Thank God for Good Ol Boys! - Stories From The Road...

[inditx]

SO, when you throw the bearings on one side of your trailer, with your new to you bike 150 miles from home, what do you do?
You survey the situation and then start calling those you pay to help you.

AAA, sorry you have plus service but you need plus plus! Great

BMW roadside, could not understand their broken english but at the end of it all he said, sorry, no coverage for that. Strike 2

Enter a good ol boy from Missouri going to get some good Casey’s pizza who happened by. Yes he too is a biker.

He made several trips to Tractor Supply and his house, near by, and stayed with us 3.5 hours!
Finally calling his buddy who has a mobile mechanic service and after surveying the situation, wrong hub and Tractor Supply was now closed!
He rebuilt the old hub and said, this will get you home, albeit without a dust cap because the hub had been compromised.

These 2 really blessed us and we did get home at midniught, aftter stopping every 50 miles or so to check the hub and going 55-60 mph.

Cancelled AAA and going to let the BMW roadside lapse.

Any GOOD services left out there?

Bottom line is, the help from complete strangers got us back on the road when the 2 paid services did not.

inditx
p.s. Put an extra hub with bearings in your tow vehicle for such a time as this…...

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

AMA (used to be called MOTOW) has worked for me the two times I needed it.

[Perazzimx14]

AMA (used to be called MOTOW) has worked for me the two times I needed it.

Funny we met what turned out to be some great friends in similar situation. One of the guy's rear wheel bearing failed on their way back home to Tennesse. We got the up and running and have been friends ever since.

Another time I was on my way home from work and saw a father and son and one had broke down on the interstate a few miles from my exit. I stopped and found they needed and tire inflator so I told the dad to follw me to the house and he could borrow a pump to take back to get his son up and running. After they got the tire inflated they stopped at the house to drop off the pump and we chatted for a while and found they were on their 1st big trip. After a few minutes and they were on their way. 5 or 6 years later there was a bottle of Jameson on my doorstep with a note from the dad saying if he ever got out this way he wanted to repay me for my help.

I have also been helped and appericiate every bit of it.

Lots of good people out there, glad you ran into one

[Gliderjohn]

Local folk got me out of a jam years ago in KS. Was returning home from the gliderport on the T-3. While pulling into a very small town convenience store I shifted from 3rd to second when something felt weird and I could not shift any further. With the clutch pulled in coasted to a parking space at the store. Took a look and the vertical rod on the shifter linkage had broke in half. Was still 35 miles from home. While I was eyeballing things an Amish gentleman came over and asked me if I was having problems. I pointed out the problem and he pointed to a PU with a couple of guys in it. He said to go talk to them. They were locals that said they could weld it for me and they had a pair of needle nose pliers with them to remove the piece. They took it and were back in about 20 minutes with it fixed. Ask for $10 which I gladly paid. Once in a while you get the bad luck good luck thing.
GliderJohn

[Ncdan]

SO, when you throw the bearings on one side of your trailer, with your new to you bike 150 miles from home, what do you do?
You survey the situation and then start calling those you pay to help you.

AAA, sorry you have plus service but you need plus plus! Great

BMW roadside, could not understand their broken english but at the end of it all he said, sorry, no coverage for that. Strike 2

Enter a good ol boy from Missouri going to get some good Casey’s pizza who happened by. Yes he too is a biker.

He made several trips to Tractor Supply and his house, near by, and stayed with us 3.5 hours!
Finally calling his buddy who has a mobile mechanic service and after surveying the situation, wrong hub and Tractor Supply was now closed!
He rebuilt the old hub and said, this will get you home, albeit without a dust cap because the hub had been compromised.

These 2 really blessed us and we did get home at midniught, aftter stopping every 50 miles or so to check the hub and going 55-60 mph.

Cancelled AAA and going to let the BMW roadside lapse.

Any GOOD services left out there?

Bottom line is, the help from complete strangers got us back on the road when the 2 paid services did not.

inditx
p.s. Put an extra hub with bearings in your tow vehicle for such a time as this…...

In the end results, it’s most always comes down to regular folks helping in a time of need, just like in the Appalachians.

[chuck peterson]

I’m on a week long tour in Vermont, staying at the really convenient state park leaning-tos…Morrisville VT

My friend Little Al and I are starting our day, packed up and ready to attack northern Vermont roads for 10 hrs and a lifetime of memories

I hit my starter and begin to slow roll out of the state park, quietly pulling out at ‘o dark thirty, except…

Al pulls in front of me, yelling for me to stop

The starter was in flames!! Ignition off the flames disappeared. Shiite the trip is ruined i will need to trailer it home etc etc now what

I jump start the monster cali iii full fairing and roll into Morrisville. A few questions at a gas station while idling and they point me to a shop repairing work tools, vacuum cleaners, drills, saws, etc….anything electrical. Sure! They say, no problem, hand it too me

Two bolts and a few wires I’ve got the smoldering hot starter in his hands. He jumps right on it despite about 50 repair projects in front of him. “Go have breakfast”he says.

2 hrs later he’s rebuilt the whole thing…ZINGggg it spins up on his bench. “$20…”
I hand him $40, considering he likely saved my week. He refuses…

2 bolts and a couple wires i am back on the road by 9am.

It’s the Pope’s blessing on guzzi, my friends

[Tkelly]

On our way thru MO south to AR,my friendChris pulled his SP3 to the side of a busy 4 lane outside Springfield for the zillionth time.A huge guy pulled off on his thundering Harley so I walked up to tell him we had been having electric issues.He asked what kind of bike it was,I told him and he said he didn’t know anything about them but he was an electrician.After a few minutes he pronounced that the ignition switch was the problem and after some jiggling the bike started and we got back on the road.On the other hand,my brother who rode a Shovelhead was broke down on a road in a Chicago suburb and lots of Harley riders passed without stopping.A Gold wing rider stopped and got him going.If you travel by motorcycle this will happen to you and it will be the best memory of the trip.

[Dr. Enzo Toma]

I've made good use of my AAA membership, and it's shared with a family member. Their tiers are annoying and over complicated, and responses are slow, but it's been the economical solution most of the time as long as you're willing to wait. If there were something better, I'd be interested! In the past 5 or so years I've had AAA tow an SUV two blocks, tow another SUV 200 miles and then I paid the driver extra to go another 20 miles to the next major city, I've gotten a jump start, and I've had a motorcycle with a flat tire loaded onto a flat bed and brought home by a competent (and premium priced, O'Hare Towing if anyone is familiar) tow company. I have "Premier RV" which has covered long distance towing and motorcycles, I think it used to be something else. Has been well worth the money to me, will cancel it if it stops being worth it.

[LowRyter]

You know, I left the gas station 2 miles from my house.  The oil pressure light came on my V11 Sport as I entered the road.  A fellow in pickup with utility trailer pulled up within a couple of minutes, took me home right away.  Oil filter had come loose.

Even a better one was getting a flat on my Isuzu Trooper on trail road North of Canon City.  I was taking photos and looked over had total flat in the rt ear.  Right after I removed the flat, the car rolled of the jack.  Disk brake buried in the dirt.  I was struggling to get the jack under the axle when a guy pulled in his Civic, got out a floor jack, changed the flat and took off.  Not sure he said a word.  Like an angel.

[inditx]

We need to retitle this thread, “Stories From The Road”
Good stuff
inditx

[Tkelly]

A friend was riding out west when he stopped to see if the people working on a motorcycle trailer needed help.They thanked him for stopping but had the problem solve so he proceeded down the road ank ran out off gas in the middle of nowhere.Much to his delight,here comes the boys with the trailer pulling over.They had no gas so put his bike on the trailer.As they drove along he found out that they were on there way to Sturgis,no bikes but empty motorcycle trailer.To my friends relief they stopped and unloaded the bike at a gas station.My friend had only a few dollars so he jokingly asked the leader if they took credit cards for the tow.The leaders mood darkened as he said don’t insult us,if we want we would take everything you got,and drove away in the direction of Sturgis.

[ridingron]

Should have offered to top off their gas tank.

[Shorty]

I had an older brother in Beaumont, Tx who had terminal cancer. I drove down to visit him, with an XT 600 in the back of the truck. I planned to attend the Italy Texas rally, then go to Talihina and ride the mountain  before heading back to Oklahoma. Just north of Ennis, Texas I had a flat. I was hobbling around on a badly swollen leg, about to fix the flat. Along came J. N. Smyth on his way home from the rally. He recognised me, saw me limping, and he said, "get out of the way, youngun, I'll fix that thing. "  He was in his late 70s or early 80s by then. He changed the tire, grinned and took off. What a guy!

[kballowe]

We live off of a stretch of old Route 66, and get a lot of bike traffic, and many foreign riders. We rescue a few every year.  Everything from minor accidents to flat tires to mistakenly filling the tank with diesel.

We occasionally get a call from our local group.  That's what you get when you own a truck and a trailer !

As far as "roadside assistance", we have AAA++ - and of the two times that I tried to use it, I wound up using my cell phone to find a suitable towing company, instead.  That card is useful, though - for discounts at motels, restaurants, etc.

[Ncdan]

We live off of a stretch of old Route 66, and get a lot of bike traffic, and many foreign riders. We rescue a few every year.  Everything from minor accidents to flat tires to mistakenly filling the tank with diesel.

We occasionally get a call from our local group.  That's what you get when you own a truck and a trailer !

As far as "roadside assistance", we have AAA++ - and of the two times that I tried to use it, I wound up using my cell phone to find a suitable towing company, instead.  That card is useful, though - for discounts at motels, restaurants, etc.

I love having AAA but the one time I attempted to use them to haul my motorcycle a flatbed showed up with a young fellow who had never loaded a motorcycle. I excused him and called a friend with a trailer to come and get me.

[Moparnut72]

I had a friend who had a AAA contract. He had a special carrier constructed by a local fabricator to carry a motorcycle. It was set up to go on the wheel lift on the wrecker. I helped him out from time to time but never got to use it.
As for the actual subject I ran out of gas just short of Lewiston coming from the Broken Arrow event. One of the guys I was riding with was bringing some gas. In the meantime a group of Guzzis went by but didn't stop. But three other people stopped. One guy was in a car who offered to go get gas. I politely told him I had help coming. The next was an Idaho State Patrolman who offered to go get gas , I told him the same thing. The last was I think a local rancher with a trailer with a couple of kitchen appliances on it. He wanted to load me up and didn't want to take no, I have gas coming. I thanked him profusely before he finally moved on. This was all in about 30 minutes or less. The Guzzi guys should have noticed I was one of the clan as I was on a 1400 which has very distinctive tail lights. Maybe they were still in a daze from the relaxing weekend. I won't mention any names.
kk

[cliffrod]

Right after Christmas 94, I was riding my V7 Sport home from SC to Knoxville.  After a really, really nasty ride to SC the previous day through lots of snow & sleet on the interstates, it had been an awesome ride in great mild weather going the back way via weaverville-Hot Springs-Newport. 

I got onto I-40 and traffic was backed up just before it merged with I-81.  When I pulled the clutch lever to brake, the cable snapped…. I rolled to the side and was putting it on the center stand when a guy stopped in his small pickup.  He asked about the problem, then where I was going and said “let’s put it in the back and I’ll drop you off at home when I go by.”  So we did.   I don’t think it took 5 minutes total from when I stopped until we were back in traffic and moving.   

He wouldn’t take anything when he dropped me & bike off at the house about 45 min later.  He said he couldn't leave someone on a bike that needed help.  That was a good day.

[Guzzistajohn]

My 1st and only experience with Progressive insurance's road service was horrible. Don't depend on then Flo is a lying *^€><#•

[guzzi4me]

My 1st and only experience with Progressive insurance's road service was horrible. Don't depend on then Flo is a lying *^€><#•
[/quote

Don't mince words...what do you really think??!!??

I also didn't have a good experience with Progessive. My AMA membership however has been great for roadside help.

Ride safe and often...
Jeff

[Vecchio Lupo]

Fellow bikers and local tradesmen are our greatest assets. Now this could never work in the modern age we live in, but several years ago, even though I was a severe Guzzi man, I had a BMW and joined the MOA thus providing me with the “Anonymous Book” of which I put myself in as Tools, Workspace, truck / trailer, and tent space. I never used it for myself but it sure felt great helping others continue on their way.

To a lesser degree forums like this are a digital Anonymous platform , but it’s hit and miss. 

[Moparnut72]

MGNOC has such a list. I am listed on it with everything I can provide from trailering to a fairly well equipped shop. Tent space is also available. I also listed myself on ADV for similar amenities.
kk

[Huzo]

When I attempted (and almost succeeded), in setting my Norge on fire in France.
Burning plastic smell, ECU disconnect warning on the panel and blown fuses all over the place. Laying in the tent at just after midnight in gentle rain…!
I get a ping from my ‘phone and it’s an e mail from Frenchfrog here on the forum, with the incalculably valuable news that he’ll be there in the morning with his van to collect me and take me to his home in the French countryside, where he says I “can stay until all is well…”
Also his mate will diagnose and fix the issue “no bovver…”

[antmanbee]

Moparnut72 bailed me out a couple of years ago while I was traveling in my Van.
I had a mishap near Mount Lassen hitting a log with my undercarriage and I limped back to his house and he provided everything I needed to get me fixed up and back on the road. He is a smart great guy that I am privileged to have met and spent some time with.
I have the same sentiments about a couple of other blokes (Good ol Boys) from the Carolinas that have posted in this thread.