Colombia AKT TT AdvenTour 250
 

Its official....Took delivery at about 1pm today. Snuck out of work (not easy to do here) and picked it up. The rear case and mirrors were still not installed and the license plate was ready but had no holes drilled in it :wtf:. The gas tank had maybe 5 tablespoons of gas >:(. Left the dealer and promptly rode to the nearest gas station in a light drizzly rain. Lots of positive comments and questions...Keep in mind I dont speak Spanish...yes, 4 years in Colombia and I dont speak Spanish...Dont judge me!!! Answered the questions the best I could and was on my way. The power is amazing after driving the FZ16 (12hp) for the last 3 years. The throttle is very sensitive and the sound is deep and throaty. Rode to my buddies house to drill and install the tag and then off to work. Arriving here I had a permanent smile on my face. My coworkers were laughing at me because I was so happy. Truly like a kid at Christmas. This bike is a beast. Its tall and wide and I am loving the feeling. The shifter feels a little low but going to live with it a little while to see how things shake down over the first few hundred kilometers. The bike gets full maintenance included at the dealer for the first 5 visits. They pay everything except the cost of oil. After that the next 5 or however many visits they pay 50% of everything. Includes all adjustments per the manual. The only caveat is that you must bring it to them within a 500km window. Not shown is the small tank bag they included. Of course more pictures to follow when the weather is better. So far (about 10km anyway) I am one happy camper. :yay: Lots more to follow

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Congrats on your new ride.I hope to be in your country soon with a potential buy of the TT to ride SA and so am very interested in your impressions.
Look forward to your future reports, Thanks for bringing us along.

Congratulations, Mike. :tup: Welcome to The Cult of The Zong. :)

P.S. I can't view the last two attachments in your post.

Congrats! I hope it gives you many happy kilometres.

Pics
 

SpudRider - Thank you. Ill try again.

Inroads - I am no expert on the process but would be happy to help in any way I can. Buying the 250 was very easy. They have a huge dealer network throughout Colombia. They sell them at AKT shops, Alkosto (similar to Sams Club) and at Exito (similar to Super Walmart). I live in a fairly small city (less than 400,000 people) and we have 4 dealers and 3 service centers here. They asked for a Cedula (the national ID card that is used for EVERYTHING) and the money. I have a Cedula for foreigners since I am a resident with a resident Visa. Not sure how the process would work if you didnt have a cedula. Motorcycles are constant targets here for traffic stops. You must show Cedula, Soat (mandatory insurance) and Technomecanico (an inspection certification) which is not required for the first 2 years of a new vehicle. The Soat for this moto is $405,000 COP and is included in the purchase price. Its good for 1 year. The bike came with a free helmet and the Matricula (a document fee of about $180,000 COP) was free as well. They have different promotions at different times. My total total out the door cost was $9,700,000 COP or less than $3200 USD. The actual cost on the bike only is 8,000,000 COP or about $2600 USD. The price has gone up $1,000,000 COP in just the last month. Granted they have added some farkles but I dont really see why other than profit motivation.

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Just found this page on Facebook. Tons of great pictures from 3 guys traveling Colombia on RX3´s. Google can translate everything for you or if you are like me the pics are enough

https://www.facebook.com/La-Magia-de...ref=ts&fref=ts

Your photos are working now, Mike. Thank you. :)

You definitely got the best color; the white bikes look great. :tup:

Thanks for posting the great link. I will certainly be reading that article, and viewing the beautiful photos. Here are just a few of them. :tup:

DaytonaMike - Congrats on the bike! It looks great! That top case looks like it can carry your helmet and a good amount of gear!

Spud - thank for posting some of the photos! Wow, just wow. I'll have to get over to the Facebook page to check out other photos!

Bike problem
 

>:(

Left my house this morning with my son to head to an ATM. Got 3km down the road (remember I picked the bike up Friday so I have a grand total of about 15km on it at this point) and heard a loud clanking noise from the front end. Sounded like something broke loose. At first I thought some bolts from the brake disc were rubbing on the caliper housing, maybe a loose spoke...I had no idea and it was impossible to roll the bike and look and listen for the sound. Immediately pulled over and the sound stopped. Rolled the bike into a parking lot and could only duplicate the sound intermittently. Rode slowly with 4 way flashers to a buddies house and we determined that it is most likely the front bearings. The axle nut was not tight. When we tightened it the wheel did not want to spin freely. We took every thing apart and found some plastic shavings under the speedometer housing at the hub. We greased the hell out of everything, including the terribly dry bearings and put everything back together. The sound is still there. It tends to get worse when the bike is moving and the wheel is turned to the left or right. It is not a constant sound but it sounds really bad and is really loud when it happens. Going to take it in for service as soon as I can on Monday.

Anyone had this issue?

I haven't had that issue, but it is a whole lot of Not Cool.
The plastic shavings are an indication that the tab on the speedo sensor drive may not have been aligned in the groove. The axle nut might have been tight when it left the dealer but quickly became loose when the parts there were no longer acting as spacers.

I suggest removing the wheel again, check the feel of the bearing rotation by finger and also the speedo drive. Hopefully this will help isolate the problem and the shop can quickly fix it. Sounds like they have enough new bikes to pull parts from so should be able to get you out the door quickly.

Just in case, here's the CSC tutorial: http://www.cscmotorcycles.com/Articles.asp?ID=264

Wheel Removal
 

Thanks for the quick reply and advice Jay. Everything was straightforward just like in your link. Luckily my buddy is a highly skilled shade tree mechanic...me not so much but Im not afraid to get dirty and learn. He pulled everything apart just like the tutorial shows. I wasnt happy with the fit of that white plastic piece that protrudes out of the hub and accepts the speedometer housing. It seems sloppy in its fit. Im not totally convinced that its not moving around in there too. The bearing didnt turn very well at all at first. It sounded dry and crunchy (yes a technical term) but we didnt find any metal shavings and the balls all looked solid and in one piece. Thats why we decided to grease it and see how it would do. The grease helped it move better while in our hands but in the end did not solve the issue. The tightness of the axle bolt is concerning to me though. Too tight and the wheel doesnt spin nice and smooth. Too loose and Im worried it will fall off over time. I know locktite will cure my worries but we didnt have any handy. We used thread tape for now. I got some videos with my phone of the sound while we spun the wheel by hand. Sometimes its nonexistent and other times it lasts several seconds and happens in either direction of wheel spin. I will try to post the video but not sure how.

I think you can post the video anywhere like Youtube and just post the link to it here.

Loctite is good, but not the only product that stops stuff from falling off. Weather strip adhesive (aka Yellow death/gorilla snot) applied sparingly to threads and allowed to set up before assembly is good. I have even seen dollops of latex house paint keep a nut from backing off.

But first, get the original problem corrected.