BMW

I believe that there is no better way to travel than on a motorbike, the sense of freedom and adventure that you achieve by undertaking a journey on 2 wheels just cannot be beaten. Needless to say that any long term journey is a rollercoaster of emotions but I can say that in my 10 months of riding through South East Asia the many highs have far outweighed the few lows. Keeping that in mind, binging a bike overseas does bring challenges such as shipping and mechanical maintenance that at times can be quite frustrating. Overall I’d have to say I have been very lucky in the way of bike problems, the big Beemer has been extremely reliable but I have had an ongoing issue with a leaking seal on my final drive. I took the bike into a BMW workshop in Phuket to have the seal replaced only to find out that the housing was damaged, possibly from a previous repair which required the bearing to be replaced. I received a quote to have the complete final drive replaced and the cost left me shocked, my budget for the trip was already getting tight and this potentially meant cutting short the South East Asia leg of my trip to Europe. Without getting my hopes up I decided to write an email to BMW Australia explaining my situation and asking if there was anything they could do to help get the bike repaired. I received a reply the next day from the customer interaction department explaining that they were already in contact with BMW international to organise getting the bike back on the road for me and asking me to take the bike to the nearest authorised dealer, which was in Bangkok. I turned up at BKK motorcycles, Bangkok the next day and explained my situation, they had no idea what I was talking about but were very helpful and after a few emails to BMW Australia they set about ordering in the parts that we needed.

I spent a week in Bangkok while I waited for the parts to arrive and I was soon back on 2 wheels, making my way to Cambodia. The support I received from BMW was well above what I expected and it was very uplifting to know that they were willing to help out a solo rider on a low budget, I really can’t thank Robert enough for organising everything and getting me back on the road. I also have to mention the exceptional service I received from BKK motorcycles, many thanks to their team for the great work, especially Kevin for all his effort.