Cinque Terre in Italy
Or the Saga of the Yamaha SuperTenere carburetor continues ...
March | 2022
The next morning James cleaned the spark plugs of his Yamaha SuperTenere in the yard of the complex, where we are staying. Steffi in the meantime was battling with the migraine, the result of last night's red wine. After the bike was fixed, we both set off to visit Manarola, one of the most beautiful cities of Cinque Terre. The road was a lovely twisty road. Manarola you cannot enter with your vehicle, and there were no parking spaces for scooters or motos, so we parked in the official parking lot (even though motorbikes were not allowed - Question: where can you leave then your 2-wheeled vehicle??). At the same time 2 french bikers turned up, that did the same as us. Of course, we had the short chat about "Where are you from?, etc".
After all was tucked securely on the bike (thanks to PackSafe netting) we started to discover the village. Steffi had the bright idea to follow the track that said "Riomaggiore" in the hope of getting a nice view over the village. OK, we were wearing offroad boots, but that doesn´t mean you can automatically walk uphill offroad! It was nearly rock climbing! After about 300m, which felt like 1km, we decided to turn around. The downhill was not much better in our biking gear though.
Back into town, we just strolled right, left, centre to discover the village. We were impressed how they have constructed the village into that valley. We are even more wondering how the inhabitants get their shopping to their houses, as you cannot drive into town! As we both were a bit hungry, we arranged a snack and beer to enjoy the sunshine.
On the way home, we went to Porto Venere on the other side of the little peninsula. Another lovely twisty road getting there. During that ride the Yamaha SuperTenere started again with the same problems from yesterday, even worse, now she started also misfiring. Not good!
James was in touch with a guy in one of the forums that seemed to have a lot of knowledge. He suggested some aftermarket fuel jets for the carburettors. So to be on the safe side he decided he would order 2x full carburettor rebuild kits and a Swiss Jets kit from a company in Germany called Kedo, which specialise in older Yamaha´s. We hope that will resolve finally the problem - please! Now we will need either here in La Spezia a garage, or in Forli where we are going to change our tires before hitting the ACT Italy. As we arrived at our complex, Anna, our host was in the patio helped us to find a Yamaha dealer; just around the block!
James went to the Yamaha dealer to explain the situation and they understood the problem as spoke very good English. So the decision was done to order the parts from Germany via express and stay longer here as we got a good place to stay, which was also no problem for Anna. Perfect, all parts start to fall into place again!
The next day, after chasing up the delivery by phone call, we went 2-up on Schimmelchen to Pisa. It is only 70km from La Spezia, but with the ridiculous speed limits, it took us 2 (!) hours. Steffi was a bit disappointed by the size of the tower of Pisa as it was much smaller than she thought it would be. Of course, we did the funny pictures like everybody else.
The tour back home was the same boring 2 hours drive. Steffi could enjoy this time more the scenery as this time pillion. Did you know that all the area around Carara, Massa and Viareggio has one beach restaurant or bar after the other, meaning that seems to be your only access to the beach. Let´s hope the Portuguese do not adopt this idea in the Algarve!!
The next day was a lazy day as not much to do. Anna allowed us to wash our cloth here in the complex, which was really kind of her. In the afternoon we had a stroll through La Spezia and the marina, admiring all the boats.
On the way home, we passed the Yamaha garage and they were so proud to tell us that the package arrived during the morning. Great, thanks for letting us know, as we now have to spend another night here in La Spezia! And on top, we have to change accommodation as our host will have our room occupied for the weekend. She kindly arranged for us another B&B just down the road; we can leave our bikes and the majority of bags here. That is a real bonus!
The next morning was removal time; moving on to the B&B of Alessandra just 500m walking distance. She suggested we visit Tellaro just outside of La Spezia, which we did on Schimmelchen 2-up. A nice little town built into the mountain. After a stroll around, we had a drink and Steffi had her first Aperol Spritz in Italy - yummi!
Back to La Spezia, the Yamaha garage told us the bike will not be ready until this evening, so James will not be able to have a test ride before the next morning. So stay tuned to see if the time & money was worth the wait here in La Spezia ...
Places | Cities:
La Spezia, Manarola, Porto Venere, Sarzana, Massa, Pisa, Tellaro
Driven km | Trip:
Stefanie: 2960km
James: 2785km
Maintenance | Breakdown:
SuperTenere started misfiring and as in the forum suggested the carburettor kit with the jets needed renewing => ordered from Kedo in Germany via express delivery
Health issues:
./.
Special thanks to:
Kedo for the fast delivery.
And especially to Anna for finding us another B&B, and letting us leave the bikes and some luggage with her.
And of course Anna for letting us stay longer in our room.