Vancouver to Chile - Denali failure - ends well

[davidam]

On Sept. 2nd, 2014 I left Vancouver on my way to Tierra del Fuego driving my 2006 KLR 650. Before I left I purchased a set of Denali hi intensity driving lights - expensive, but thought to be the best. I purchased them thru a local dealer. Somewhere in Costa Rica one of them gave up the ghost. Because I considered these to be an important part of my safety equipment I immediately contacted my dealer who wrote me back stating that there was a 10 year limited warranty. However his supplier's policy (Twisted Throttle) was for me to remove the bracket, wiring and light, send it back to Coquitlam to him, who would send it back to the company who would then send a replacement back to Coquitlam where he would then either give it to my wife to get it to me or he would send it to me. Pretty ridiculous for someone on a trip like this to have to go thru that. The cost of expressing the light etc. would be ridiculous as well as the undetermined timeframe that it would have to occur. Like, where would I be when the light was finally shipped back to me?? I wrote him back letting him know I didn't think much of that policy and haven’t heard back from him since. I continued on with only the one light working which annoyed me but didn’t think there was much that I could do. However, during a protest in Peru in the altiplano where the highway was barricaded with rocks, boulders, broken glass and boulders, I hit a large boulder on the road just outside of Juliaca on a pitch black night breaking the bracket holding my rear brake pedal. If I had of had my driving light on that side of the bike working, I probably would have seen the boulder. As it was, I was lucky to get away with only that amount of damage. I don’t have great night vision (I’m 69 years old) and consider the driving lights to be an important piece of safety equipment. After that incident, I decided to write to Twisted Throttle and question how a company that specializes in gear for adventure riders could have a policy like that. And guess what – I got an immediate response. They apologized and emphasized that that is not how they run their business. They were disappointed that I had been told their ‘policy’ and what could they do to make it right. They wanted to know where they could express out a new replacement light and I could return the old one when I returned home. True to their word, they shipped out a new light at their expense to Santiago, Chile where I picked it up and installed it on the bike. I was able to finish my trip with the bike lit up properly and felt a great deal safer with having both those great lights working. What a bunch of professionals. I should have gone to them in the first place. Twisted Throttle - First class company.