World Traveller back on New Zealand Shores

After spending 14 months riding in the Deep South and enjoying the land, the people, and the Southern hospitality Ian the departed our shores for Argentina to continue his travels. We take up Ian’s story which has led him through South America and back to New Zealand for a second visit.

Ian arrived in Argentina from New Zealand on 18 October 2003 with the view to continuing his world travels. After riding to the bottom of Argentina and running out of road he then turned around and rode up to Trinidad and Tobago passing through Ecuador, Columbia and Bogata before heading towards Medellin through a small town called Honda. Just as he was leaving Honda the clutch cable on the Africa Twin broke  - it was the original cable and had never been oiled in the 100,000 miles travelled thus far. This broken clutch cable was not a problem until Ian had to stop at the numerous checkpoints along the way and then get off and push the bike to get it restarted. The few times he stopped at villages and towns he employed the assistance of locals to give him a push to get him going – many of the locals had a good chuckle over this. After a number of calls Ian was finally directed to Moto Angel – a garage owned by Carlo Mesa (Engine Head) and Hector A. Angel. The original clutch cable was 14 years old and had done about 100,000 miles and as Ian says if the new one lasts as long as the previous one then he would be 76 and hopefully will have covered another 100,000 miles. Each time we talked to Ian about the bike he goes to great lengths to explain that Honda is the only brand he would consider for such a trip as the genuine Honda spares are standard the world over and can be sourced from almost anywhere.

Ian’s wandering then led him from Columbia to Venezuela and through a wide variety of terrain meeting wonderful people from all over South America before heading to Trinidad and Tobago. Getting the paperwork sorted proved to be a nightmare and it took 15 days to satisfy all the requirements of the Customs officials before he could continue his adventure.

Leaving Trinidad and Tobago for the Panama Ian’s intentions was to ride up to Alaska but in the true spirit of free travel Ian’s plans were changed when he boarded 150 foot, 4 tonne sailing yacht that would eventually bring him back to New Zealand. Crewing as an engineer they visited a huge number of South Pacific Islands.

Back in New Zealand Ian is taking the opportunity to give his bike a good check over now that it has done 120,000 miles. A decoke, rering and overhaul is the order of the day before again setting his sites on the Panama and a ride to Alaska.

Blue Wing has again assisted Ian with the tools and spares to look after his bike. With his intention to travel to Alaska the crew at the Tech Centre suggested to him that it would be a good idea to refresh the transmission oil – something that had never been touched – not even topped up in 120,000 miles – 192,000 kilometres!  That is pretty amazing. Other than very regular oil changes and the replacement of consumables such as chain and sprockets, tyres and brake pads the bike continues to prove its’ reliability.

While many people envy Ian and his adventure it takes a special sort of person to undertake this sort of trip, something Ian quickly points out. Getting on with people, a keen sense of humour and of course flexibility is the name of the game and through Ian’s friendly personality he has been offered assistance throughout his travels which range from help with his bike to accommodation in riders homes and seasonal work.

Before continuing his biking adventure Ian is returning home to West Yorkshire to visit his grandchildren, they reckon they do not know what he looks like,  and pick up spares for the bike from his sponsors in the UK. Ian’s wife is returning to New Zealand to have a quick holiday with Ian in a campervan before he heads off again – this time for Alaska . We wish him well on his adventure.