Well....... Second day on the trip, and after a fairly heavy night out in Brussels we were heading toward Luxembourg. Anyway Its raining cats & dogs so tough to see where we are going. The chap in fornt on a GSXR couldnt really see his sat nav properly & realising he was about to miss a turn made a sharpish & unsignalled Left turn (across the road as they are on the right over there). Guy behind on the VTR didnt really have a chance to avoid him (although was prob a bit close in truth) & slid in to the side of him. Firstly both guys were fine. The GSXR landed on top of the VTR so got away with a couple of scratches, no worries. VTR however was broken. Fairing & indicators not to much to worry about, & all bodged with duct tape & cable ties. Unfortunately there was also a big hole in the crank case / clutch housing.
At this point we are thinking the trips over.
Then fortune (and some incredible kindness) took over.
Firstly a guy drove passed as the bikes were being moved, wound the window down & told us "Guysch you stay here. I have truck at home 10 minutes to drop baby off & I'll be back" So Tom turned up picked the bikes up on his truck with a tail lift & took the bikes to the local Honda dealership. He wouldnt accept any money (or even beer!) & left with only our sincerest gratitude.
Secondly as anyone who has travelled on the continent will know getting anything done over a weekend is nigh on impossible. The dealership was closed - but as another complete stroke of luck the owner (Hieder) came in to do his paper work. They didn't have the part in stock but he wheeled out a pristine tool chest so we could get the part off the bike.
Third stroke of luck was that about 500yards away there was a welders yard, where we took the housing & they managed to (I think TIG?) weld the hole. Took the guy about 50 mins. Gave him 15 Euros and we were on our way.
The upshot of all this was that we went from down & out to up & running in no time at all, all down to the kindness of other people (all bikers in this case I might add).:thumbup
Anyhow, I dont have many pictures, but I did take some video (by taping a digital cam to the yoke / brake fluid resevoir!). When I have managed to get it all saved down I'll get it uploaded & post the link. No laughing at my shoddy gear changes mind you!
