It’s mid-March and I decided to spend a few days in Manchester to see my family – which was great. The journey south was very cold and very boring, because motorway mileage on two wheels is utterly boring, but thank goodness for heated grips because without them I think I would have froze.
After staying in Stocckport for a few days the journey back to Glasgow was a bit of a shock, because on the M6 just past Kendal the chain broke. I was just overtaking a car when the revs went sky high. Thinking it had skipped a gear I rolled-off the throttle, upped the gear lever to make sure I was in gear – I was in 6th – and tried some revs again.
The revs went sky high again so thinking the worst I did a quick look in the mirrors, indicated left and then coasted into the hard-shoulder. I was so lucky that the motorway was empty. If it would have been on the jammed motorway before Preston I think it would have been a different matter and I would probably have ended up on the center reservation.
After coasting into the hard-shoulder and wondering if I still had a gearbox I looked down and the engine was still there. She was just ticking over nicely in that nice vee-twin way, but when I looked towards the back wheel I noticed straight away that there was no chain. Oops..
If anyone found a motorcycle chain on the M6 then it was mine…!
The chain and sprockets were something I knew I had to change, and I was going change them in May with the tyres – but being the person that I am, I wanted to make just one more trip to get the most out of them. Well, that’s what you get for cutting corners and being a cheapskate…
Fortunately, and one of the best decisions I have recently made, was having breakdown recovery and after a quick call breakdown was on its way. While I was waiting for recovery I decided to call Mickey Oates (the Suzuki dealer in Glasgow) and order a new chain and two new sprockets. Yeah, I know, I should have done it a few weeks. earlier, but because of my breakdown I somehow felt compelled to try and be efficient for once…
The recovery truck arrived about 20 minutes later which took me to the next services where I was quickly offloaded onto another recovery vehicle that would take me back home. A few days later I collected the new chain and sprockets, which was £99 for the chain and £50 for the sprockets, and fitted them myself the following day.
Moral of the story…? Don’t ignore the important stuff because it will bite you back…
