cbd14
Bicycle
Went to COTA this year for the first time. My wife and I are big MotoGP fans. We have been following the series since we’ve been together. I have been following the series since the early 80s. We have been twice to the IndyGP (2013 and 2015).
The plan was for her to fly there with our 4 year-old daughter and some friends. I would ride my 09C14 and my younger brother would ride my wife’s 2015 Yamaha FZ-09 (as you may wonder, he is much younger than me to even considering doing that). My wife and I live in Fort Myers, FL (roughly 1450 miles away from Austin, on a fun route). My little brother flew in from Montreal, Canada just for this trip of a lifetime.
This would have been our first long distance ride together. I spent 6 months planning everything: the route, gas stops (130mile range on the FZ), hotels, etc..
With all that checked, my brother and I hit the road on Tuesday, April 5th at 8:30am. If everything went well, we would be getting in Austin mid day on Thursday the 7th, around 550 miles per day for the first two days and a little bit more than 350miles on the third day.
Well, nothing went as planned of course. 100 miles on the ride and at the first gas stop in Bradenton, FL, the FZ decided to throw a tantrum, as any 1.5 year old would do. It did not restart after refueling. It also threw a code on the dash (Sd _ _ 12). I spend two hours trying to figure it out, but most of my tools were 100 miles away. Finally called the tow truck and took it to the nearest dealer. By that time it was 3:00PM, so changes were already taking place on that 6 month planned schedule.
The dealer in Sarasota was not the most helpful people around. First they told me that they would take a look the next morning because they were too busy. After explaining our situation, the service manager decided to push the FZ to the garage and have one of the tech guys take a look. Three hours later, 5:55PM, they came with the bad news. DEAD ECU!!! Really, dead ECU on a 2015, 18 month old bike with 4500 miles on it? You gotta be kidding me. Better yet, the part can only be here on Friday and it’d have cost me $750, plus the $120 they charged me just to tell me the good news.
Right there and then, 5:55PM on Tuesday, April the 5th, 100miles completed of a 3000 miles epic ride, we were literally dead on the road. New arrangements were made. We stayed in a hotel, left both bikes in Sarasota on a friend’s garage (they were the ones flying with my wife to Austin). My wife got my brother and I tickets to Austin the next day.
The vacation turned out to be great. We were 7 adults and 3 kids renting a big house in Austin. The days on the track were great too. It just sucked to see Rossi crash on the race after almost two years keeping the rubber side down on race days.
Now, the bike is back in the dealer we got it from (Destination Powersports in Punta Gorda, FL). The guys there reminded us why we bought the bike from them in the first place. They have assessed the situation and came to the same conclusion, DEAD ECU. However, they have contacted Yamaha and they will replace the part free of charge and pay for the labor to install it. Good service from Yamaha there.
My wife is still very disappointed that her bike, just before a very anticipated trip, left my brother dead on the road. But we have to take the bad with the good. We could have been in the middle of nowhere, far away from any support, and maybe even facing to cancel the whole trip altogether. I consider ourselves lucky.
With all that all I have to say is: Got to love the good old Connie. It has only 25k miles on it and still runs like it’s brand new. We are going to try it again next year. Got to put all the effort in planning this trip to good use. The route is set and the spirit is still the same. Maybe my brother will be riding my wife’s new Kawi. ;D
The plan was for her to fly there with our 4 year-old daughter and some friends. I would ride my 09C14 and my younger brother would ride my wife’s 2015 Yamaha FZ-09 (as you may wonder, he is much younger than me to even considering doing that). My wife and I live in Fort Myers, FL (roughly 1450 miles away from Austin, on a fun route). My little brother flew in from Montreal, Canada just for this trip of a lifetime.
This would have been our first long distance ride together. I spent 6 months planning everything: the route, gas stops (130mile range on the FZ), hotels, etc..
With all that checked, my brother and I hit the road on Tuesday, April 5th at 8:30am. If everything went well, we would be getting in Austin mid day on Thursday the 7th, around 550 miles per day for the first two days and a little bit more than 350miles on the third day.
Well, nothing went as planned of course. 100 miles on the ride and at the first gas stop in Bradenton, FL, the FZ decided to throw a tantrum, as any 1.5 year old would do. It did not restart after refueling. It also threw a code on the dash (Sd _ _ 12). I spend two hours trying to figure it out, but most of my tools were 100 miles away. Finally called the tow truck and took it to the nearest dealer. By that time it was 3:00PM, so changes were already taking place on that 6 month planned schedule.
The dealer in Sarasota was not the most helpful people around. First they told me that they would take a look the next morning because they were too busy. After explaining our situation, the service manager decided to push the FZ to the garage and have one of the tech guys take a look. Three hours later, 5:55PM, they came with the bad news. DEAD ECU!!! Really, dead ECU on a 2015, 18 month old bike with 4500 miles on it? You gotta be kidding me. Better yet, the part can only be here on Friday and it’d have cost me $750, plus the $120 they charged me just to tell me the good news.
Right there and then, 5:55PM on Tuesday, April the 5th, 100miles completed of a 3000 miles epic ride, we were literally dead on the road. New arrangements were made. We stayed in a hotel, left both bikes in Sarasota on a friend’s garage (they were the ones flying with my wife to Austin). My wife got my brother and I tickets to Austin the next day.
The vacation turned out to be great. We were 7 adults and 3 kids renting a big house in Austin. The days on the track were great too. It just sucked to see Rossi crash on the race after almost two years keeping the rubber side down on race days.
Now, the bike is back in the dealer we got it from (Destination Powersports in Punta Gorda, FL). The guys there reminded us why we bought the bike from them in the first place. They have assessed the situation and came to the same conclusion, DEAD ECU. However, they have contacted Yamaha and they will replace the part free of charge and pay for the labor to install it. Good service from Yamaha there.
My wife is still very disappointed that her bike, just before a very anticipated trip, left my brother dead on the road. But we have to take the bad with the good. We could have been in the middle of nowhere, far away from any support, and maybe even facing to cancel the whole trip altogether. I consider ourselves lucky.
With all that all I have to say is: Got to love the good old Connie. It has only 25k miles on it and still runs like it’s brand new. We are going to try it again next year. Got to put all the effort in planning this trip to good use. The route is set and the spirit is still the same. Maybe my brother will be riding my wife’s new Kawi. ;D
