I received a message the other day.
“Hey Dookes, how come you haven’t been out riding the mountain passes for a while…?”
Good question, yes, it has been a while since I’ve been on a decent road trip and this is the time of year that I normally would be away. Though to be fair, locally its not a bad place to ride.
As to why:
Well, first off was the small matter of the Covid Pandemic. Now whatever you think about the whole situation surrounding that, there is no doubt that it certainly caused no end of difficulties with travel. In my case there was also the more than slight inconvenience of catching the virus long before vaccines and effective treatment; fun it was not! Then for most of last year I was tied up on a building project here at Dookes H.Q.. Anyone who has had building work done will know just how much time that absorbs.
So that leads us to this year….and just as i was starting to consider slipping off for a quick blast around the mountains, I injured my right shoulder. Bummer. The good news is that some days I’m ok to ride about 50-60 miles, the bad is that other days I’m fit for not much at all and today is one of those!! Fortunately I have an appointment with a Consultant who specialises in shoulders and I am hopeful to get the thing on the road to recovery very soon.
We have been been experiencing lovely sunny riding weather for the last month or so, which has enabled me to get out on my two lovely Harleys when the mood and shoulder permitted. I have also really been falling in love with my Heritage Classic “Hettie” until a couple of weeks ago, that is.
Now “Hettie” is typical of many modern motorcycles and other vehicles; full of electronic wizardry that is supposed to aid the rider and deliver maximum efficiency…and all of it beyond my comprehension or ability to put right if it goes wrong! I’m just a simple mechanical engineer!
One of the little gizmos that “Hettie” has is keyless ignition, using a magic fob that unlocks the motorcycle when in close proximity to it. There is no button to press, the machine just senses the fob, disables the immobiliser and allows me to start the engine…in theory.
I wanted to go for a short ride one evening a few weeks ago, but when I climbed on board the display simply told me “No Fob”. Except I was holding it in my hand!
No panic, I popped back inside Dookes H.Q. and brought out my other fob, to which the bike started with no problem.
Next day I decided to investigate and yes one fob would definitely not work; so I changed the fob battery. It still wouldn’t work.
Time to check the user manual. Nothing useful there.
Check on line user forums. Nothing useful there either.
Ring the local Harley Dealership. “Bring her in”.
Monday last week I rolled into Plymouth Harley Davidson and handed over the two fobs and “Hettie”.
Twenty minutes later technician Damien appeared and questioned just exactly what I had experienced as he could not find a fault with either the bike or the fobs! I used to hate that in my railway days, NFF, “No Fault Found”!!! We discussed the issue and he went back to the workshop to try again.
After another 30 minutes “Hettie” and Damien appeared at the front of the Dealership and he confirmed again that he couldn’t get the bike to reveal any fault, but he had, as a precaution, reset the system and reprogrammed the fobs for me.
I concluded that it was Black Magic and that Damien had weaved some kind of Witchcraft to banish the Demons!
I went to pay and was pleasantly surprised when Dealership Principal Chris told me that there was no charge and in addition they had carried out a “health check” on “Hettie” which she had passed with flying colours!
Now that’s what I call good customer service!
Time to ride home…
“Call me the breeze, I keep blowin” down the road”
Catch you soon
Dookes
With many thanks to Plymouth Harley Davidson.