scdano
New Member
WARNING, Long Post Ahead-
On May 30 of this year, my son (19) and I (55) began our motorcycle trip from Troy NY through NH, VT and ME to St. John NB. From there we would ferry to Digby NS and ride up to Cape Breton and spend some time riding the Cabot Trail. We'd trailered the bikes from Greer, SC to avoid the Interstates and to be able to spend our time on the good roads. Malcolm rides an FZ6 with hard bags and my bike's a '92 BMW R100RT.
On Sat May 31, just outside Portland ME my bike had a major electrical incident at around 75mph. Tach needle bouncing around, gen light on, heavy cut-out then complete failure. The bike would restart, but symptoms would return within about ten minutes. The bike was in great shape mechanically, with very recent trans rebuild, seals, top ends gone through, new battery, shock etc. However, for my last few rides before the trip I had the nagging feeling that something wasn't quite right with the electrics. When BMW airhead electrics go, they GO! I should have acted on it, but having had lots of airheads with zero major electrical problems in the past, I felt confident in the bike. Anyhow, I looked up BMW motorcycle dealers on my phone and as luck would have it, we were just 15 minutes or so from Street Cycles on US1 in Falmouth. I called and was immediately hooked up with Fred, who listened to the symptoms and told me to try to "limp it in" and he'd have a look. After arriving at Street Cycles, Fred had it on the lift within minutes. After trying several things and test riding the bike to feel it for himself, he dug in deeper to find a burned up wiring harness, burnt diode board and suspect ignition can. That was just what was evident at the time, but it was obviously going to be an expensive repair and parts would have to be ordered, delaying our trip by four or five days. Keep in mind that this happened on a very busy Saturday with a repair schedule a couple of weeks out.
So.....Our choices were to rent a car and continue the trip (no way), wait around for the parts and repair and end up with only a few days left and a severely shortened trip, or buy another bike. This is where Duane, the owner, entered the picture. After discussing the BMW's condition with Fred and hearing our plans, he agreed to pay me a very fair price for the BMW and he made me great deal on a lightly used '13 Honda NC700X he'd taken in on trade. After a quick phone call, my wife had the BMW's title on the way and had given approval to use the "emergency" credit card. Stephanie handled all the paperwork quickly, even helping out with the insurance transfer. She also called the US and Canadian border offices to be sure that we wouldn't have any problems crossing in either direction with a paper tag and temporary paperwork.
Everything seemed to be headed in the right direction when I realized that I didn't have bags on the new bike. Obviously needing to carry all of my gear, I tried several soft saddle bag sets they had in stock, but none fit the tail of the bike. Then Ian in the parts department said that he had an idea. He looked around in the back and produced a very nice waterproof BMW tail bag with internal dry bag, several large compartments, waterproof zippers and compression straps. It was missing a couple of it's straps, but the ones that were left worked perfectly on the Honda. Being a BMW product, I was concerned that I'd be going over an already stretched budget, but he gave it to me at a ridiculously generous discount. We were set. The whole incident took just under five hours and we were back on the road. The trip was amazing
and we rode all the good stuff on Cape Breton. The Honda even handled the dirt road out to Meat Cove much better than a street bike should have. When we got back to the car and trailer in Troy, I'd put just shy of 2,000 miles on the bike in 6 days. Having primarily owned, worked on and ridden European bikes for the past 20 years, I must say I was blown away by how good a bike the NC700X is. However, I was equally impressed with the treatment we got at Street Cycles. As soon as we pulled in, our situation became top priority. Fred, Duane, Stephanie and Ian (and the sales guy and service writer whose names I've forgotten) bent over backwards to make our trip happen with as little inconvenience as possible. Duane even called a couple times during the trip to see how things were working out. I've owned a bicycle shop in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains for the last 18 years. Our top notch customer service has always been first priority and I'm convinced it's why we're still here with the recent recession and the onslaught of online vendors. It was great to deal with a business that shares the same values.
The staff at Street Cycles saved our trip.
When I chose to continue the trip on the NC700, I figured I'd make do with it and sell it when we got home. When the trip was over, I'd decided it would be a keeper. Living in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, we have access to some amazing roads. This bike is perfect, easily as fun as my old KTM Duke on the stuff we ride. Other than a Madstad windshield, hot grips/handguards, GIVI hard bags and a center stand I'm leaving it stock. It's hands down the best all round bike I've ever owned and it'll
be back in Cape Breton this coming May for the same trip, just by way of PEI.
This photo was taken at Meat Point, Cape Breton NS. It's the northernmost point on Cape Breton and about 50 miles across the water to Newfoundland.
On May 30 of this year, my son (19) and I (55) began our motorcycle trip from Troy NY through NH, VT and ME to St. John NB. From there we would ferry to Digby NS and ride up to Cape Breton and spend some time riding the Cabot Trail. We'd trailered the bikes from Greer, SC to avoid the Interstates and to be able to spend our time on the good roads. Malcolm rides an FZ6 with hard bags and my bike's a '92 BMW R100RT.
On Sat May 31, just outside Portland ME my bike had a major electrical incident at around 75mph. Tach needle bouncing around, gen light on, heavy cut-out then complete failure. The bike would restart, but symptoms would return within about ten minutes. The bike was in great shape mechanically, with very recent trans rebuild, seals, top ends gone through, new battery, shock etc. However, for my last few rides before the trip I had the nagging feeling that something wasn't quite right with the electrics. When BMW airhead electrics go, they GO! I should have acted on it, but having had lots of airheads with zero major electrical problems in the past, I felt confident in the bike. Anyhow, I looked up BMW motorcycle dealers on my phone and as luck would have it, we were just 15 minutes or so from Street Cycles on US1 in Falmouth. I called and was immediately hooked up with Fred, who listened to the symptoms and told me to try to "limp it in" and he'd have a look. After arriving at Street Cycles, Fred had it on the lift within minutes. After trying several things and test riding the bike to feel it for himself, he dug in deeper to find a burned up wiring harness, burnt diode board and suspect ignition can. That was just what was evident at the time, but it was obviously going to be an expensive repair and parts would have to be ordered, delaying our trip by four or five days. Keep in mind that this happened on a very busy Saturday with a repair schedule a couple of weeks out.
So.....Our choices were to rent a car and continue the trip (no way), wait around for the parts and repair and end up with only a few days left and a severely shortened trip, or buy another bike. This is where Duane, the owner, entered the picture. After discussing the BMW's condition with Fred and hearing our plans, he agreed to pay me a very fair price for the BMW and he made me great deal on a lightly used '13 Honda NC700X he'd taken in on trade. After a quick phone call, my wife had the BMW's title on the way and had given approval to use the "emergency" credit card. Stephanie handled all the paperwork quickly, even helping out with the insurance transfer. She also called the US and Canadian border offices to be sure that we wouldn't have any problems crossing in either direction with a paper tag and temporary paperwork.
Everything seemed to be headed in the right direction when I realized that I didn't have bags on the new bike. Obviously needing to carry all of my gear, I tried several soft saddle bag sets they had in stock, but none fit the tail of the bike. Then Ian in the parts department said that he had an idea. He looked around in the back and produced a very nice waterproof BMW tail bag with internal dry bag, several large compartments, waterproof zippers and compression straps. It was missing a couple of it's straps, but the ones that were left worked perfectly on the Honda. Being a BMW product, I was concerned that I'd be going over an already stretched budget, but he gave it to me at a ridiculously generous discount. We were set. The whole incident took just under five hours and we were back on the road. The trip was amazing
and we rode all the good stuff on Cape Breton. The Honda even handled the dirt road out to Meat Cove much better than a street bike should have. When we got back to the car and trailer in Troy, I'd put just shy of 2,000 miles on the bike in 6 days. Having primarily owned, worked on and ridden European bikes for the past 20 years, I must say I was blown away by how good a bike the NC700X is. However, I was equally impressed with the treatment we got at Street Cycles. As soon as we pulled in, our situation became top priority. Fred, Duane, Stephanie and Ian (and the sales guy and service writer whose names I've forgotten) bent over backwards to make our trip happen with as little inconvenience as possible. Duane even called a couple times during the trip to see how things were working out. I've owned a bicycle shop in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains for the last 18 years. Our top notch customer service has always been first priority and I'm convinced it's why we're still here with the recent recession and the onslaught of online vendors. It was great to deal with a business that shares the same values.
The staff at Street Cycles saved our trip.
When I chose to continue the trip on the NC700, I figured I'd make do with it and sell it when we got home. When the trip was over, I'd decided it would be a keeper. Living in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, we have access to some amazing roads. This bike is perfect, easily as fun as my old KTM Duke on the stuff we ride. Other than a Madstad windshield, hot grips/handguards, GIVI hard bags and a center stand I'm leaving it stock. It's hands down the best all round bike I've ever owned and it'll
be back in Cape Breton this coming May for the same trip, just by way of PEI.
This photo was taken at Meat Point, Cape Breton NS. It's the northernmost point on Cape Breton and about 50 miles across the water to Newfoundland.
Last edited:
