Linz

I don't usually like a lot of fuss being made when i arrive in a new city, but the marching band was a nice touch.

I hooked up with a friend i've known for around eight years but never met until today. For security reasons i can't use his real name so we'll call him Thomas. The following day we met Nara (also not his real name) for breakfast, but another of the guys Boldi couldn't make it. Boldi is short for Bolderick, which we in the UK pronounce Baldy, so it's not only another made up name it's also ironic since he could give Chewbacca a run for his money in the hairyness stakes, though normally when i see him he's wearing enough armour to stop a nuke. Boldi unfortunately was AWOL, though for the best of reasons.

Linz is one of the 2009 European City of Culture (the other being Vilnius), so it turned out the marching band wasn't just there for me. As part of these celebrations there are various shows and celebrations, which i'm sure most folks will remember from the time Glasgow had the same honour. Hmm, i can't remember if Edinburgh ever has. Anyway at one of these events Boldi met up with a troupe of female dancers that he has been "entertaining" ever since. Hopefully he'll surface in a few days when i get back to the city.

Part of the reason for running the bike so hard through Germany was to stress it, and see if anything broke. The engine seems to have been fine, but i began to notice something not feeling right with the front end of the bike. Initially i thought i had warped a brake disc as it was most noticeable under braking, which in turn would wreck the pads. I have spare pads, but if i fit them to a warped disc they would just get wrecked just like the first set. As the journey went on though there was a "looseness" in the steering which made me think the problem was with one of the bearings at the front. This would make sense that i first felt it during braking since the load goes to the front wheel. I had brought new bearings for the rear wheel with me since that's where all the weight is now, but hadn't thought to bring any for the front.

Fortunately Thomas has a friend who is a mechanic and also a biker so he offered to have a look at the bike. I'm not sure if i can mention his name or not, and since i'm not gonna make any more up, i'll just leave it out. Thomas was busy at an appointment when his friend turned up so i go down to meet him at the bike and try to point and gesture to describe how the bike felt. This only works so far when describing mechanical failure, so the mechanic phoned his brother who lives nearby and he came out to translate for us. In the end we agree that one of the bearings is suspect, but i'm not sure if it's a bearing in the wheel hub or in the steering.

Since i'm not in a rush and it's easier to get the bike looked at in Linz where there are people who can translate for me i opt to send it to a dealer to look at. Luckily the dealer is an agent for both Yamaha and Kawasaki which is fortunate since my bike is a bit of both. The problem is that it's a holiday weekend in Austria and the dealer is closed on Sunday and Monday. To make matters worse they are booked solid. In another turn of good fortune Thomas' friend the mechanic, has a friend who has a friend who works at that very dealer, and he thinks he can have a look at it on Tuesday. If any work needs to be done it would most likely be on the Wednesday or Thursday, which gives me a few days to kill. I seemed to have dragged a cast of thousands into this, but i have to say Austrian hospitality is fantastic.

A snap decision is made on Saturday afternoon that i'll head east to Vienna for a couple of days to do some sightseeing, then head back west to Salzburg on Monday for a day. I'll call in on Tuesday at around noon to see how the bike is, and if it needs work i'll head to Munich for a couple of days then back to Linz to pick up the bike. If it does need any work we'll also try to get the tyres changed at the same time, which will save me having to do it later, and i can burn them in on the final autobahn drag back through Austria.

This also gives me a chance to check out the high speed trains, since at some point in the future i'd like to see more of Europe and the bike isn't always the best option. I can't say they are very impressive though, but then at first glance the millenium falcon didn't look like much.

Working in Edinburgh i'm used to a certain amount of crime, but this approach to stealing wheels is new on me.




I wondered initially if this was some kind of prank, but i can't imagine anyone leaving a car on a beachball as a joke.