Pokhara 21st May 2006

Somehow I managed to get my groggy body out of bed and down to Raju’s for 09:00, he had told me to drop it (my bike) off early, otherwise it’ll get too busy and he mightn’t be able to finish all in the one session.

When I got there he was already working on a customers bike since 07:30 that morning. The guy, Dessie, was still hanging around drinking tea so I got chatting to him. He rides a modified Enfield Bullet, painted purple. He left London six years ago and has been travelling around ever since, although he’s been in Nepal for two years (on and off) and he’s part of the bike club. We had a cup of tea, chatted about bikes, Nepal and London and had another cup of tea. I’d forgotten how much tea biker’s drink – it’s not all whiskey and beer you know. Dessie and I went off and had breakfast next door, he’s just came back to Pokhara after spending a month in a small village in the jungle and his trip sounded amazing.

Wolf dropped by a bit later. Wolf is a biker from just outside Frankfurt, Germany and he’s been living here for years. He also rides a modified Enfield Bullet, he’s got front suspension from an off road bike and trial handle bars and a few other mods. Peter dropped by and he was going on about builders. He’s designed a house and he’s getting it built by locals and he’s having some trouble with the neighbour about boundaries. He’s got a couple of Enfield Bullets and a 650cc Bsa. Rick, another English guy, stopped by, he’s set up a motorcycling training school (eight months ago) and he also takes groups out for trips. Monick, a Dutch woman, came in for a cuppa, I think she helped Rick set up the business. The morning flew by and was washed down with many cups of chai (or teeth rot as it should be called).

Raju even started some work on my bike! The guy really is a good mechanic and he had no trouble stripping down the complete front end of the bike. There was a bent fork rod (which he managed to straighten) and the head bearings (effects the steering) had to be replaced. He disappeared off to town at one stage to get a few parts and left me alone in the workshop for twenty minutes (until Dessie wandered back). Raju also went off to help Don get his bike started. Don bought a new Enfield in Delhi and he is going to get it shipped to Thailand and ride abound Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, before getting it shipped back to Australia. But his bike doesn’t like rain. He’s only discovered this in the last couple of days as he also hadn’t seen rain for months.

Raju got my suspension sorted out and went for a test ride, came back and he wasn’t happy about it. So he stripped the suspension again, took out my fork springs and he managed to find some springs lying under a bench. He reassembled the forks again and he was happy with it this time. I took it for a spin and the bike just glides over potholes now, no more “slapping” sounds when the bike bottoms out.

Raju also changed the fuel filter for me, this was the bit that kept popping out as I was riding along and Raju told me that the wrong one had been put on there. He also told me that the tappets needed adjusting, I had a listen to the bike and could clearly hear “tapping” coming from the engine. He took off the tank and stripped the top off the engine, had a look at the push rod and told me that the wrong one was in there. Turns out that when I broke down in India and the guy put a new push rod in, he put in one from a 350cc bike and not a 500cc bike. Gobshite! Raju had the bike back together in about ten minutes, it would have been quicker if he hadn’t of had a cigarette! I took the bike for a spin and the overall difference was astounding, it felt lovely and I can’t wait to hit the twisty roads.

It was about 17:00 by the time he finished on my bike, and I’d been there since 09:00, I could have wandered off and came back but I had a good time there and it was interesting to see Raju work on the bike. Speaking to most of the guys who dropped in, they have had more damage done to their bikes by mechanics than anything else, me too. Raju went and bought a couple of beers, so five of us sat around chatting and sharing a couple of bottles. There is a club run to the Tibetan border on 26th May and they’ve asked me to go on that with the club, so I’ll hang around here until then. It should be a good weekend as there is camping and live music, Raju is also coming with us, which will be good for peace of mind. The bill came to 3200 NP, which is £25 GBP, which is nothing for parts and labour for a days work. More importantly a days work by an excellent mechanic. The lads told me that when the Enfield workshop have problems with their bikes and can’t repair them, they bring them to Raju!

I left Raju’s at 19:00 and told the guys I’d see them later for a couple of beers and some pool. The lack of sleep from the night before was catching up with me and I crashed out on my bed for an hour. I woke up, looked at my watch, 22:30! Sh1t, night over.