To cut a long story short Dozers starting problem seemed to be a combination of three things. The mechanic thought it was the starter motor so I took that out and took it apart to have a look. Even the ‘experts” the very mechanically included riders at the Oasis agreed that it looked very good. It was very interesting to take a starter motor apart. There were a few carbon deposits that I cleaned out but the brushes etc looked good. The one change was that after taking it out and putting git back together again it did start spinning really well which it was not doing before. One down 2 to go…the next thing I did was take the spark plugs out and give them a good clean, they were firing red instead of blue white so I replaced the one. However only to see if I could get it started as it was the wrong heat range spark plug and leaving it in could damage my bike. Finally we hooked the battery to the car battery. All these three things to Dozer started yippee. We fully charged the battery and took him apart again, because the cam chain tensioner was making an unhealthy noise. You need to take this off to get the starter motor out on the DR. Then it got late and I needed to get down the black market to try finding some oil and gasket making gloop.

The following day I was in for a big shock when I woke up the guys said they had been told that our China part2 trip had been cancelled NO FRIGGIN WAY. This was a real setback and we were all incredibly depressed. I couldn’t believe that after all my determination to get to China this happened. Not only had Dizzy died and I been given the option of going direct to Laos which I did not take as I wanted to ride thought China, wheels on the ground all the way. Now Dozer looked for a little while like he would not make it and now this. The China trip had already been changed twice from our original plan anyway. We were not really given a good explanation as to why this happened, we were told it was due to the big communist party conference and they were limiting self drive tours. All bollox if you ask me.

The original China trip through Tibet was supposed to be 28 days. This China trip, part 1 and 2 was 37 days long as the route was longer plus 2 weeks in Mongolia so a total of 51 days. Since the trip time had increased so much I knew I would not make it to Singapore before I had to leave, which really depressed me after all I had been though as the trip was Zurich to Singapore. So contact my boss and asked him if I could extend my trip. I have a fantastic boss and he said yes I can extend to the end of November. Two days later we got the news about China. I debated about telling my boss that I could still make my original return date but decided not to. Since I had spent 3 weeks without a bike when Dizzy seized I wanted those weeks back and wanted to really take my time around SE Asia and enjoy myself. So I decided to keep my new return date.

BUT that is adventure travel for you and one must go with the punches. So I needed to find an alternative plan. The only option for the bike is to fly it to Bangkok, there is no other choice as the Mongolians are very strict about leaving a bike in Mongolia if you came in with one. So I cannot leave the bike or sell the bike here. I will then fly to Bangkok and can go through China or Korea and will stay a few days to sight see while the bike is being transported and put through customs.

After that depressing news I just want to get on Dozer and ride but first he needs the cam chain tensioner removed and put back together. He also needs the electrics fixe dup his read indicator had come off, and his temporary Chinese/ Russian pannier system had also come apart (Mongolian roads)  So this I decided to spend with Dozer and get him in tip top shape. I did learn that red gasket making goop is very goopy and gets everywhere. I also learned that it’s easier the snap a bolt in half that one thinks ooops ‘anyone got an easy out” But all in all the repairs went well and dozer is up and running and I am again an very happy lady. He’s been washed and polished up, his panniers have been welded all ready to ride tomorrow 🙂