Who you gonna call?

[CieL]

Hypothetical situation, you break down/crash in London and don't have breakdown cover, who you gonna call to take your bike home?

What about if you're in Cornwall or Norwich? Will AA, RAC save your ass if you're not registered with them?

[SQL]

My father, he will and has picked me up 100's of miles from home at 3am

[Tierbirdy]

AA will recover you, at an extortionate cost. They normally charge a full year's membership up front or something like that.

A mate of mimes scooter broke down and he called out the AA, they charged him about £180 to put his scooter in the back of the van and drive it 10 miles to his house!

[CieL]

And what if one day your daddy says "son, you're on your own", what then SQL, WHAT THEN?

[pepperami]

Chain bike to lamp-post and start walking, many hours later when you have finally got home, start going through Yellow Pages/internet and find collection & delivery service, post them the keys, go find the money to pay them!

Or! you could just join a recovery company BEFORE you start going out on your bike. (it`s a lot cheaper)
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[SQL]

Get pushing lol or try to fix at side of road

[Polarbear]

At about £80 for relay (which is what I would want) it's really a no brainer.

Or about £35 for auto aid but you have to have the cash.
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[CieL]

I saw this scooter on the side of the road the other day and got me thinking.

Now Polarbear that sounds a bit better. I was starting to think that I needed to befriend a guy with a van, just in case...

[Itchy]

I have a number of bike transport companies in my phone.

I also carry my chain and lock with me everywhere so chain it to a lamp post. Get home, walk across the road and hire a tail lift van and go retrieve it.

Normally however I try preventative maintenance crashes not withstanding (though I rode my wrecked CBR home after a high speed crash) meaning I don't let the bike get to the stage where I think something will go wrong.

Y'know the preventative maintenance and pre-ride checks the bike manual instructs you to do (for cars as well) but lots of people ignore.

If it was a crash I was seriously injured in, the police will sort it out and gouge me appropriately.
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[Slacker24seve...]

Mate with a van. Or, in the case of my big one at Oulton, lift home then travel up the next day to sling it in the back of a horsebox, which was the only thing to hand.
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[instigator]

My (piece of shit) Daytona 675 broke down whilst in London. I was about 25 miles from home. Conveniently, I broke down right outside a pub so I sat in there, got them to charge up my phone whilst I had lunch + a few beers and then used their free wifi to find a breakdown company who would be available to take me home. Cost me about £90 in the end. Would struggle to buy a Triumph again because of it, which is a shame.

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

Last time I crashed, it was on a trackday, so fixed it with the help of people in the garage then rode it home.
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[Slacker24seve...]

[G]

AA and RAC will do everything they can to avoid being helpful even if you DO have a policy with them in my experience.

Green flag or ADAC if ADAC still do it.

And, of course, I'd either arrange a friend with a van to come to me, or get to one of my vehicles that can take bikes.

If I didn't have any of that, first up I'd post on BCF.

Then I'd consider local 'man with van' types.

[CieL]

Damn G, they don't call you "the voice of reason" for nothing. That's some good advice right there.

[G]

Also, if you're lucky, someone another biker might stop for you.
Less likely in London possibly. But then if you actually live in London, lock it up and return with tools maybe, as it's hard to get around.

Some years ago I had someone not only stop for me, but give me a lift back to his play in his car, get one of his friends to collect me and take me home.

I've repayed the favour a few times to random strangers.

[c_dug]

Agreed with the post on here thing, when my bike got stuck on an icey dual carriage way in 2010 I posted here, although nobody could help collect it right away, a couple of people passed the area on a daily basis and kept an eye on it for me until the snow passed and I could pick it up.

There are lots of London based users (myself included) so I would imagine there would be some help available in the city if you asked nicely enough. The rest of the country, I suppose we have reasonable user coverage, but it's not something I'd want to rely on!

This year I opted for breakdown cover with my insurance, just to be safe
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[c_dug]

Sort of on topic, I have considered trying to make a user based breakdown type thread in the past.

The way I see it working is this:

To be able to rely on help you should offer help. You don't have to be a mechanical wizz to be helpful either. So anybody who is willing to offer help says so, and I add them to a list in the first post, they decide how far they'll go, and provide a rough area, so for instance there would be a list something like this:

c_dug - Hornchurch, Essex. 10 Mile radius.
Tom - Birmingham. 25 Mile radius.
Dick - Newquay. 7 Mile radius.
Harry - Windsor, 50 Mile radius.

Then, if you are on the list and you breakdown you can contact a user who might be able to help you, and if they can they will. It might be something as simple as a jerry can of fuel, or a hot drink while waiting for a recovery vehicle.

To be fair if people think it's a worthwhile idea I could set up the thread, just didn't think there would be much interest.
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I am a bellend, I am a man of constant sorrow, I am a gummy bear, I am a rock.

[Tierbirdy]

[instigator]

[anthony_r6]

[Itchy]

[Dave McCool]

Mate with a van, pretty much every time.

I have a number of very reliable ones, including one who made the 100 mile round trip to the Ace at silly O'clock after a BCF ride gone wrong (which I imagine c_dug remembers...), and recently picked me and the bike up after writing off my 750.

I'd be more than up for the whole BCF emergency squad thing, except I don't think I'd be a great deal of use to anyone - no van, car hardly practical for carrying tools/people (350z) and next to no mechanical skill. I do make a cracking cup of tea though?
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K7 GSXR750

[MC]

Does no one have breakdown cover? To me it's worth it, not to have to leave a 2 grand bike by the side of the road.

Saying that when I crashed my insurance company said they couldn't help me recover it So I limped into work dosed up on pain killers, and borrowed a couple of strong blokes and a van
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Yamaha MT-03 '08 (crashed)
Honda XR-125L '04

[Knacker]

If you break down in Norwich just PM Me
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