Bike Problems
It’s the ReWired Stator
26th June - 28th June | 2023
The next morning, as no shade around, we already were up by 7am and ready to go by 9am. Due to the battery issue yesterday, I put the voltmeter on and also charged my phones via the USB port. I didn't like the voltage showing, only 13V...hmmm, not good! When we drove along a national road it crept up, but didn't reach the 14V at all. We started to get onto the TET and occasionally I caught a glimpse of the voltage, mainly in the 12V! We came to a point, where the TET went into the nowhere, through a forest for a while. We decided to go back to the main street to the next bigger town and see what will happen with my battery doing mainly national roads.
It didn't creep up at all, not even reaching 13V. That is not good at all!! It holds up the voltage when riding about 90kmh in 5th gear, anything below it went already 0.1V down. Not good!! So wise decision is to get either to Istanbul and then Sofia, Bulgaria or to Izmir to get a ferry to Greece as there are better chances to get fast the spare parts and I would be within Europe, so no customs involved. When we stopped for a cold drink we looked up ferries to Athens/Piraeus from Turkey, which would be Izmir, only 250km down the road. That was an easy decision. Then I contacted Cristos in Pireus (the one that helped me to clean my chain) if he kindly could start looking into spare parts in Greece. We decided to get a new stator and regulator, to be on the safe side, and probably by the time I will arrive anywhere, also a new battery.
We carried on as we were already on the main road heading towards Izmir, D300. About the height of Kula, my voltage was below 10V and it didn't take me long before the bike stopped working. I just rolled over the traffic light at the entrance of Kula onto the side of the road, next to a little shop selling cold drinks. With google translator, we asked the shop owner and clients where we would be able to a battery charger, and they pointed us to a petrol station a bit further along the road. So James drove off to find it. In the meantime, I was in contact with Cristos about the spare parts. However, not easy between my two phones. The one with the Turkish SIM card, has a charging problem as, since the heavy rain the other day, can only be charged when totally flat (detecting moisture in the charging port!) and the other one has no data, so I can tether but once the other is flat I have no data at all. So not only a broken stator but also a bit of a diva of a phone ;-)
It felt like forever until James came back with a boy on a scooter. He was full of energy but didn't speak a peep of English. Unfortunately, he was just talking in a demanding way. With google translator we worked out, he wants to take the battery as they only got a charger in the workshop. As the conversation went on, I didn't have the best feeling, as he was just talking and sometimes got a bit aggressive. Also, did he get annoyed when we wanted to get to the battery ourselves. As we only have a small torx and the screws have been done so many times, I'd rather have us doing it! As James knew where the workshop was, he said he will bring it to him, and he can go back to work. He still talked around and didn't make a move. In fact, he went really on our nerves and we wanted to get rid of him. Also didn't I like the way he acted and was insisting on selling new parts to me.
In the meantime, we had others also around the bike and one guy came over as he spoke English. He helped with translation to the boy to make it clear, that we ONLY need the battery recharged. No testing, no new battery, no problem searching - we know the problem. This boy really started to get on my nerves! I asked James to carry on with what he was doing, wiring cables to make it easier to access my battery on the go. I just wanted to get rid of that boy. As he went on and on, I shouted in English to him to "bugger off and even being a woman I know what I am doing". I think no woman, maybe his mum when he was a little kid, has ever shouted at him! He still didn't go but got a bit quieter.
In the meantime, we had 3 others around the bike telling us what to do and where to go. It is 33ºC and we know the problem - we simply need a car to charge my battery for min. 20mins to get me going for a while. That cannot be so difficult, or? Especially as James bought at the petrol station the jump cable. Not even 5mins later that boy was back again and demanded payment for his work. Seriously?!? He was only in the way and didn't do anything! He asked for €5. I offered him €2.50 as I still had them in my trousers, but he insisted on €5. I ignored him, and then he left with €0 - should teach him to not be so greedy!
Finally, we got a guy, that understood (and didn't, as trying to send us to the next motorcycle garage) our problem and asked what he can do for us. Yesss, just charging my battery for the next 30mins - that's all he can do for me! It turned out, he and his father also got some motorbikes. How cool is that! We had a bit of conversation and they also explained to us, that the area of Kula is UNESCO registered as it is a vulcanic area. That was indeed interesting. During this time we had some more Çay and after 30mins I got myself dressed up, and once the bike was off the charging we quickly assembled the bike and off I was. James will catch me easy later on.
At traffic lights, I miggled my way along the right side until the front, sometimes even over red at crossroads, or as soon as it got green a bit of Kamikaze to get along the right to the front to get the engine going. Like that, we managed another 65km towards Izmir. At traffic lights, I had to keep my bike revving on 4000rpm to avoid the voltage dropping. That felt so weird revving your bike whilst breaking and gearing down. But that did at least for a while the trick. 500m towards a petrol station all electrics on my bike switched off, but the bike was still running - that felt really weird. At least I still could drive to the petrol station.
We tried to ask the worker if he has a car and could charge my bike for 30mins. He either didn't understand or had no car, so he send us to the little restaurant adjacent to it. The young boy had no car, but he asked his boss at the little supermarket. James was just about to buy some cold drinks when the owner said he won't help us - well, then we won't buy anything as well!! I finally asked a Jeep driver if they could charge my battery for 20mins. The boys of the jeep said yes - not sure if they got the part of the 20mis ;-), but once my bike was on it, we played a bit on time talking to them. After 20mins I got dressed and we assembled quickly the rest and off I went ... slip-sliding over the wet patches at the petrol station!
I missed a turn before James caught up with me. So I placed myself in a position where he hopefully will see me in the distance before (or worst case, after) he would turn off. As I had about 11.7V I risked switching off the engine as I didn't know how long it will take until he will be catching up with me. It was about 5mins, and I was lucky the bike still started, just. Due to that, we made it a good 45km. And again all electrics cut off about 500m prior to a petrol station. It couldn't be timed better ;-) As it was only 30km into the centre of Izmir and about rush hour, we sat down for some food and relax. I was looking into hotels in Izmir and Baran kindly rang up the first one to book a room. After we had a room for 1 night, I was more relaxed as there is no way to get my bike around town looking for hotels. Once it is stopped, it is stopped!
One of the workers at the petrol station spoke some English so James arranged with him a car to recharge my battery again for 30mins. That was super kind of them, and all without a long discussion ;-)
As we spend quite a while at the petrol station, the worst of the rush hour had passed, and the hotel was just 500m off the D300. 12hrs after leaving our camping spot we were at a hotel, 300km later, at 33ºC! Man, what a day! The worst was really the first boy trying to help! He really did our heads in!! But everybody else was so helpful and kind, amazing! Of course, we always thanked them before I jumped on my bike to whizz off to make the most of the battery charge!
Hotel Paris Prestige (www.hotelparisprestige.com) is a family business and the manager Hatice was super helpful. When I entered the room, still standing in my own sweat, we realised the room has been used: the bed was used, no towels, cigarettes, etc. So we complained to the girl at the reception and she was a bit unsure what to do. Luckily Hatice, the manager, came and resolved quickly and professionally the situation and we got a new room. We already extended for 2 nights as we knew nothing will happen tomorrow, maybe not even the next day. We will have to play it day by day now! You cannot imagine how nice it was to have a hot shower after 3 days of camping and all day being in our sauna suits at 33ºC :-D
The next days we just relaxed and waited for news about the spare parts. James went around the shops next to the hotel as we were right in the area for the motorbike gear, looking for a possibility to charge my battery. Nobody seems to have a battery charger, but happy to sell a new battery ;-) Probably they are so cheap here! However, the next obstacle is that from tomorrow onwards is the long festive week "Eid al-Adha", very important in the Muslim calendar. So nothing will be open or working until Monday! Another reason to get over to Greece. We investigated forward and backwards regarding ferries and we came to the conclusion, the cheapest will be going to Çesme and taking the ferry to Chios, just 30mins across the Aegean Sea. Now it is just to pester poor Cristos about the spare parts.
Only 24hrs later, which appeared so long, Christos had arranged a mechanic with BMW knowledge on Chios AND he had even the spare parts in stock. Oh, and he speaks English! So I called Ilias and he got a rewired stator and explained all to me. I am not keen on a rewired one due to the last experience, but after we saw the pictures, we were more convinced that should last a bit longer than 3000km. We arranged to get it all done Saturday morning. So the next step was getting the ferry booked. Another obstacle due to the festive period, and the summer school holidays started ... Next week you can find out, if, how and when we got a ferry to Chios and how we got the bike to the ferry port another 85km away from the hotel - remember, I got a flat battery and a broken stator! So, in the meantime take a dip in the cold sea, lake or swimming pool to cool down in that summer heat ;-)
Sorry about a long blog with hardly any pictures, but there was too much happening about my bike that I completely forgot to take any pictures at all - I am a real Blogger ;-) am I? SORRY!!
Places | Cities:
Kula, Izmir.
Driven km | Trip:
Total | Steffi: 9915 km
Information Border Crossings (in June 2023):
./.
Maintenance | Breakdown:
Rewired stator packed in = new battery flat as well; spare parts on/in Chios, Greece
Health issues:
./.
Special thanks to:
Hatice & her team from "Hotel Paris Prestige" (www.hotelparisprestige.com) to be so flexible with our stay despite the fact it is "Eid al-Adha".
Christos in Athens, Greece, to find me the garage and spare parts in/on Chios, Greece.