C - We laid in this morning, enjoying the fact that the shops do not open early here. We were hoping that we would fluke finding a stator here to avoid ordering one from the USA.



Todd found a few motorcycles stores located a couple of kilometres away, so we rugged up and ventured out into the chilly, foggy morning. We found a Napa and picked up a couple of 12v fuses for the laptop charger (which we use on the motorbike) and eventually came across the Honda and Yamaha dealer. The guys were really friendly, but directed us to their other store, seven traffic lights back in the direction we came.

We found the other store, basically on the corner of the road our hotel is on (!) and after a bit, they finally ventured out the back to see if they had something. It looked promising as they sold Chinese bikes and parts as well as Honda and Yamaha. After giving up on the idea, as one of the guys said they don't have the parts for our bikes, one of the other guys came back to the counter with the exact part we needed. We both nearly fell over when we heard the price, but what can you do! We forked over the cash and left feeling very happy.

Next on the list was a camera. After confirming in a number of stores between Calama and here, we learnt again that purchasing a Sony lens in the country was likely to be impossible, we asked in the two department stores close to us to be told the same thing. But, we were in luck! They had the exact camera Todd wanted for about the price of a new lens anyway.Then we picked up the last of the bits and pieces we needed (zipties, electrical tape etc) and splurged on a delicious lunch of hamburgers and fries at a place called Johnny Rockets.





We also found a wonderful map so have decided to spend tomorrow researching our Patagonia section and working out the ferry schedules to see where/how we can get as far as south in Chile before crossing into Argentina.

T - Well we were quite lazy today. We slept in and then lounged about in bed until 10am. We are getting a bit lazy these days. There wasnt too much on todays agenda. Fit the new stator to Mabel and make sure she ran again, do some shopping, and maybe drink some wine.



It took me all of about 30 minutes to have the old stator out and the new one in. It was with some trepidation that i\I gave Mabel a good swift kick in the guts. But she fired right up and sat there purring away. Phew! Now we have two running bikes again. That means that tomorrow we can head on out of here.





Chantelle made some plans for where we could ride and found a way for us to get off of the stinking Pan Am for a while. Also we are off to do a tour of a Pisco brewery. Its a locally made beverage that is similar to brandy. I have some foggy memories of our last alcoholic beverage tour in Tequila with Rick. I hope I dont end up that drunk!





Then we just hung out, did some laundry and drank a little bit of red wine. A nice easy day!

Tomorrow we head for Pisco Elqui.

T - Back on the road again! Its always nice to be riding again, even after only a short break from it. We packed our gear and warmed the bikes out and rode out the gate of the hostal. We made it about 50 meters before we had to stop again. Rosie was sporting a suddenly flat rear tyre and Mabels chain was dragging inside the sprocket cover. Bloody hell. Come on Mabel and Rosie, get your act together.

C - After getting all our gear on it was very disappointing to have to pull straight over and take it all off again! Talk about first world problems!!!

T - Tyre aired and chain un-dragged and we set off again. Both bikes are feeling a little more worn these days and neither one has felt up to scratch in quite some time. Maybe it's thanks to the absolutely crap fuel we had been running in them all through Peru and Bolivia, who knows. I chugged a bit of carby and fuel system cleaner into our tanks to help remove any gunk that may be lurking in the works.

We zipped out into a lush valley. Vineyards sprung up all around us and with a gorgeous bright blue sky and a scattering of mountains thrown into the mix for good measure, it made for a lovely bit of riding.







We were heading to a distillery that made Pisco. Chantelle was pretty keen to try it out and had found a great little place where we could do a tour of the whole process too.

Unfortunately, and totally unknown to us, today was a public holiday and all the distillery tours were shut for the day.





We rode around the Valle del Elqui area for a while looking for somewhere to camp. But after finding nothing that excited us we decided to just move on down the road. We would find another Pisco place along the way, surely.







C - It was a bit disappointing to discover it was a public holiday and no tours were running, but neither one of us were really keen on camping up so early and then doing a tour in the morning. Knowing these tours, we would not be able to ride afterwards and it would mean hanging out for a whole day again. My real motivation for this tour was tasting a pisco sour, the national drink of Chile, so I figured for the same price I will just buy one in a bar somewhere! The day was clear and warm and we were ready to ride!











T - We took a gorgeous back road that soon turned to dusty dirt. It swung us through a stunning landscape of cactus and desert hills which is where we found our perfect camp for the night. About 100 meters up a dried up river bed. It was nicely hidden and we managed to scrounge up some wood for a small but warm fire to help keep the late afternoon chills at bay.









Tomorrow we shall continue on our southward journey towards the big city of Santiago. We want to buy some handlebar muffs to keep our hands warm when we hit Patagonia.

T - Today was more scenic back road riding. We had to make a quick pitstop in the near by town of Ovalle for some food supplies where I also managed to find a yoghurt cake. Oh. My. God. It was amazing! I forced myself to share it with Chantelle, but a part of me secretly hoped she would decline the offer.







C - I normally only have a taste and let Todd at it, but this time, oh my.. That cake was so damn delicious I had to share it!!! Poor Totti!

T - We set our GPS for some nice backroads again and meandered our way through more lovely desert landscape. It was changing a little now though and there was a scattering of trees amongst the cacti.







Our day consisted mainly of slow riding and enjoying the sights. We had picked a camp some distance down the road but figured we would just find something along the way.









Which we did. We hid in amongst some scraggly dead bushes, set up our camp and cracked a bottle of wine as the sunset and the stars blossomed into life. Ahh, this is the life!









Tomorrow we should get to Santiago!

T - It was a little chilly this morning, nothing near as cold as we had been in Bolivia though! Not that it mattered because our little friend Rosie had a way of warming me up this morning.





The little red cow just did not want to start. I kicked and kicked and fiddled with her carb. Nothing. Then I kicked and swore and screamed and ranted and kicked her some more. Nope didn't help. Her clutch seemed to be binding up and locking on even in neutral. This meant I couldn't actually get her to turn over freely at all. Grr.

Eventually I volunteered Chantelle to push me down the hill on Rosie while I attempted to bump start her. With a cough and a spit she fired up and sat there like nothing weird had happened. I'm not sure what is causing this but her clutch is definitely shot. Luckily we are going to Santiago today and we should be able to find her a new one.

C - We figured we would replace her clutch plates in Santiago. The reliable failure of clutch plates and stators in these Lifans. I am now at about 25,000km on this engine, and it seems to be about when are replacing these two parts on them. I will baby her clutch into Santiago and tomorrow, she can have some shiny new plates to keep her happy.

T - We rode along some lovely winding dirt roads that popped in and out of old train tunnels. From the 70's. They were a hoot and one of the was quite long and also curved so we couldn't really see if another car was coming. Which was very important as they were barely one lane wide.









We screamed out of a fourth tunnel and into a valley full of green. Citrus farms spread out in every direction and again those big desert mountains loomed all around. Very nice!







C - The riding was super fun, but the tunnels were actually a little scary! They are pitch black, with no lighting inside, and it takes some time for your eyes to adjust to the darkness. Just as they adjust, the tunnel exit appears and you are trying to see in the darkness with a bright light at the end. One tunnel suddenly turned into puddles and mud halfway a long and I was giggling at the sudden change in surface!

T - We stopped for a top up of our tanks and to find a back way into the city. Neither of us keen on sitting on a toll road. When we went to leave Rosie flat out refused to start. She just sat their with her clutch all seized and refused to even fart. We tried kicking her and ended up pushing her all around the fuel station, much to the locals amusement, but still she stayed silent. Ugh.





We let her sit while I tried to think of how to sort this out. In frustration I gave her another kick and vroooom. She fired into life. I think it's time for a carby strip down and a new clutch for our Rosie. I'm starting to wonder if putting fuel system cleaner in has dislodged something and blocked a passageway in her carb. As we cruised into Santiago proper I knew with a sinking feeling in my heart that Rosie was going to break down in the traffic. I don't know why but I just knew it was coming.

And she didn't let me down. She stalled at the lights when Chantelle went to take off. Poor Channy had to push her out of the way and cross traffic to get her to the side of the road. Again we couldn't kick her because her clutch was locked on solid. I started to think the clutch was the issue. I had some second hand clutch plates in my panniers but had no want to fix her on the side of the busy road.

While we sat there feeling sorry for ourselves a gentleman came over and asked if he could help. We told him what was going on and he told us he was a motorcycle mechanic! How much of a coincidence was that! He said the clutch wouldn't be stopping her from running but that it was a definite problem and he could help us replace it right here right now.



Aroldo and I raced to his house where he gathered up tools and various bibs and bobs and together we laid Rosie on her side, ripped her old clutch out, sanded the spare plates and put her all back together again. She took a few kicks around with the carb and with my limited spanish I thanked him profusely for his help. The kindness of strangers hey! We owed this man a huge debt of gratitude but he wouldn't accept anything from us but a friend request on Facebook. Aroldo if you are reading this thanks you so much my friend. You are our knight in shining armour! Thank you, thankyou, thankyou!

Aroldo si estas leyendo esto gracias a tanto mi amigo. Eres el caballero de brillante armadura! ¡Gracias, gracias, muchas gracias!



C - It was so lovely of Aroldo and his wife to offer us assistance. It was just the spark we needed, as we were both feeling a little flat about Rosie being such a trouble maker this week! I was so pleased when she fired right up after Aroldo and Todd replaced her clutch plates and as it was getting late, I really just wanted to get to the hostel we picked, shower and sit down with a red wine.

T - We then set off in search of somewhere to stay. Of course Rosie wasn't done yet and every time Chantelle tried to give her a quick burst of the throttle she would stall. At least now though she was easier to start. Time and again Rosie stalled at one set of lights much to Chantelles frustration. Add to that the fact that the hostal we had picked out was booked solid. So we went in search of another. I took over the reins of Rosie to give a very miserable Chantelle a break. I found that so long as I rolled on the throttle slowly she wouldn't stall. Clog jets? Definitely something fuel related anyways which makes fixing the problem much easier!

Along the way a police car pulled alongside. As we sat there stopped in traffic one of the officers climbed out and donned his hat. He looked very official and I had a small "Uh oh. Please not now" moment. He came over, asked where we were from, shook our hands and gave us a book on the history of the police force of Chile and told us to make sure we took it back to Australia. Jody, we have a nice little present for you from another police officer!



We eventually got sick of searching for somewhere to stay and finally at 9pm we just went with our next option. It was out of our budget but we were both tired and frustrated and Channy was at the end of her tether.

C - I was feeling really worried about Rosie. Particularly about the fact that we are now heading south - towards a relatively unpopulated and I am assuming harsh environment. I do not want to keep having these issues in the middle of cold, cold Patagonia, where we are not near a city which sells parts for her little motor. We had checked availability at the hostels this morning, as they were all fine, but obviously arriving so late, the rooms had just gone before we got there.

In the end, I was going to take the last one regardless. Although out of our budget, it was a perfect one bedroom apartment where we could do some washing tomorrow and cook in a real kitchen. With a view of the city!

We thought we would dig out the bread and cheese off of Rosie for dinner, but alas, the bread was completely mangled and not able to be separated. So, we ended up with amazing sushi from next door and red wine. Budget, what budget???

T - Tomorrow we will find some new clutch plates and various other bits for the bikes before we head further south to Patagonia.

Come on Rosie, you can do it!

C - Come on Rosie!! It's only the rest of the world to go!!!

And here is another two videos we have done in amongst all that!

Brilliant photos and report as always. Thanks guys, but I can't get the videos to work
Just looking up Lifan prices LOL
Time to buy yourselves some new engines ?

__________________
My memory is becoming that good, I should be able to organise my own surprise party soon

Anytime mate! Hmm. For some reason the HUBB doesn't post up the videos. Try clicking the links below maybe?

We are getting close to needing a new motor for Rosie we think. Hopefully she can hold out just a few more weeks!

Ok, the videos.

Update #13 is HERE

Number 14 is HERE

Number 15 is HERE


I'm just doing number 16 at the moment so that should be up tomorrow I hope.

C - Todays mission was to find the motorbike street in Santiago and go in search of bike supplies!

We ventured down to Lira street, which by pure chance was only a few blocks from our hotel, and were amazed at the number of motorbike stores. It so very cool to be able to go to one street to access all the motorbike stores - why do we not have this Aus??

There were a million shops selling every brand of parts you can think of, including all the Chinese brands of course!

T - I love these moto store streets. You can find almost anything to suit most bikes, and here in Chile Chinese bikes rule the streets. There were so many pitbike stores and I was ogling all the new engines. How about 190cc in Mabel...hmmm...

We saw a few handlebar muffs in some of the Chinese stores, but were recommend to visit the Honda store, who sell Givi gear. The guys were friendly and we were soon walking away with two sets of handlebar muffs to keep our little hands warm in Patagonia!

Next - we visited the Pitbike Store.

2 new sets of clutch plates, check
New stator (just incase!), check
New sprockets, check



T - The pitbike store had everything Lifan. There was floor to ceiling shelving loaded with enough spares to keep us happy. They had huge plastic containers packed full of every type of conceivable spare part, stators, sprockets, kickstart rubbers, pod filters,carbs, and kill switches.

C - So, now, hopefully, our girls to good to go!

Todd cleaned Rosies out and found her main jet was completely blocked.. A likely cause of my issues lately. So, fingers crossed she is all good on that front tomorrow!



A relatively easy day and we retired to our accommodation to catch up the blog, wash the clothes and enjoy a red wine with a view!
Tomorrow, we ride south!

Woohoo......80kph here we come, with a tailwind of course
Thanks Todd, the links worked to view the videos

__________________
My memory is becoming that good, I should be able to organise my own surprise party soon

No worries! 80 KPH? I think I would crap myself! I'm so used to going 65 now.

T - We enjoyed Santiago, but as always it is great to continue on our journey south. Ushuaia seems so close now! I can almost feel the cold!

I gave Rosie a nice warm up while we packed the bikes and she sat there purring like a little kitten. Hopefully the blocked jet was causing her to run so badly.

C - I was excited when Totti came back up to the room to say that Rosie had idled nicely, just like a little kitten, down in the car park. Ok! A nice, carby is just what she needed to hit the open road again!
We packed up the bikes, left the carpark and ventured into the mid-morning Santiago traffic.

T - Buuuuuuuut...

Within 15 minutes of being on the road Rosie was back to stalling at every red light again. What the what Rosie! I didn't know what was going on. So I swapped places with Chantelle as Rosie needed kicking every 50 meters or so. This wasn't right. I had missed something. Luckily for us we stalled right outside of an auto parts store, so we ducked in and grabbed some carb cleaner. The way Rosie was spitting and stalling seemed to be totally fuel related. Twisting the throttle on made her stop running instantly, sitting idling for more than 30 secs made her stall, trying to take off without a huge amount of revs made her stall. Poor Rosie. She was very unhappy.

C - Rosie started to stall, and whilst I was happy riding her, Todd felt awfully terrible watching me re-kick her to life at every traffic light. We swapped so he could really see what she was up to.

T - We sat in the car park of the auto store and stripped her carby down and put our last rebuild kit into it. I gave everything a liberal dose of cleaner but it seemed really clean already. We reassembled her and rode off only to stall shortly after. Grr.

We stopped about 50 kms out of Santiago. Rosie wouldn't run for more than a few meters unless she had a heap of revs. We knew we couldn't ride her like this for much longer. Something was clearly amiss. We swapped the carbies over between Rosie and Mabel, I was convinced it was a fuelling issue. No change. Rosie still ran terribly and still stalled at every stop. Mabel on the other hand was running sweet as a button, as she has ever since she got her new motor in Alaska. Our little rock she is.

C - Once we had swapped the carbies over, I did not understand what was happening. How can she still be having fueling issues with Mabels carby? How!! Rosie's airbox was even filling up fuel. Everything pointed to a fuel issue. I just did not understand what was happening. I was feeling quite stressed about my girl.. I felt stressed about her when we first pulled into Santiago, and now I was feeling the same again. Something was definitely amiss. But what?

T - While we were fixing Rosie a lovely gentleman came over to chat to us. He owned a nearby restaurant and soon he had us eating empanadas and drinking coffee. All on the house. Wow. People here are so lovely.

C - The gentleman was so lovely. We did not get his name, but I can assure you, these empanadas were the best I have ever eaten! He even took me into his restaurant, and after showing me around, gave me a horseshoe for luck!



T - We decided the best thing for us was to try to return to Santiago. There was a heap of motorbike parts stores there and if worse came to the worse we could buy Rosie a new motor.

We coughed and bucked and stalled all the way back into the city. Rosie ran worse and worse. Any slight incline and she would cut out and misfire and carry on. She was fine when she was cold, and crap when she warmed up.
Finally we made it back to our hotel from last night, Rosie dying at every opportunity leaving me kicking her over and over again in peak hour city traffic. I felt bad for her.

C - I do not know who I felt worse for - Todd having to kick Rosie over at every traffic light, or poor Rosie, who was clearly unhappy and unable to tell us how to fix her. It broke my heart. Honestly, I felt completely terrible.





T - After some research and some advice from fellow postie bikers we had the issue narrowed down to a few potential problems. Rosie's coil was bad and when warm it would not produce enough spark to handle her fuel load. Or her stator was bad. Again. We had a spare stator and a spare coil, but we couldn't replace her lead. And if we wanted to solve this we wanted to put as many new bits into her as we could.

So tomorrow we are off to find a new lead and probably buy a new coil too. Fingers crossed!
C - Come on Rosie!! You can do it!!!

T - I know there is no photos from the last 2 days, but we have been so frustrated by our inability to fix this bike that the camera has taken a backseat. We just want Rosie to be happy again.

C - I know this might sound weird, but these bikes are just such a big part of our life. We say good morning, we say good night, we feel for them when they are not in the best shape. We both just feel so bad for Rosie - worse actually, because we just do not know what exactly is wrong.

T - Today we went back to Lira St in Santiago where all the bike parts shop are. We found a coil, in fact we could have bought enough coils to fix every bike we ever came across again, but we just couldn't find a lead as long as the one we needed. Most of them came up about 3 inches too short.

We eventually found an American made Spitfire lead which was a tad short but it had a weird connecter that meant we could make our own extension. So back to Rosie and put this thing in her.

We started her up and immediately we could tell that there was no difference. With nothing left to do we swapped in a new stator and made plans to get her to Aroldo, the mechanic we had met the other day.
C - We were both gutted when changing the coil and lead made no difference. We sat in the dark carpark, looking at each other, wondering what to do next. The only option left to us was the stator. But surely no? Not another stator. She did have Mabel's old stator in, but surely?

T - However she went, and she went well. No more bogging down, no more spitting and farting. She smoked out the garage where she was parked before she settled down to a steady idle. Chantelle took her for a quick spin around the garage and we kept our fingers crossed that she was ok again. We are here for another night yet and tomorrow we will take her for a test ride through the city. If she survives then on Monday we will head across to the coast. If she still plays up, then we burn her..

C - And by burn her, Todd means we take her to a mechanic. My poor little girl...

C - Well, today would be the day of truth!! We would take Rosie on a proper run and see how she goes!

After lazy on the couch until almost midday, we got dressed and ventured down to the carpark. Rosie started on her first kick, a good sign?

T - Righto Rosie, this is your chance to redeem yourself. Or I am selling you to the lowest bidder. But first I need a decent breakfast. Having access to a proper kitchen means we were able to make sausage, egg, toast and the best of all, bacon! Then it was time to go see the bikes.





C - She warmed up nicely, sitting there, idling like a little kitten. She did manage to smoke out the entire carpark level, but whatever right?
T - For some reason she smoked alot. This is yet another new thing. I can only put it down to ..I dont know what. I think she is wearing out though. Luckily we also have a new piston and ring kit, plus a new bore and head gasket in our panniers.

C - Todd wanted to test her out, so I jumped on Mabel and out we went. We decided we would venture only around the two blocks near the apartment building, just in case.

Thankfully, she ran perfectly!! And besides blowing some smoke until she warmed up, she performed perfectly. We ran her around the block for about 30 minutes without any issues, performing all sorts of tests, including her putting her through her paces at full throttle.

T - Well that was a relief. She ran really well. She had power again and we whizzed around the blocks a few times to give her plenty of warm up time. Plus I may have given her a little bit of a flogging. I needed to know she could run under load you see...

C - So, we are going to call her ready to tackle the southward journey at this stage. BUT, if we leave the city and she stalls even once, we are heading back to the hotel and not leaving until she sees a mechanic.

We have decided we will buy another stator before we leave the city. The two that have failed us recently were both cheap ones from Colombia. Perhaps this is our problem? Both bikes have more expensive stators in them now from Chile. Fingers crossed.

After this, we ventured out to see the city. We have yet to see much of Santiago, so decided to follow the Lonely Planet recommended walking route. It was wonderful! We saw so many wonderful sites, including the presidential palace. It was a great 3km route!















Todd was determined to get me a pisco sour, which I was soooo keen on trying. So, we stopped at a bar to try one. And I can honestly say! That I am glad we never did a tour. It was nice and lemony, nice and sour, but the alcohol just tasted like bad tequila to me! So, I have now enjoyed a pisco sour and am happy to leave it at that!







T - I bought myself a litre of Chilean , and after tasting Chantelles Pisco Sour, I was pretty damn glad I had!

C - Tomorrow, we plan to head out - all going well!

GO ROSIE!!!!

T - She better. Or its off to the big motorcycle place in the sky for her.

T - Time to get out of the city. Santiago is a very nice little place and both Chantelle and myself found it a little hard to get going today. We kept giving each other a chance to stay for 'just one more night'. Both of us are getting a little tired now and even though we love being on the road a break from it is certainly on the cards.

C - The city was lovely, as was the little apartments we stayed in. Santiago felt like a really easy going city and it was an easy place to be. Definitely too easy to get comfortable and it was difficult to move on!





T - We headed on out and I watched the kms tick down and not once did Rosie falter. We passed the point where we had turned around the other day, and still she kept going. I didn't want to celebrate too soon, but I started to feel like she was fixed! We had replaced her major electrical bits so hopefully that was that! She had a two broken wires on her somewhere but I couldn't find them. And they were only minor ones anyway.

C - It was such a great milestone to get past where we turned back the other day. Rosie was running so sweetly, the sun was shining and new muffs were keeping my hands warm against the icy breeze.





T - The traffic soon thinned out and we hit the back roads which took us out to the coast. It felt like we were riding through California again. The way the road curved along and the trees over the road. It was quite nice. Some parts also reminded us of Australia because there was alot of Bluegum tree plantations and Pine plantations through here.

As darkness descended we found ourselves a little patch of dirt to camp on and after cooking some dinner it was time to retire to the tent.









C - We intended to camp up a little earlier today, but we did not end up finding a camp we liked until rather late. But what we did find was a lovely area of wetlands on the edge of an estuary. It was a little muddy in some spots, but we found a nice high point to pitch the point out of sight of the highway. There were even three stunning horses grazing their way through the wetlands. A good day which ended with a beautiful sunset!

T - Tomorrow we continue our path southwards towards Puerto Montt,