Stuck in Merzouga Morocco, need some help

[dtour]

Hey All

So I had a minor fall today on my way to Ramlia and managed to damage the gearbox of my crf 300l. I was able to organize a pick up back to merzouga and the bike is now at a workshop. The bike is stuck in first, they tried to unstuck it but no joy. They haven’t even checked the gearbox but said something inside is broken and it’ll take at least 4 days to get the part. Anyone (maybe in the area?)who can support? I have my ferry back to Spain from Tangier Med on Saturday morning, so any tips on how to navigate this would be very much appreciated. In the meantime I’m trying to call my insurance to see if they can cover the transport back to spain (I live in Malaga)

Thank you,
Andrea

[Gunnar]

Hello.
Check out Itchy Boots Season 7 Episode 18, the exact same thing happened to her.
It seems that the gearbox can lock up when you have an unfortunate fall.
Check out her video if you can, being able to push the bike seems to have helped.
Good luck
Gunnar

[dtour]

Thank you. Yes I’m familiar with the video, we tried that a few times but no joy unfortunately.

[Tim Cullis]

Several people commented on Itchy's video to put the bike on its side and rock the wheels. Here's one post with more detail...

"For the bike being stuck in gear, instead of trying to rock the bike in deep sand (impossible, as you know), just tip the bike onto the right-hand side so you can turn the rear wheel with one hand while working the gear lever with the other. The transmission isn't actually jammed in gear, but actually blocked at a false neutral and unable to shift into 2nd due to the drive dogs not being lined up. Putting light pressure on the gear lever while turning the rear wheel will allow you to drift the transmission through the false neutral until the dogs for 2nd line up, at which point you can complete the shift."

"They haven’t even checked the gearbox but said something inside is broken and it’ll take at least 4 days to get the part."
If they've not opened the gearbox how would they know what part to order?

"I have my ferry back to Spain from Tangier Med on Saturday morning"
I normally get an open return. Your ticket will hopefully be accepted even if you are a day or so late.

"Any tips on how to navigate this would be very much appreciated"
Do you have faith in the Merzouga guys?

Organising a man with a van to take you and the bike to Tanger Med is the easiest/safest solution, but its 800km of driving and the cost would be highly dependent upon your negotiating skills, at least €400, maybe a lot more.

Some years ago after I dropped my XR400R near Midelt it was was stuck in third gear. I rode the 125km back to my hotel in Azrou by accelerating to high revs in third, then pulling the clutch to coast, then accelerate again, then coast again... And I made good progress. So a rather mad option is to ride your bike back to Tanger Med in first gear. At an average of 20 kph that's 40 hours, so possibly doable if you can't afford the van.

Even riding to Erfoud and then looking for a van might be a good idea as you won't be beholden to the Merzouga mafia (in the past some guys have charged €500 to pull a 4x4 out of the dunes).

As a guideline on costs, I had an experienced KTM mechanic and his assistant working on my KTM 690 in Ouarzazate for two days. After a couple of dead ends it turned out it was a shattered rocker bearing. When I came to pay I reckoned 600dh was fair (in Morocco) and gave him that. He said it was too much and returned 200dh. So I got out a 100dh and gave him that as well. Everyone happy at 500dh.

If you could get to Ouarzazate, this guy is at KTM Ledvoyages, stick 'Ledvoyages' into Google Maps.

[markharf]

Unless there is more to the story, I don't think you've found a trustworthy mechanic--if one even exists in Merzouga, I can only say that I didn't find them. Erfoud is only 30 miles/50km; I'd be tempted to hire a taxi to tow me there. It'll take years off your life, but if you can use a tow line with some stretch and rig am easy disconnect it's certainly do-able.

Hope that's helpful, but if not please just ignore.

Mark

[dtour]

Hi Tim,

many thanks for getting back to me.
So it seems this is a known weak spot for the crf 300/250 models, see https://youtu.be/YUtFM5_iwPY or https://youtu.be/vBWwUYjRCQI

I finally managed to talk to my insurance and they arranged transport to Erfoud, where they might try to fix it but more likely they will send it to Tangier med so i can put her on the ferry on Saturday morning. More info on this tomorrow..

A rather bitter end to my trip but at least we made it down here and had a few days to enjoy it.

Interesting what you say about the mechanics here, it confirms my instincts in a way.

[dtour]

Hi Mark

Messages crossed mid air! Lesson learned about trying to get the bikes to Erfoud, Tim yourself and someone else here said the same thing. I amKeeping my fingers crossed that I can be back on the road tomorrow, failing that I’ll taxi my way back to tangier while the bike is transported there.


Many thanks!

[PanEuropean]

Originally Posted by dtour

Interesting what you say about the mechanics here, it confirms my instincts in a way.

I had a similar experience (extraordinarily honest mechanics) a few years ago when the rear wheel bearings in my ST 1100 burned up.

Two mechanics worked on the bike almost all day, including taking me around town to (successfully) find two identical bearings, and they refused to take more than USD $15 for the full day's work.

I think that most Moroccans are inherently very honest people. It's one of the things I like most about the country.

Michael

[Tim Cullis]

There are trustworthy mechanics. I also had a rear wheel bearing fail. This was in Fez in 2008 on an almost new BMW F650GS twin. The cost was just 100dh which was then about £8.

But there are some that are non-trustworthy. In 1974 I was touring on a 'pre-marriage honeymoon' with my wife-to-be in our Triumph Vitesse convertible when the clutch stopped working properly. We stopped in Ouarzazate which then was not much more than a military post and Club Med resort, and the mechanics found two of the bolts securing the gearbox to the engine (with the clutch in the middle) had snapped and every time I pressed the clutch the gearbox moved backwards. Extremely simple job to fix, however the bill was the equivalent of £120 which almost 50 years ago was a vast fortune for the UK, let alone Morocco.

I knew there was no way I could negotiate the bill down to something realistic, or even expensively realistic. So I truthfully said I didn't have enough money on me and non-truthfully said I would go to the bank in the morning. The reality is that we skidaddled out of town. I still feel uneasy for cheating them, but console myself knowing they were nothing but rip-off merchants.

The €500 bill I spoke about above to pull a 4x4 out of the dunes was about ten years ago now, so goodness knows how much some of the chancers will try to charge. But you are over a barrel.

As for transporting the bike to Tanger Med, Peter Buitelaar of Bikershome was (maybe still is) an agent for ADAC recovery and from memory charged €0.50 per km for rescues, plus the same again to get back to base. Again, this was ten years ago, so factor in inflation.

[dtour]

Hey all, I’m still at my hostel waiting for the insurance to call me back. I call them every hour or so but apparently it’s all in the hands of their agent here who’s now trying to arrange transport to Meknes. Really not ideal as I don’t have a direct contact. If I don’t hear back in the next few hours I might try to got to Erfoud to check the bike and see if there is anything I can do from there.
Cheers,
Andrea

[TheWarden]

Speak to Garage Royale in Erfoud they are the best in the area.

The Morocco Desert Challenge finished in Merzouga on Sunday. There should be lots of trucks heading to the ferry if the haven’t already left.

We were in the area on Saturday but too far away now to help. A cheap recovery option is to rent a van that allows you to return it to an office in Tanger and transport the bike yourself.

Another good contact is Ali Oubassidi at Ksar Bicha.

[dtour]

Thank you, actually that’s where the bike currently is. But because I’m handling the situation through the insurance they are not going to fix it as they are trying to have it sent to a Honda dealer in Meknes. I’m gonna visit them shortly as I’m in Erfoud too now.

[TheWarden]

Ok they are a good bunch and very well recommended, we got a gwagen aluminium gearbox case welded overnight there last year, they did a very good job.

It’s a shame it was suggested there are no decent mechanics in the area

[dtour]

I think the criticism was mostly about mechanics around Merzouga and actually quite a few people recommended Erfoud / Garage Royal. I went there earlier and they seemed ok, though they were annoyed that I wasn’t committing to have the work done as I was still in conversations with the insurance. They now confirmed that they are arranging for the bike to be transported back to Spain which at this point is welcome news. It’s been a nerve wracking couple of days.


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[TheWarden]

That’s good news

There are some ok mechanics in Merzouga as well. But you need to know which ones. Garage Royale is the best in the region so most of us will get to Erfoud some how and use them