Upon arrival to the mainland from Bocas Del Toro, we went to recollect our motorcycles and our gear. Pretty soon thereafter it was found that Tom had a bit of an issue with his motorcycle. Mainly, it wouldn’t start. Not at all. Not only was it just that, but it didn’t even SOUND like it wanted to start. No hesitant chugging, no belied belch of smoke from the exhaust, NOTHING.

We checked for fuel. Yes. We checked his air box. Yes. We checked for spark. NO. Not even an ounce of a shock.
Well that sucks. Let’s check your ignition coil. How? Lets attach mine. Ok let’s do that.
And so we did. And his bike didn’t start. Did I mention that it is no raining heavily and we’re all soaked now? Ask that nice women who runs this parking lot for an umbrella. Success. Umbrella activated. Slightly less level of wetness achieved.

Well what now man? You have to be in Colon, Panama by the 26th of this month to catch that big ass Steel Rat boat across the Darien Gap so we can tear it up in Colombia. Oh right. Dammmmnnn…

Truck? Where? Panama City? Eh… David? Better idea. Let’s go there. And so we went.
Within 30 minutes of asking if anyone knew someone that might know a guy that had a truck that somebody else could drive that could carry a motorcycle and make it to David, today, we had our man. The guy with the “thumbs up” got a 5 dollar tip from Tom for helping us fanatically until we departed. He also asked me to get him a Balboa () from the mini super when I went. I didn’t. I gave him 50cents to buy his own.



We had to take the front wheel off the bike to get it into the back of the shorty pickup, and Tom wasn’t able to ride in the truck because “he didn’t have room for him with all his work stuff”. So with a final smile from the Dude that was helping us help the guy who was driving the truck that was carrying Tom’s bike to David; we loaded a bag of Tom’s shit onto my bike.



Tom was decidedly unhappy about having to arrange to get his Motorcycle trucked to David. Dammit. We hope it’s worth it. I’ll be pissed if it’s an easy fix…



Well. We asked Mr. Truck Drive Man if he knew a Suzuki mechanic in David. Oh yea, I know the Suzuki Mechanic. I’ll take your bike directly there. No problems. Ok. Let’s go. And go we did. And Tom and I rode two up on my trusty steed for 110 miles through the mountainous terrain until we reached David. All while following the truck at a gradual speed of 30-50 mph. I achieved a whopping 37mpg. I’ll have to keep that in mind when Kristi arrives. Go slow.

And then, we were there. And do you think we found a Suzuki Mechanic? Haha. No, of course not. We were delivered to Mr. Truck Driver’s friends family mechanic shop in the middle of an urban area. Oh well. We knew we’d end up somewhere like this.



So the guy poked and he prodded, and Tom whipped of his side panels, and his seat, and his gas tank, and the guy pulled out his multi meter and he poked and he prodded some more. He pulled of the connecting plugs to Tom’s bikes computer, and he stabbed at them with his multi meter prongs, until. “EHHHHH…. Si, eso, eso esta la problema. Tu capacitor esta chingada.” (Ehhhhh… Yes, this, this is the problem. Your (stator) is f’ed)



So he pulled out the Stator. But before that, like a prudent mechanic would, he pulled Toms entire computer of his bike, plugged it into mine, and I fired my bike up, proving Tom’s bike computer was in working shape. Then he pulled out his multi meter and stabbed the same contact points on my bike computer plugs. The multi meter read 290. Tom’s? It read 1865. Too much resistance coming out of his Stator. DAMN IT. Stators are NOT cheap.



And so the man checked Tom’s stator, and within a few minutes determined that Tom’s stator pickup was the culprit. “I’m going to cut it off,” He said. Well, no, he didn’t really say that. He said nothing at all. He just chopped the piece off Tom’s $300 stator. Just. Like. This.



Ugh… We’re feeling pretty confident in this guy by now, and we’re hoping he knows what the hell he is doing, and all the while I’m telling Tom everything I know about motorcycles to try to explain to him why that LITTLE part is his problem, and he’s understanding the concepts, but damn it, that mechanic just chopped it off….

Well, in the mean time we had a look around while this guy is working. There was music blasting, and soon we realized that it was coming from the surround sound speakers on the shop owners cousins Honda Goldwing 1500. And that Suzuki Fireblade (CBR1000RR) over there inspires some confidence in bike bikes. Oh, and this Xr650r, over bored to 750cc’s is pretty cool…. Too bad someone hit a car on it.



Well. Obviously our mechanic friend didn’t have a new Dr650 Stator pickup in his pocket, nor did he have access to one. NOR does the Stator Pickup come separate from the Stator itself, and used Stators complete with their pickups run $220 on ebay. SHIT. He ALREADY chopped it off…

Well. We’re in Central America. Who cares. Let’s BUILD ONE.



And so he went about his business, rummaged through some parts (parts that looks obsolete, overused, and damaged) and pulled out what we would soon find out would be either our saving grace, or a definitive slap in the face. AND, it even looked good. Problem was, it didn’t have the same mounting bracket. No problem, he’ll put the OEM bracket on it.
Meanwhile, this other guy is bondo’ing a car, and someone else is changing its oil.



They have a good set up going on.

Soon, Tom’s new stator pickup was taking shape. And it looked good… Well. Let’s be honest. What the hell do we know about good? A Baja mechanic took my bike from totaled to road worthy in 4 days. This guy diagnosed Tom’s problem and built Tom a new stator pickup in less than 2 hours. Our standards are sliding down a scale from, “Please sir, I’ll take the new one,” too “Please sir, give me the cheapest shit that will serve its purpose, and I’ll be on my way.”



In no time at all, he had the newly made used stator pickup soldered, heat shrunk, and zip tied back into the OEM location.



Multi meter at the ready, our friend stabbed some contacts and the reading was as shown.



Have I mentioned that this guy took off half the screws and plugged in connectors with his trusty Swiss army knife?

Well. He did.

Before he remounted the stator pickup definitely, he painted the contact on the pickup,



Notice that ? It’s his 5th one that we’ve seen him drink. He’s becoming more carefree as the s come. Hopefully he’s finished soon! Hahahahah!!!!!

He removed the left case center plug for access to the crank shaft, and within a few moments felt a mild resistance when turning the crank.



Stator pickup is touching the magneto… Well that’s no good. We can’t have that. Where’s my damn drill?!



Meanwhile, the mechanics daughter is tearing up the neighbor’s yard on a beaten down Honda Xr100, and she loves it.



Did I mention that in the middle of this adventure that the shop attendant filled up a crate with empties and returned with 24 more, and that Tom and I were the recipients of no less than 2 s each, and that our mechanic friend had no less than 6 or 8 in 3 hours?

Well, if I didn’t mention that, I should have. WAIT? What is that sound?!?!?!

All of a sudden, the stator fit well, and the left cover was put in place and screwed on, and the oil was replaced with Mobile 20w-50, and the mechanic stepped back, took a look, and VROOOOOOM. Fired up Tom’s BIKE. SUCCESS!!! (You can’t tell… But it’s running…)



FAMILY PHOTO TIME! We’ve been there for 3 hours. And we’re now part of the family. Yessssssss.



The man directly behind me is fist pumping his success. That is our mechanic friend, and he is awesome.

It was just that day that I mentioned to Tom, as a result of our inconveniences, that we’ve noticed that no matter where we have been in Mexico and Central America, no matter what it is you need, you can find someone INSTANTLY that will help you do ANYTHING, IMMEDIATELY.

It was within 30 minutes that Tom found the man that drove the truck that carried his motorcycle to David. And it was the man that drove the truck that found us our mechanic friend. And that mechanic stopped everything he was doing, quit working on other shit for the day, and fixed Tom’s bike all while drinking and fabricating a serviceable stator pickup.

We love Central America. And we LOVE PANAMA.

Tom’s bike now runs like it always did, and we made it to Panama City the next day (yesterday). We found Charlie, Patrick and Andy whom rode ahead of us the day Tom’s bike took a nap. Additionally we found Ty and Jill! They hauled ass south from Guatemala over the past 2 weeks, and they met with Charlie, Patrick and Andy yesterday. Now we’re all at the Panama Passage Hostel. There are 7 of us on 6 motorcycles and we look awesome.

Have I mentioned? WE LOVE PANAMA!!

--Alex

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NJ, NR, NBTTN