Unboxing & Re-fitting

Friday 18th December

 

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In Bangkok I had 5 willing Thai helpers to hold the bike when I took the front wheel off & then gently lower it to the ground. No possibility of that here, so needed a solo approach. Hmmm...

 

I decided to try & make use lf the center stand and so cut away the parts of the pallet that prevented it from lowering. I then cut the retaining straps and had a go lifting it onto the stand.

No joy - as it was sloping forwards, it meant lifting the entire engine weight upwards before it would pivot over onto the stand. As that was probably in excess of 100kg & I'd only had one weetabix for breakfast, ut didnt work.

 

So i set about cutting the plank that was supporting the back wheel, which duly dropped a few inches, oved the centre of gravity over a enough to allow the bike to be humphed onto the centre stand. The back lart ofthe pallet could then be cut away.

Re-fitting the panniers added enough weight to the back to lift the front end off up so that I could put the front wheel back on - success!

 

All that remained was to fit the brake calipers, mirrors, screen and make a few adjustments.

 

 

and there she is ... all ready for Xmas deliveries!

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Merry Christmas & Happy New Year everybody!

 

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Return of the Tiger

Thursday 17th December - All's well that ends well.

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After a worrying 4 days the crate containing my bike was finally located lurking around southampton docks.  A further day spent in customs & then its was released for collection.

No-one in the logistics chain seemed able to explain what had happened, but it was found in a completely different container from the one it was alegedly loaded into.

They also neglected to say, and couldnt explain when & where the crate had been damaged, even though someone had clearly put a 'damaged' sticker on it & taken the trouble to shirnkwrap around the broken crate side.

Anyway, loaded up on a friend's trailer, the Tiger was finally heading home & 4 hours later she arrived.

 A bit of humping & heaving & the crate was in the garage.  Time to rip off the damaged sides & have a quick inspection.

 Everything seemed to be where I had left it and there was only minor damage to the spare fuel holders from whatever had crushed the crate.

Tomorrow I will start unpacking properly and figure out how to get the front wheel back on.

Relaxed now & time for a celebratory drink.

:-)

Anyone seen a Tiger?

Saturday 12th December - Trying not to Panic!

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After watching my Tiger being carefully packed into a wooden crate, I set off for the airport & 22 hours later was sat at home in the UK breathing cool fresh air & having a cup of tea.

That was about 6 weeks ago. Since then I've been twiddling my thumbs (well apart from some work, DIY, family outings & Xmas shopping) and waiting for the bike to arrive.

Excitement mounted a week ago, when I received a communication that the ship was due to dock shortly, detailing the container number, a website to track progress .... and a bill for £280 port handling fees :-(

The Tiger was apparently in a container on the NYK Helios just entering the English Channel, having transhipped from a regional boat in Singapore.

I checked the status update website each day until eventually I saw that the ship was finally in dock.

Following off loading, 'my' container was then destined to be moved to a handling wahehouse, unpacked and the various items customs cleared. My bike would then be available for collection, all being well.

Unfortunately, all was not well!!

The container was unloaded on schedule & moved to the clearance warehouse for unpacking, or devanning as it is apparently known.  However, that evening, I received an email from the handling agents to say that, 

'upon devanning it was found that the cargo in the container did not match the manifest'

... my crate was not there, even though the paperwork said it was ...WTF!  No explanation was given or further information available, an investigation was promised after the weekend.

So at the time of writing, the Tiger is missing!

 Fingers crossed they find her soon.

:-(

Shipping the Tiger

Thursday 22nd October

Shipping the Tiger

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My last task before heading home was to take the bike for packing.   So I loaded up for the last time this trip & set off for the shipping warehouse.

Once at the packing agents, they started to build a crate around my bike, beginning with the base.

I rode the Tiger into this and then proceeded to remove the front wheel so that the bike would sit lower and take up less space - shipping is paid for by the cubic metre rather than weight.

Four Thai lads kindly lifted the front of the bike so I could remove the wheel and then lowered it to the floor.   I did wonder for a moment how I was going to reverse this process once home, willing Thai helpers tend to be quite rare in the UK!

Wheel, panniers, screen & mirrors removed and stashed, they then proceded to stretch wrap the entire package, almost including this little chap.

Next step was to build sides for the crate ....

..... strengthening supports 

... and finally the top itself 

And that was it, its off to the airport for me. 

Next time I see the Tiger will be in about 6-7 weeks time when it will be about 30 degrees cooler and most probably raining. Ah well all good things ....

Old friends & an anniversary

Wednesday 21st October

Britbike & a 10th anniversary celebration

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After a few days winding down at my friend's house, it was almost time to ship the bike & fly home. Two more visits to make first though.

The first was to Britbike Triumph in Bangkok. 

When I moved from Indonesia to start working in Thailand in 2005, there were no Triumph's around.  Britbike set up as the first Triumph dealership in 2007 and I bought my Triumph Bonneville from them in early 2010. 

At that time all the bikes had to be 'imported' even though some were made at the Triumph factory in Chonburi near Pattaya, as the factory had been set up as an export only operation.   The net result was all bikes attracted import duty, which at +100% made them very premuim indeed.

So when I started riding a Triumph in Thailand (I had previously had one in the UK in 2002) I was part of a relatively exclusive club of less than 180 bikes in the whole country.  At that time big bikes of any kind were still quite rare.

They are a great team at Britbike and have since expanded to 7 dealerships around the country and Triumph is becoming much more visible as a brand.

I popped into the showroom to say hi and of course grab a photo.

Next stop was a return to the factory that I had visited the previous week, as one of my finish lines. 

PZ Cussons factory in Thailand manufactures, amongst other things, all of the Imperial Leather soap sold in the UK, Australia & many other countries.  I was responsible for building the new export factory in 2005 and ran the operation for several years until I moved on to work in Africa.

So 2015 marked the 10th anniversary and I was invited to join the celebrations.

The Thai's have a wonderful way of combining formality with fun at these sort of occasions ....

The factory had been closed for the day so all staff (about 300 people) could attend.   The day started early at 0730am with 7 local monks performing a religious ceremony and chanting for about 90 minutes, during which we had to sit cross-legged on the tiled floor in quiet contemplation. 

Suddenly the Tiger's seat seemed so luxurious!

 

Once that was done we served the monks with their breakfast.

Finally there was more chanting & the water pouring ceremony. 

A silver ceremonial jug is used to pour a continuous stream of water into a similarly styled bowl, whilst the monks are chanting.   All those present have to touch the jug or touch someone who is holding the jug throughout and the stream should be continuous.    I have done this quite a few times over the years and always found it quite a touching ceremony, for some reason.

Religous formalities complete, there was time to catch up with some old friends & colleagues.

.... and then we moved outside onto a stage that had been set up for speeches

Who gave this man a microphone?, they really should hve learned by now!

Speeches & formal ceremonies over, this being Thailand, there was of course food, music & dancing girls.    Sorry no photos, I was too busy eating, chatting & watching!

As the event came to a close, I was asked to ride my bike up to the stage area, which of course presented a photo opportunity, which many people for some reason wanted to take part in.

Here is a short selection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fame at last!

Thailand sure is a lovely place for making you feel special!

 A great day and a great end to my trip - thanks to all at PZ Cussons Thailand for letting me join your celebrations.

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