How to deal with a breakdown on the road

 I'm considering a long distance trip this spring on a bike that has
a lot of miles on it. I don't really expect a breakdown, but would
like to have a tentative plan in place should something go wrong
a couple thousand miles from home. I normally do my own work,
partly because of costs and partly due to the age of the bike (an
older BMW).

In my only past breakdown on the road, I was able to rent a
U-haul and truck the bike 400 or so miles home. If I broke
down in the middle of the country though, I might wind up having
to either ship or repair the bike while I continued to my destination,
then picked it up on the way back. Looks like the options might
be to find a shop nearby, ship the bike or pick it up on the
return leg and truck it back home in a U-haul again.

Apart from the obvious suggestion of buying a brand new bike,
anybody have any suggestions or past experience ?

 Rob Kleinschmidt wrote:

Since there are people on this forum (and others who used to be here
but now inhabit other places online) who would no doubt be happy
to help out, I would hope to be able to leave my disabled bike with
one of them and fly home, planning on coming back later to either work
on it in place or haul it back on a trailer or a u-haul.  Or get to
work on it right away if possible...

When we did our 2010 western trip, my wife bought a new bike in Denver
and left her old one at the dealership during the trip.  Afterward,
we retrieved the bike from the dealer and left it at my cousin's house
in Boulder.  As soon as we got back to MN I flew to Denver for cheap
and rode her old bike home.  I probably could have just as easily
found someone through the various bike forums I am a member of, who
would have been happy to store the bike for me, and perhaps even help
out with tools and a place to work on it, in case of a breakdown.

If you happened to break down within a few hundred miles of me I would
be happy to haul your bike back to my garage with my bike trailer,
where we could work on it.

 Rob Kleinschmidt wrote:

  One of the email lists spawned by the folks over at RMH (SouthEastNetScum
or SENS) has a database of the members detailing just what kind of support
is available and where . I've hauled dead bikes to the dealer , to a
friend's shop for a new tire , I've brought out tools and helped repair
bikes on the side of the road .
  Anybody here (except Krusty) that runs into problems near Memphis Tn. is
more than welcome to ping me for help ... I also have a *very* well equipped
shop should that type of help be needed .
--
Snag
Learning keeps
you young !

 

Krusty kritter is totally self-reliant and  doesn't *need* any help
from
reekyites with man slime on their quivering chins.

 | I'm considering a long distance trip this spring on a bike that has
| a lot of miles on it  ....(an older BMW).  ....
|
| Apart from the obvious suggestion of buying a brand new bike,
| anybody have any suggestions or past experience ?

If you haven't done so, I'd get the list (book) of fellow owners willing to
help from BMWMOA (IIRC).  Also check with Re-Psycle and your local dealer
and Morton's BMW about one-day UPSing you any parts you might need.
http://www.re-psycle.com/    http://www.mortonsbmw.com/

I can't think of much one can't fix on an airhead with the tool kit and a
torque wrench.

Good luck & enjoy the ride.  Odds are you'll have no trouble.