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| Spirit of the Lake a Mission not so Impossible? The mission should you choose to accept is to purchase a 1500 from a total stranger living some 365miles away in Invergowrie Scotland and transport it to Shropshire without riding it sounds improbable but it happened. At an October meeting of Shropshire Wings our new joint rep Pete Rodgers asked if I would be attending the Spanish Treffen in June 2001. �I�d love to�, was my reply but being a relatively new winger with an aging 1100 I didn�t think the old girl would make the journey. �Well it�s about time you got a 1500 said Roy our outgoing Rep funnily enough I know where there is a good one�. �Where?� I asked, �Scotland� came the reply �it�s not a problem besides its half the fun looking around for a good bike�. Advertised in August�s Wing Span was the Wing in question and a phone call to its owner Chris Conejo only aroused my interest further. Strange name Conejo until Chris explained his father was Spanish and mother Scottish and that Conejo was Spanish for Rabbit. I did enquire if he had a brother called Roger but that was no the case. From the initial conversation with Chris and further calls I was confident that the Wings condition, spec and reason for sale were genuine, however every time I arranged to get to Scotland to view bad weather or work commitments prevented me. I then made the unprecedented move to purchase the bike without viewing and arranged for TNT overnight to collect the bike and deliver it to Shropshire and that�s when the problems started. Having established that TNT could undertake the job having agreed a price and supplying them with all the dimensions and kerb weight of the Wing they agreed to collect pm on Tuesday 28th November. Bankers draft to Chris was completed and I awaited collection with eager anticipation. At 10.30am on the day TNT rang me �We are at Invergowrie but theres no one here!� �Well you did say pm can you wait until mid-day?�. Chris duly arrived back home from work to find a 35 foot articulated lorry in his drive. With no tail lift and the container some 7 feet off the ground, after much head scratching the TNT driver gave the job up and left minus the bike. Later that day a second TNT driver arrived with a transit van that had a tail lift. 3.0pm came and a rather terse call from TNT. �Our drivers there with his van do you know how big this is we thought it was a scooter�. Insult or what. �If we had known we would have sent a larger vehicle�. �What a 35 footer� came my reply. �Yes�. �Well you did at 12 mid day but it didn�t have a tail lift besides that I faxed you the dimensions when placing the order�. �But the measurements are in metric!!! No comment. Big climb down. �Well we can�t move it today we will have another go in the morning�. Poor Chris by now was so concerned about his departing Wing that he rang me and said he had videoed the bike as evidence of its condition before dispatch as he feared the worst. The following day a slightly larger van arrived with a slightly larger tail lift giving the generous clearance each side of about an inch. Chris summons help from his work force and between the five of them the Wing was hauled into the back of the van amidst a torrent of Gaelic abuse to be transported to Glasgow, then overnight to Shropshire. Thursday morning another phone call from TNT. �It�s on its way but can you collect it from our Cannock Depot we give up we won�t be able to get it any further�. �It should be there mid morning we will ring you when it arrives�. That night Roy well versed in the foibles of 1500 rang me. �Have you got it yet�. �No its on its way I have to collect it from Cannock anything I should know on how to start it?�. �No it�s electronic ignition full choke, ignition on press starter easy.� Friday lunch time came and no news so I decided to ring the Cannock depot. �Have you got a Gold Wing at the depot from Scotland?� �Well there�s a big scooter here is it yours we wondered who was going to collect it it�s been here since 10.0am� �I�m on my way�. 3.0pm, better half and I arrived complete with gallon of petrol. (Chris had to drain the tank before TNT would transport it although he is Scottish after all!) There she was in all her glory pristine unmarked, an absolute beauty with a small gathering of TNT workers gathered round. �I�ve come for my scooter�. �This is the closest I�ve been to a Harley� retorted one employee. This gets worse I thought. Ignition on she lights up like a Christmas tree full choke press starter click! Nothing! Later find out its American spec and you can�t turn the lights off. �Lets push you down the loading bay ramp and bump start her�. Good idea except the runway at the bottom was only about 15 yards wide. Evil Kenivel eat your heart out. Off we went splutter, splutter, wobble, wobble, brakes, feet, panic, stop. Must be out of petrol, so in goes the gallon, ignition on, starter button pressed click! nothing. Time for a call to a very nice man from the RAC who arrived 45min later. �Looks like your batteries flat I�ll wire her up to the van�. I got my gear on in the hope that if it started I could be away and sure enough first turn she burst into life and 25 miles later was welcomed to her new home in Shropshire. Roy and Celia duly arrived that evening to view the bike. �Start her up then� says Roy after the initial inspection. Ignition on Full Choke press starter Click Nothing. �Well you have to put the side stand up first it acts, as a cut out.� �Ahh isn�t that a starting Foible Roy?� Oh well, never mind after all the events of the previous few days it was a minor problem. So the mission was accomplished with the following footnotes:- 1) Wingers are definitely a breed apart and it was a pleasure dealing with Chris with the confidence that I had in him. The bike far exceeded my expectations and was a credit to him. We are due to meet in person this summer following an invitation from Chris to visit. 2) TNT now know that a GL 1500 is a Gold Wing not a Harley and more to the point certainly not an oversized Scooter! 3) Never trust an outgoing Shropshire Reps starting tips especially when he thinks his 1500 has an alarm fitted that turns out to be his garage alarm activated every time he presses the transmit button on his CB (Bob Fothergills article Jan Wing Span) Let�s hope the Spanish Treffen in June is less eventful than this incredible journey and we don�t squash any furry Conejos on route, no pun intended Chris. Bob King Shropshire Member |
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