Hi all,

Im in Iran tring to find a new tranny for my 88 r100 gs, gonna take a while so with a bit of time to kill i thought i might start this thread. Im looking for stories or anecdotes from any of you intrepid travellers who have found yourself like i did.

First i lost all power to the rear wheel, thinking it was the driveshaft. This happened about 400km from Tehran, 65 km from Zanjan. I somehow managed to lift the bikie with another Iranian guy into a pickup i flagged down. Arriving in Zanjan we got the bike down with the assistance of two other Iranians who offered their home to me. Lock up bike, jump in a cab, get pulled over by the police. Sit around for two hours. Get pulled out of cab and put in Police car not allowed to get luggage, cab drives off in another direction police car drives into what seems like the middle of no where i am told to get out, police car drives off i am left with one police man (maybe) and a whole heap of darkness. Ahh i think, this is the bit i get robbed. It happened crossing the border but was more bakeesh this was more midnight express. Into a concrete bunker i am questioned for 6 hours in Farsi. Eventually an interpretor turns up and after more ridiculous questioning i can leave it is now 3 am, however they keep my passport. I now am in the middle of Zanjan and have no idea where my bike is. Eventually i find it in a cab. The following day i have to return to police station for more questioning. Eventually i can go, off to check bike out. After two mechanics pull my bike to pieces a cracked gearbox cover is revealed, stuff every where i think it was prayer time and in a couple of seconds everyone disaperas and there i am. My bike looks as though it has been dropped into the grand canyon. The following day the mechanics after much hammering and the use of a BLOW TORCH!!! manage to remove the transmission and little bits of ball bearings and cogs spill out onto the ground. I had the bike serviced not two weeks prior by BMW Ankara, they failed to check transmission oil. And i failed to read the sign, Speedo went haywire just before breakdown.

No probs i say, i will just pop down the road and pick up a new tranny for my 88 gs shall I NOT!!!

" is that opium your somking, yeh id love some thanks i seem to have a bit of a headache coming on"

I

The rear axle had been immersed in gloop on my 88" hybrid landy. The breather had become blocked unbeknownst to me, so the bearing got filled with grit

whilst doing about 60mph, the bearing ground itself to pieces, span on the hub and friction welded itself solid on the stub axle and housing.

The first warning was as i came round a bend, a nasty grinding/rumbling/bang /howling tyre. the rear end tryed to overtake the front and i slid gracefully into the carpark of a pub.

I removed the seat upholstery from my clenched buttocks, proceeded into the pub and rang the AA. i was on my fourth pint when they arrived. Not a word of a lie.

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Harley Davidsons,
The most effective way of turning petrol into noise without the side-effect of horsepower

I've had lots of Landy breakdowns ,but the most memorable involved a Ford Escort mk 1 .
I had built the car with a 2 litre engine that was slightly modified and Ford RS suspension ,but I was waiting for a close ratio gearbox and had kept the original tranny and rear axle ratio from the original 1100 cc car.So the car was incredibly quick for it's era but maxed out at about 90 mph and had a weak gearbox .Gearboxes broke regularly and it was quite good fun wrecking them [ only 10 pounds from a scrapyard].
One night I was taking my new girlfriend out and went roaring up a steep narrow hill in Derbyshire . As I changed into 4th gear there was a terrific bang and the gear lever shot out of the top of the box .I caught it and handed it to her .She looked quite mortified , the hill was very steep and about 2 miles long .We freewheeled backwards down the hill and straight into the pub car park at the bottom .
After ordering a pint I called my brothers to bring out the Landy and trailer to pick me up and she called her family ,her brother came out and he was an old school friend ,so we had a few jars while she twiddled her thumbs .
The next time we went out the heater matrix burst and flooded the floor of the car with hot antifreeze mix . That was the end of a beautiful relationship .

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Blessed are the cracked, for they let in the light. - Spike Milligan
"When you come to a fork in the road ,take it ! When you come to a spoon in the road ,take that also ."

I have a few good and bad breakdown stories but I don't believe any could match radio actives' (does this guy have a name?) tale from Iran.

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Patrick passed Dec 2018. RIP Patrick!

Mollydog and Dodger

I am sure that your stories have grown in the telling. That's OK -it's more fun to read-but dont expect thinking people to believe you!!! Send more stories please! And Mollydog - if you were out destroying the desert environment, well, it's just your karma that your bars broke. God is paying you back....And Dodger, what's all this, "I caught it and handed it to her". Do you mean the gearstick.?...

Best wishes

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I'll be back

Nice one Radio!!!!!It has the ring of truth about it...!

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I'll be back

It's true Herbie ,very true .
I have no reason to lie.
What are you Herbie ?
What have you experienced ?
Who would believe you ?

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Blessed are the cracked, for they let in the light. - Spike Milligan
"When you come to a fork in the road ,take it ! When you come to a spoon in the road ,take that also ."

It's clear Denis Brown's got himself another handle

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Patrick passed Dec 2018. RIP Patrick!

There are also only 'two' people quoting the Latin Mass on these boards!

Stephan

You are a fantasist. You are paranoid. You are doing the harassing. Now pack it in.

Your detective work is totally wrong. Now give me peace you troll.

I had a Virago at the time. I went shopping to Kingston and left the bike in a moto parking bay.
When I came back, I got the key in, put the power on, and press the start button. Nothing. try again, and again... nothing. Looked all around the bike. All seemed fine, no one tempering with it and nothing obvious. Battery was almost new (due to another long story!)
Could not call my husband for advice as he was working somewhere in Siberia. Off course I had forgotten my mobile phone at home.
Found a pub, managed to phone the recovery services. After various calls they arrrange to send me a van an hour later.
So after a long time a van arrives. A big guy comes out. I explain my problem. He looks at the bike, then press the clutch, set the gear from 1st to neutral.... and starts the bike straight away! He looked at me without saying a word, it was easy to guess what he was thinking! Something along the lines "Women! Shouldn't be allowed near a bike!" He then left, whithout saying a single word all along. Seriously embarassing!

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Maria

www.franglais-riders.com

Hey Denis ,I found a new word it's ---- " sockpuppet " -----!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sockpuppet_%28internet%29

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Blessed are the cracked, for they let in the light. - Spike Milligan
"When you come to a fork in the road ,take it ! When you come to a spoon in the road ,take that also ."

The one thing that stands out to me in your travellers tales of woe (thankyou for posting gave me a little giggle) is this amazing way of screeching to a halt in a pub..... now if i had managed that in Iran i would of declared myeslf the new ayatollah and started a new trend of drunken cross dressing motorcycle bandits through the middle east. But no my friends no for me, no wine,vodka, whiskey.....whats petrol like? Surely all those millions of bums accross the world cant all be wrong.

A day in Tehran looking for Tranny no fun. How about the one where the guy who can speak no english manages to say he has got the part it will "pesch hundred millions toman" I asked him to write down what he meant and he wrote a five and just kept adding zeros, he had no fing idea what he was writing and when i said toman he said "no Dollar, dollar"

Yeh right bro, Im not a person I am a western dog or a dollar sign at best.

And then there is beutiful Mr Ali who has not stopped looking for the part for two days. He has closed his shop and has not seen his family and probably not eaten, but i think he has the part.......... inshallah

I was riding with a Swiss guy who had major problems riding his Enfield through Iran (problems with an Enfield? surely not!) losing compression etc. After a few trips to various mechanics to fix it, he got fed up somewhere on the road out of Tehran, pulled over and set it on fire, hitching back to Tehran for a flight home. Did you see any burned out Enfields nearby radioactiveangel?
Sean