The Thunder Run was on this morning at the NT HOG® Rally. With a 10.30am start I was a possibility to make it as it was starting from the Harley-Davidson® Dealership, NT Motorcycle Centre, and I was heading there for 8.30am to get the oil changed on my Road King®.
I had arrived in Darwin yesterday afternoon and with only 40k's or so left in the tank was concerned about getting some fuel ASAP. I must have been a little more tired and emotional when I arrived than I thought because I'd overlooked just using the 20 litres I had strapped to the back of the bike to fill it, derrr.. So that done it was straight to the dealership. Here it was, 8am, the middle of winter and I was riding in jeans, a long sleeved t-shirt and my vest. Gotta love Darwin weather this time of year.
On the way to the dealership I noticed some whining from the front end I hadn't heard before, probably because this was the first time in three day's I'd ridden without ear plugs. So when I booked the bike in for the oil change I asked them to look at the wheel bearings and also check out the eagle damage just to be sure the lights would stay together for the trip home.
I also noticed the odometer on the Road King had exceeded the 56,000k mark and it twigged that it was due for a service and I had nearly 5000ks to ride home. I asked if they had time to do the service and was told politely "No". Looking back, since it's last service I'd done the SS2000K, backed up for the BB2500K, ridden to Lightning Ridge for Lunch (nearly 1400k's), led a HOG ride and ridden to Darwin. No wonder it was due.
The news wasn't perfect, a new front wheel bearing was required and it appeared I wasn't going to make the Thunder Run. Based on that I pleaded with them to check if there was any way they could squeeze in the full service, and they agreed to! Good on you NT Motorcycle Centre and thanks again. Great service and a satisfied customer here!
So the next few hours were spend socialising, waving the 150 or so Harley-Davidson motorcycles off on the Thunder Run. These included an unrestored 1940's WLA that was being ridden by , I want to say lunatic, but let's say an enthusiast, all over Australia. Good on you Als mate :-)! (Als also won the dirtiest bike award on the Sunday evening of the Rally)
I had plenty of time to wander around the dealership, they had plenty to look at. I bought the obligatory black t-shirt and spoke bikes with the staff who were all exceptionally friendly. There was an area in the Harley-Davidson section of the dealership to sit, have coffee and chat with whoever else came along. I had a nice chat to a yank who was having some work done on his KLR-650. I read everything there was to read, had some lunch at the servo up the road and by 1.30 the Road King was ready to go.. AND they had washed it!!!!!
Given the time I went straight to the Rally site, enjoyed watching the gymkhana (unusual events up here, one involving an inflatable crocodile) and dropped the bike back at the Medina before taxi-ing back for the second night of partying that featured the Giants live on stage. Once again the food, entertainment and company was fantastic. While I believe the fun went on until about 4am, my liver turned into a pumpkin about midnight. There's also a couple of really good guided rides on tomorrow so I want to be clear headed and ready to ride my nice, now shiny, newly serviced Road King.
