call around to see if we could get it picked up and delivered to me , we ’ d discussed that the bike had been stripped and wasn ’ t road legal . I didn ’ t know if it had been damaged or even destroyed .
My jaw dropped , as a few minutes later David explained that he ’ d found someone to bring it back , but they were going to charge AU $ 2,000 .
“ It ’ s a number we don ’ t like ,” David said quietly . “ But we are willing to take care of it for you .” Unbelievable ! I was speechless . Needing to think through what I was going to do , especially once we got it to Yulara , I asked him to hold off .
Rex Spencer , whom I had never met , messaged me the following morning to say he ’ d heard about the outcome and as he was in the area would go and pick the bike up for me . We talked and while mentioning that I needed to get her checked out Rex suggested that I take the bike to Alice Springs to see Michael Vroom ( Vroomy ) who owned the local KTM dealership . Rex was headed that way in a few days and would take the bike for me .
Things began to fall into place , Vroomy , besides being a hell of a nice guy and former winner of the Finke Desert Race is an awesome mechanic . He and his business ( Outback Motorcycle Adventures ) run a fleet of KTM500s so they know the bikes inside out . Tess was in great hands .
By this stage word had got back to Andreas ( Gklavas ) the Marketing Manager for KTM Austria who had recently written an article about my bike and travels for their blog . He talked with Rosie Lalonde ( Event manager for KTM at the time ) who contacted me . I told them Vroomy was working on the bike , pulling the head off and I was thinking of doing the top end and they offered to throw me some parts .
Harold ( Olaf Cecil ) from Giant
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