Stator, The GSR travelling mascot.

[londonboards]

Stator in France - 9

Next day we set off for Versailles, just a little short of Paris.

We had been going for over 2 hours, when I pulled out into the overtaking lane of the 3 lane motorway, to take the lead and give the old girl a bit of a blast. I was approaching 100 mph when it happened.

Something hit my thigh and all power to the rear wheel was lost. It flashed through my mind that a piston had exited the engine and hit me on the leg.

I was able to pull over to the hard shoulder without any mishaps and it was immediately clear what had happened: I was dragging a broken chain behind me. Somehow, it had broken and come up and slapped me on the thigh.



I was thinking that I should have stayed with my GS1100G shaft! The other boys all had shafts as well. Chain technology is new to me. I had sprayed the chain liberally with WD-40 chain lube (not regular WD-40 but the new chain lube stuff) when I was at home and again this morning when I was in the IBIS garage. But you could see inside the link was dry and rusty. This was an "O" type chain and it was clear the lube cold not get in.



The chain was half wrapped around the rear hub and had split in the link next to the sacrificial link. We wheeled the bike to a nearby off ramp and I called my UK breakdown service.

Well done to Carole Nash Insurance who got me a breakdown truck in about 2 hours and took the bike to the nearest Suzuki dealers.

Whilst I was waiting for the truck to arrive, I took off the sprocket cover to see what damage there was under there. I got Stator out so he could look too:



He was horrified and promptly passed out:



All I could hear him saying was "how are we going to get home". Oh that bear of little faith.



The breakdown guy knew exactly what he was doing and took only minutes to scoop me up:





And the next thing I knew (well 20 clicks away) I was in Suzuki heaven. City Bike Suzuki, Laval, France:

[Highway_Glider]

That bear (And you) was lucky.

I heard horror stories about chains breaking.

We all know bears do it in the woods but do they also do it in the passing lane?

[Charlie G]

I would expect that you might have a bruise from that chain. Great pictures!

[londonboards]

Stator Goes to France 10

So we get to the bike shop and I'm thinking "right this will take maybe half an hour tops". Guess what?

The bike mechanic had never (his words "jamais") seen a chain this size (630). Well it is 33 years old and he was only about 29!

It was a special order and would take 2 days to be delivered in. My mate who had come with me asked if he could go and pick it up from wherever it was (bless him) but it was not to be. I would have to stay in Laval for 2 nights and wait for the chain to arrive. I told my mate to head off and catch up with the others, who were headings to Versailles.

I was on my own (well I had Stator for company at least) and had 1 day and 2 nights to kill in a place called Laval.

Here's a quick photo run through of what we got up to:





Breakfast with the latest copy of Classic Motorcycle Mechanics:



Salad Nicoise at lunchtime:












I was up there:

[londonboards]

Stator Goes to France - 11 - Back on the Road Again

On the morning of day 2 I go back to the bike shop a little early but I want to be sure the chain has come in and we are on target to get going again. I got a taxi to the shop and she was sitting outside.



It was midday and the bike was outside. The guy in the shop said the chain had arrived (hooray) but they were closing for lunch and he wouldn't be able to start on it until after lunch (boooooh) - which was 2 pm. ONLY in France. So (being as I was in the middle of an industrial estate in no-where's ville) I asked where I could go for lunch. Being as I was stuck out there they offered me a bike to go and get some lunch. At least that would fill the next 2 hours. They gave me a Kawasaki (Stator was horrified).



I put my tank bag on and headed out. I found a KFC (can you image eating this stuff in the heart of France?) to while away an hour.



Stator and I both noticed how Kawasaki had blatantly copied the Suzuki idea about the oil level check glass.



I got back to the shop and mech, fortified by his 2 hour lunch break, got straight to work:



He knew what he was doing and did a good job. I watched the whole thing.

Soon we were back on the road again and I was heading straight back to Calais to get the train home (a day later than planned).

I had 250 miles to do and the day was fast drawing to a close. I wanted to get that train tonight and get home to my own bed in England.

It was going to be plain sailing now - wasn't it?

[londonboards]

Stator Goes to France 12 - Oh not again?

I'm on the way now. Nothing will stop me getting home tonight.

Then I felt the symptoms of fuel starvation. I looked at my trip meter and although it was early, I assumed we needed to go over to the reserve tank.

It made no difference. It got worse and worse. And when I was running on 2 cylinders, I pulled into the first rest stop on the motorway and quickly stripped it down. I was in grave danger of losing the light of the day, which would have called an immediate stop to any further mileage.



I pulled the tank off and went straight to the plugs. They all looked good. I rang my mate in UK who knows everything about GS bikes and he ran me through what to check.

I was surprised that when I took the tank off, the vacuum pipe seemed to have come off easily. Or was it already off?

I checked around and decided that it must have come off. It had previously come off on a trip to Brighton a few weeks previously, and when I was over at my mates doing a carb sync, so I knew it was a possibility.

I put everything back together and it fired up on all cylinders. PTL. I was back on the road and headed for home. Just as darkness fell.

200 miles later I made it to the train terminal:











After 30 minutes on the train and another 40 minutes driving in England, we were home. Another adventure done and dusted. We were both finished:



Coming up next: Stator goes to visit the Queen.

[tatu]

Cool, good pictures, did you get the bike on the train through that narrow doorway, I knew a few that worked on that tunnel back in the day. I heard a few stories about swiped cars and bikes that wound up in the cement ground works. Plus there is a whole tunnelling machine buried in there too

[Highway_Glider]

Look how happy that bear looks.



He also look like he is pass his bed time.

[steve murdoch]

Great adventure, Richard.

[SVSooke]

I think Richard just explained why to do a 530 chain conversion,happy it was a relatively painless breakage.I've had a bike that wasn't so lucky.

[londonboards]

Stator Goes to London

Having sampled the delights of France and the foibles of a chain driven GSX1100/GS1150, Stator was given a day out in London Town. A City to be avoided at all costs on a motorbike with a fairly stiff clutch and an air cooled engine - but it had to be done. This was the route from my home in Canterbury:



It was a great autumn day. Foggy to start with (and it ended that way too) but the sun came out for all the important bits. Our first stop was the iconic Ace Cafe on the North Circular. I have to admit that this was my first visit to this place but now I know where it is, I will be visiting again - especially when they have Japanese Classics Days:





There were some gorgeous bikes there - including this Ducati:



And just about anything else you fancied:





And of course a good smattering of British Iron:



The only other GS we could find was this one:



After the Ace our next stop was Westminster Abbey. I used to work here in the summer holidays as a teenager. We ran the brass rubbing department. I used to make brass rubbings for all the tourists.

[gustovh]

Very nice and good pictures. Good to see Stator is out seeing the sights.

V

[londonboards]

Stator Goes to London 2

And onto some more sights:

Just across from Westminster Abbey is the Palace of Westminster - otherwise know as the Houses of Parliament. Seen from the other side of the River Thames (which is just behind the brick wall):



Then back over Westminster Bridge and there is Big Ben:



And then we went off Parliament Square down Birdcage Walk and along Horse Guards Parade to the Mall:



and on to visit Her Majesty the Queen at Buckingham Palace:







She wasn't in so we stopped and rang her up:



She wouldn't answer the phone so we went on to see the Prime Minister in Downing Street:



And on up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square and Nelson's Column:

[londonboards]

Stator Goes to London 3

After negotiating all the tourists in Trafalgar Square, we headed along a rather battered and weary looking Embankment behind a rather nice example of some fine British engineering:



And on to the Tower of London:



and then to find a good spot for a selfie with Tower Bridge:



and even across the bridge with camera in hand:





The next part of the journey was to follow the river downstream to Greenwich. I lived here in the 1980s. We went into Greenwich Park, up to the top of the hill and looked over to the Royal Navel Museum below and across to the most important financial centre in the world - The City of London.

It was a picture postcard painting photo. You can just see the top of no. 1 Canada Square in Canary Wharf right in the middle of the pic. The Cutty Sark sailing ship (now in dry dock) is on the left hand side:





At Greenwich we also have the Royal Observatory:



and of course we all know what else?

Some people think that the centre of the world is in another country. Some people think the world revolves around them. But they are wrong and now Stator knows the truth. Everything on this planet starts here at 0 deg longitude. You are either East of West of us. In fact time started here as well! Actually we are the centre of the universe.

We were too cheap to spend the $10 to get the picture of Stator sitting on the Prime Meridian but we saw it through the gate:



The truth is, like many place in this country, it has been invaded by Chinese tourists. Nice to get some of our money back from them. In the 80s and 90s it used to be American tourists but they have all gone now:

[tatu]

Great pictures and super write up! Thank you.