Hi Sami,

I didn't write the whole story to you because of my time problem. I went to Turkey from the UK by my 97' F650. In Istanbul I went to a garage for servicing. We realize that there was only 1/2 liter of oil in my engine. We have investigated the problem and there was a leaking where the front sprockets linked to engine. We took out the engine and brake it up. We have realized that the garage where I got service in the UK put the front sprocket wrong way round. The bearing inside the engine had been broken and also the seal of the bearing. This caused oil leaking. Anyway. We have changed the bearings and assembled the engine again. After a week later I headed to Iran. Just after the Istanbul (near Izmit) the oil indicator has been flashed and the engine stopped suddenly and never worked again. We took the bike back to Istanbul. Again we brook up the engine and saw that the cylinder was blocked. The small chip of the broken bearing caused this problem. We have found a used cylinder from the police bikes repair center in Istanbul and replaced it. However, all these took a month in Istanbul and spend over 1000 pounds (Almost 1/3 of my travel budget or half the price of the bike). I decided to postpone my tour and go back to England. 3 days later I headed to England again by my bike. In Greece, near Xanti on the motorway again the oil indicator has been on and again the engine has stopped. It was Easter day in Greece and everywhere was closed. After 3 hours wait I achieved to find a pick-up which took me to Xanti. Spent there 3 days in a hotel. I tried to sell the bike there in Greece. However, the bureaucracy didn’t allow me to do it. I've found another pick-up, put the bike on it and head to Turkey again. At the border, another pick-up has been found to take me to Istanbul. I left the bike there and went back to UK. Now the bike is in Istanbul in a garage. They will fix it again and I'll come there on August to take it back to England.
This is the brief history of my trip. I am emphasizing that the trip is not cancelled, just postponed.
I know, I was a bit unlucky. If the sprocket was put properly by the mechanic in the UK none of them would be happened. OR if I had a new bike I wouldn’t service it, etc… etc… etc… After all of this, I only can say that it is the finger of God and he didn’t let me to do it in my first attempt. However, biking, especially going places by bike is a passion and in the future –I hope in the near future- I’ll try it again. Time to save some money now!!

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ozhan u.
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