. Maybe they cannot help the machine, but with no communication, ignoring the human aspect was just not reasonable policy. And in all fairness, I was not in the isolated outback of the NT or western QLD. I was only 70k's from two major regional centres. And it was 2;30pm when I first asked for assistance. Hardly the middle of the night.
 

Skidoo

Premier Member
#88
Thanks for your company guys, it's a tip I'll cherish for a long time!
Haven't had time to read the posting as I'm still out with ABE, fatigue is catching up so strategies will be amended.

Look forward to posting a report soon but a little busy. Have never had to replace tyres on a 50CC before!