Route 66 - Day 5 - St. Louis
Google mileage: 0
Actual mileage: 16
Total trip miles: 354
We got up a little later today as we only had a few blocks to ride. The first stop was Moto Europa, where I sit writing this post. The mechanic here is currently operating on the Triumph Sprint GT, opening up the clutch and possibly more, to find out what's going on.
While this is being done, the Manager, Mark, kindly offered us a tour of the premises. His outfit includes a Triumph and Ducati showroom, a separate KTM dirt bike showroom, a trendy Triumph themed restaurant, a function space, a hotel and even a vintage motorcycle museum.
It's the vision of local architect and business owner Steve Smith. The complex is large and even the museum is bigger than I expected and growing. It houses a mix of American and European bikes including some racers as well as some biking oddities such as the Bohmerland three-seater motorcycle. See a 360 panorama here.
Moto Europa puts any dealership in London I've ever visited to shame with it's size, space, services and dare I say it, culture. It's great to see such passion and to see a place that is far more than just a dealership. Mark spent an hour walking us around and telling us about the place. Just another example of the great customer service we are experiencing out here.
Soon we'll find out what work the bike needs, and if we will be spending a second night in St Louis if parts are needed. Fingers crossed we can be on the road, if not today, at a decent time tomorrow.
Update:
It looks like the clutch is cooked which is why it's been dragging and causing issues. There's no replacement on site, so the guys are overnighting a new one from Kansas. With any luck we should be on our way tomorrow.
Both the team at Moto Europa and the team at MCC Chicago have been great. Breakdowns are part of touring and it's good that we have enough slack in the schedule to not be too bothered by an extra day. The Moto Europa even has a boutique hotel attached to the dealership, so we were able to be spend the night in comfort.
Though we spent the morning waiting for the diagnosis on the clutch, once we knew nothing more could be done, we decided to make the most of the day and ride out on the Tiger. We managed to visit the St. Louis Botanical Gardens in the afternoon.
When the heat of the afternoon got too much for us we drove to the famous Ted Drewes Frozen Custard stand. This is somewhat of a local landmark which serves up an ice cream style concoction in a variety of flavours. Ted Drewes always draws a crowd but the queue moves fast and we soon got served.
Tonight we'll grab a couple of beers in the bar and relax. We'll also be crossing our fingers that the new clutch parts arrive in the morning!