Gremlin's Tall Stories

After countless days of waiting (Ok, about 53 days – it may as well have been an eternity) and a few phone calls, countless jibes from others saying the bike was on the Rena (yes, they all thought it was funny and they were the first to say it) I got the phone call from Ken mid Friday morning I had been waiting for.

Documents were being sent to him by the shipper, he would forward them to me, and I would take them to Mainfreight in Otahuhu, pay some fees and collect the lovely Jessica. I must admit, whenever someone mentioned the Rena, there was that deep dark thought at the back of my head that maybe she WAS on the Rena – I’m not named Gremlin without good reason. The ship was supposed to go LA to Auckland, so surely it wouldn’t have been down Tauranga way?

However, those thoughts were now long behind me. I’ve had a hectic few days of work, sleeping no more than 4 hours a night, and I had just worked through most of Thursday night to correct issues, so rolled back over and grabbed a couple more hours of sleep (yes, you’re correct, I didn’t instantly race over to Otahuhu as I do like my sleep ).

Fast forward to the afternoon, I arrange for my Dad to take me over to Otahuhu. The particular location was in Railway Lane, and the complex was huge. I tried reception, and was directed to the portacom inside the warehouse, which took some of the paperwork, and directed me around the side and to follow one of the staff. Jessica was parked in one corner, and more importantly, I could see the extra luggage all accounted for. Someone had known what they were doing, having removed the top box and more amazingly, the screen.

Some assembly was required to put the screen back on, but eventually got there, after finding out the hard way that certain pieces only went in one place. Once she was back together (with Mum in the background taking the photos) the all-important part was re-connecting the battery and checking she started (as I fully intended to ride away). A few coughs and failed starts, a couple of nervous thoughts, and she fired up.

I chatted briefly to the warehouse guy, he sees some really neat stuff pass through the warehouses, and he seemed rather surprised that the bike was actually an NZ one, having been sent out, and then back again. I said I could have bought one there, but since I already had one, I didn’t need another.

The rear tyre pressure reading didn’t come up, but I figured if it didn’t in time, the shop could have a look, as she’s already scheduled for a service on Tuesday morning. The front pressure was way down, so rode carefully, getting used to the way she handled. So much smoother than the Hornet, with an abundance of torque, but you certainly feel like master and commander of the road, looking over most people and cars from your high position. Handling was better than I remembered, so stable through corners (yeah, couldn’t help giving a little blast through one section of corners, and she was rock steady).

The rest of the afternoon was spent basically cuddling her and fitting a couple of accessories (more on that in the next blog).

Oh yeah...