Chasing Honda parts
So Ken and Ebru (2ForTheRoad.co.uk) were here at Casa Kiwi Hostel on a Honda NX 400, and one day we started helping Ken change chain and sprockets. Then we found that we needed a new bearing in the sprocket carrier. It was too late in the day to take to have it repaired by then, so we put everything in the hostel garage planning to get it done first thing the next morning.
In the morning the bag containing the new sprocket and chain, the axle, and the sprocket carrier, is missing. Then we realize that the bag had been on the floor near the garbage can. Some inquiries revealed that it might have been thrown out with the garbage the night before... that was a big drama, because some of the parts would be difficult to replace, and without them there could be no drive to the rear wheel. The bike is a Made-in-Brazil Honda, not imported to Colombia, so no new parts available here. It would be a disaster for Ken and Ebru if we couldn't somehow get these parts replaced.
SO the project for the day was to ride all over town carrying the rear wheel, looking for parts that might fit. The only other solution would be if we could somehow get the parts back that had gone to the rubbish tip. No chance of that right?
Ebru with the stuff that went missing...
Ferrying the wheel around town
We found a sprocket carrier that fitted the wheel, but we still needed to find out if everything lined up when we got the wheel back in the bike.
We got back to the hostel about 4:30... and amazingly, Ebru had the parts! While we were doing our thing she had been haranguing the hostel people to try to find out how the parts could have gotten chucked out. She found they might have been picked up by a recycler rather than the garbage truck. Then managed somehow to track the guy down, and yes he'd had the parts but had sold them already. More pressure and she got him to go and get them back! She had to pay about $8 for them, but it was a huge relief to have them. They’d recently been stuck for a month waiting on a new piston and rebore, and they weren’t prepared to do that again.
At the Honda repair shop, where William and his crew found a sprocket carrier that might maybe possibly work on Ken's bike. Once we got the original back and compared to the replacement, it was plain that the replacement was a LOT different... SO lucky to get those parts back!
Then we were back where we started 24 hours before, needing to install a new bearing in the sprocket carrier. So out we went again to get that done... Thanks to William at the Honda workshop for his help and patience with all of this!
All's well that ends well ;-)
The gang at the end of a stressful day, after having found the original parts
. I can tell by the surface rust on the brake rotors that your bike was begging to be ridden again.
