Need a mechanic in Guatemala. Urgent

[Veter]

Here is the video how it happened. Enjoy! :)

[GB]

where the puck was she going?? glad you weren't hurt and the bike is back in business... hope you have better luck from here on down...

[GuateRider]

Originally Posted by Lone Rider

Educate yourself, vet.
Greatly lessens the stress....

Glad you didn't get hurt !!!

[Mudcat]

Originally Posted by Lone Rider

The stock clutch on my 1150 out-lasted the engine. 160k miles.
Educate yourself, vet.
Greatly lessens the stress....

Yes but it’s hard to do on the road.
And Lucky you with the clutch. I on the other hand had to have 4 clutches replaced on my 1200 within 28,000 miles because of oil leaks. Vetter lost his clutch at 12 or 13 thousand miles.
The dry clutch is a bad design for an adventure bike and severely limits the bikes off road capabilities in my view

[Lone Rider]

Originally Posted by Mudcat

Yes but it’s hard to do on the road.
And Lucky you with the clutch. I on the other hand had to have 4 clutches replaced on my 1200 within 28,000 miles because of oil leaks. Vetter lost his clutch at 12 or 13 thousand miles.
The dry clutch is a bad design for an adventure bike and severely limits the bikes off road capabilities in my view

It's an excellent design (automotive), when properly done. BMW did this for many years with total success.

They f'ked up the 1200 series - plain and simple. It's a problem waiting to occur - and will happen.

They went from producing a very dependable bike, and one that's easy to maintain, to one that's now on the bottom of the list for rtw-type riding. And they allowed this to happen very quickly.

You can market up anything, but eventually you're living with the product produced.

Their legend and perceived value will die very soon unless the product is soon changed.

My opinion, of course...

And we have people buying these bikes who are relying on the scattered network of dealerships to support them during their riding - sound the marketing bells, please.

It's just plain wrong.

[Throttlemeister]

Originally Posted by Veter

Here is the video how it happened. Enjoy! :)

Holy Hell

Tough one to avoid, sometimes you just got to go slow. Looks like you came out all right considering the hit.

[WildAnCrazymtl]

Originally Posted by Veter

Here is the video how it happened. Enjoy! :)

WHAT The F__K !

Did she do that on purpose???

Looks that way too me...

At the very least she could have checked her mirrors!















youdidalsotrytopassonassolideline

[marior97]

Vieja Pendeja !!

Originally Posted by Veter

Here is the video how it happened. Enjoy! :)

[Lone Rider]

When you ride, you are going into battle.

[mountainduro]

Originally Posted by Veter

Here is the video how it happened. Enjoy! :)

Its a shame! what was she doing? Unbelieveble!

At least you are a good rider, handled the crash.

[MikeMike]

No gloves, brave indeed!

I am going to take a risk here and point out a couple of things, and I mean to do this with all due respect and not incite some sort of riot on here which might see me flamed terribly.

First, you were coming up on her pretty fast.
So many drivers in this part of the world are so distracted it is ridiculous. Stereo blaring, cell phone stuck in ear, changing movies for the kiddies, etc...yes, she likely was not deep in thought about nuclear physics, that is for sure!
She likely checks her rear view mirrors about once a year.

Second, going for a pass on that curve would not have been my plan.
I know that video can skew things and put things out of proportion, but I wouldn't have passed on that curve simply because I would have expected the driver
to drift to the inside. Again, most drivers here can barely keep a vehicle between the lines at the best of times, let alone on a curve, they always tend to drift from lane to lane or sit in the middle with little respect for the lines. I often wonder why they bother to put lines on the roads. Also, you can see tire tracks leading to where the woman stopped, the tracks are in front of the vehicle so there must be some reason she pulled over there. Not signalling is just a bad habit here practiced by about 95% of drivers.

Third, yes, I would have been wearing gloves. It gets real hot here, too, but ventilated gloves with knuckle protection are always on. Now, at the risk of sounding like a hypocrite, it was Guaterider and another big miles, life long Mexican rider, who convinced me of changing from the old "roper" style gloves I used to wear, to something with at least enough protection to give me a chance. I am grateful to them for patiently explaining why my 40 year habit was not a good idea.

Veter, I am sorry to hear you were having to do a tuck and roll, thanks for posting the video, it is an eye opener for anyone thinking about riding here.
Again, my 3 points above are simply observations and I don't want them to be construed as some sort of expert opinion, just some observations from my experience here. Few states or provinces in Latin American countries have any kind of driver exam, the chief driving instructor is a Brit guy named Charles Darwin.

[tricepilot]

Cross-posted this video to the IMS thread in Trip Planning.

Lot's of valuable lessons here for the rest of us. Thanks Veter.

[mark883]

Geez... you're the guy with the clutch from hell experience in Mexico.

Hope you get on the road soon, and don't wind up curled up in a ball on the floor of a cheap hostel room, with an empty bottle of skanky mescal. I'll give you a pass if you have considered it.

Push on and good luck, you've had more than your share of adventure on this one.

[Veter]

tricepilot, sure if it helps anyone

MikeMike,

Thanks for the tips. man, I agree with everything you said. Here is my explanation of what was going on for the others to learn from my mistakes.

1. I always wear gloves and was going without them that day only in order to control my camera. And here it comes.
2. When she started to brake, in my understanding she was going to stop at the roadside as ppl there often do. That is why I moved to the left to get ready to pass her. When she started moving left herself it happenned really fast and the only thing I could do was braking and drifting. Actually at that point I decided that they were bandidos trying to hijack my bike as the movement was really fast and aggressive. I had a pepper gun in my pocket and after I rolled from a bike I was waiting for them to open the door of the car to pull it out and use it.
3. I was breaking only with the front brake. After the incident I'm building up a habit to use both.
4. BMW pants saved my foot, I would definitely have broken it as I was in severe pain even with protection

mark883,

Ending up with a bottle of meskal in not an option for me. I need quite different takeaways from this trip :)
I just spent 2 weeks with a beautiful girl at a kiteboarding spot near lake Arenal and today plan to cross to Panama. Life is good and tough moments sometimes make it better - noone remembers just an ordinary day

[mark883]

Originally Posted by Veter

tricepilot, sure if it helps anyone

...

mark883,

Ending up with a bottle of meskal in not an option for me. I need quite different takeaways from this trip :) Good on you.
I just spent 2 weeks with a beautiful girl at a kiteboarding spot near lake Arenal and today plan to cross to Panama. Life is good and tough moments sometimes make it better - noone remembers just an ordinary day

And you've had quite your share of extraordinary days. You will be able to share an epic story of triumph over adversity, that's for sure. You're ok, that's what matters.

And still, your trip beats being trapped on that cruise ship with no electricity, and the shitters are backed up. You might not have heard about that in the news- dead in the water, being towed back to shore in the Gulf. FUN!