Smashed in transit!!

On 3rd January the belt on my s****** RCT 170 broke due to wear. I googled Big Boy s******s and the nearest option was Big Boy S******s in Pinetown. I live in Hillcrest. After a phone call the owner, Gerrit van Rooyen, said he would collect the s****** that afternoon and that the repair would be done the following day.

That afternoon I assisted him in placing the bike onto the back of his bakkie. I was a little concerned about the casual manner in which he secured the bike - a double loop around each of the handlebars with two separate belts. As I was standing on the left of the s****** I could not raise the s****** onto the back stand. He noticed this and pulled down the side stand.

The following day I phoned him late morning as to costs and collection. He said there were 'additional' problems such as the swing arm, the drive plate (which he said was cracked) and the back wheel which was about to fall off. I was shocked at this information but told him that the bike had been in a previous accident and hence the swing arm may be a bit 'off', but that the rest of his information baffled me. I asked if he had done the repairs and he said yes. I thin asked if I could collect the s****** and he said yes but that he recommended that I did not drive it.

In quite a concerned state I arrived at his work station where he showed me the rear wheel. It was so badly dislodged that the stabaliser was not there and the short axil was barely slotted into the receiving hole. It became perfectly obvious that the bike was in too dangerous condition to ride.

My immediate response to him was "how does a wheel get into that condition overnight?" He did not answer that question and told me that he only noticed the wheel after he had finished the replacement of the belt and that I "must have been riding it like that". This threw me off balance again as I tried to wrack my brains as to how I could have ridden the bike in THAT condition and not have noticed anything amiss. I can immediately tell when the back tyre needs replacement due to drift in cornering for starters. I often corner quite sharply on the s****** due to once having a Kawasaki Z750 for five years. I was baffled. He presented me with a quote of R3000 for these additional repairs. I then repeated my earlier statement "How does a wheel get into that condition overnight?" I then asked him to 'just replace the wheel' and he said 'NO'.

To cut a long story short, I told him that I needed a few days to settle and plan a way forward.

I phoned Gerrit on the monday and asked him if he was able to return the bike to Hillcrest. He said he was unsure as he was 'short staffed' and could not give me an answer or time frame. On Wednesday I phoned him and told him I had arranged transport for collection of the s******.

I used the driver from Hillcrest Aids Centere Trust (where I work in the Charity Shop) and their trailer to fetch the bike, as I had found a Big Boy agent in Hillcrest who said that would attend to my request of replacing the rear shocks and correcting the wheel. They said that they would not fetch the bike as the 'biking fraternity is very small' which is the reason why I made my own arrangements. The mechanic at Big Boy S******s in Pinetown (Dylan) took great pains to secure the bike with a professional aplomb with the ropes that I had supp****, to the trailer. I looked for Gerrit in the workshop as I needed my key, but he was nowhere to be found. Neither was his front of house receptionist. I saw the key in a cup with a lot of other keys (I have a very distinctive pink ribbon) and tool possession of it.

We dropped the s****** off at the Big Boy agent in Hillcrest (Rhinomotors) and I immediately asked them if they knew, in their experience, how a back wheel could get into that condition under NORMAL wear and tear. They half laughed at me, saying under 'certain conditions' it was possible, but gave me no clear answer. The following day I agreed to their quote to replace the rear shocks and to correct the wheel (approx R2000). The agent I spoke to, Jonathan, was friendly and co-operative and a pleasure to deal with.

On thursday, once I had collected the bike and drove off, the mechanical condition of the bike immediately became clear to me. I could not corner without the back rest s****ing the tarmac, the slightest bump caused the under carriage to sc****, and the exhaust was making a much louder sound. I was a bit late for work so I did not turn around immediatley. At work I inspected the bike and found added cracks and sc****s to the bodywork.

I approached Jonathan that afternoon and asked him if he had any idea how the extra scratches and cracks had appeared in the body work and why the undercarriage sc****d when I cornered. He became quite indignent and said he had cctv coverage of his work arena and that nothing untoward had happened to the bike in his workshop. I also noticed later that there is a huge crack in the drive plate.

It was THEN that I joined the dots. It became obvious that the s****** had had a huge thud to the undercarriage, had fallen over to the left.

I then phoned Gerrit and asked him to "come clean" and to 'do the right thing' and own up to the fact that he had damaged the bike in transit. After a heated exchange he said he would phone me back on Monday. I then suggested that he allow his conscience to guide him, and to 'come clean'.

I am still waiting.