As if things couldn't get worse...

Last Sunday, I, being tired from an early start and still a bit jet-lagged, decided to leave my rain jacket at home when I went to church. Why? Because it was a bit damp and needed to dry off. People make mistakes when they're tired.

I was nearly there when the rain started. Hoping to make it before it poured, I sped up a bit, then all of a sudden the bike died! No throttle, no lights, it just stopped working. I tried to start it again with no success, but after walking it down the street for a bit it decided to play nice. I was soaking by then, but at least I got a dry parking spot.

All was well, I drove to the restaurant we all went to lunch at with no trouble, then on the way home it cut out again and wouldn't start for anything! It was pouring again, but I was already soaked so couldn't get much wetter as I pushed the bike up the road to find someone who would repair it. This is not as hard as it sounds; because so many people own motorbikes, a surprising amount of shop owners know how to fix them, and every street has dozens of potential repair places. In this case, the first place we came to was a place that sold shrines, the guy just did repairs as a side occupation. He seemed to know what he was doing though, and it was fascinating to watch him at work; first he replaced the torn inner tube that I hadn't noticed, then he  began taking the bike apart until he found the problem that had caused it to stop: a busted dynamo. By the time he found it, numerous pieces of my bike were scattered on the ground and Dad and I couldn't work out what went where!

Working out the problem was only half the challenge; he didn't have a spare dynamo so he communicated to Dad via signs and gestures that he needed a lift to a store to get a new one. Amberly and I had to wait at the shrine shop while they were gone, but once they got back the guy had it installed in under 5 minutes. The new part wasn't an exact match: it was from a different model, but the guy who sold it told him how to adapt it; what wire needed to go where, etc. The moment of truth came when he plugged it in, stomped the kickstarter, the engine caught...

And the lights wouldn't work. The mechanic(?) had another look at the connections, spliced some wires and voila! Once the cover and other bits and bobs had been reassembled, the cub was purring better than it had before it broke! The inner tube, spare part and service cost 425,000 total; around $24. It had stopped raining while the bike was being repaired, but wouldn't you know it, it started up again almost as soon as we headed off! What an experience!