What to expect - bike on a ship for 10 weeks

Jamieboy

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Hi All,

I'm going on Friday to pick up my bike (1150 GSA) from Felixstowe, it having been shipped from Los Angeles.

It's been just over 10 weeks since it was last started and it will have been sat in a shipping container for that time.

I was thinking of bringing jump leads in case the battery is flat, pump in case tyres have lost a bit of pressure - but are there any other issues you good people can think of which I might have to tackle before being able to ride it away?

Thanks
 
It's an 1150,

All you'll need to do is hit the starter button, engage 1st and ride away :)
 
I'd have disconnected the battery Before you put it in the container

Word of warning IF the battery is dead I wouldn't jump it and try riding home you will put a helluva load on the alternator trying to charge a duff (possibly) or very discharged battery

Borrow a battery and take it with you to swap in It a GS it'll take 15 mins and save you popping something expensive like Hall sensors

and a couple of gallons of Fresh petrol if you left it in with a low fuel level
 
Out of interest, what shipping company did you use. 10 weeks seems a long time. did you leave it in storage for a while?
 
Thanks guys.

It was sat in LA for a few weeks prior to actually going on the boat. Has taken just under 6 weeks actually shipping. Hence 10 weeks in total.
 
DrFarkoff said:
I'd have disconnected the battery Before you put it in the container

Word of warning IF the battery is dead I wouldn't jump it and try riding home you will put a helluva load on the alternator trying to charge a duff (possibly) or very discharged battery

Borrow a battery and take it with you to swap in It a GS it'll take 15 mins and save you popping something expensive like Hall sensors

and a couple of gallons of Fresh petrol if you left it in with a low fuel level
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You won't burn out a 1150 alternator charging a motorcycle battery - knackered or not. Unless it's actually gone short circuit - highly unlikely - it'll just draw whatever current it can, which won't be a lot. It might be a different story if you had Japanese reg/rec fitted. I'm sure most of the failures on those are due to knackered batteries allowing voltage spikes. The only real worry would be a seized clutch but it should've been pretty dry when it was packaged stateside.
 
Any money you open the doors turn the key and ride that badboy out of the port......its an 1150........:beerjug:
 
Having shipped my 1150GSA twice on Bilco's trips, the only two issues I had were;

Flat tyres on the second return trip, but this was due to them being K60 Scouts and was probably from when they were fitted (as they're a bit of a sod to do) - they were losing pressure the whole trip. I think more than a few peoples bikes tyres were low, so a leccy pump would be a bonus.

And having run the tank nearly empty as required, all the shite they put in the fuel over there kinda congealed and bunged the system up, so it ran lumpy initially - bit of a sod to start, but the Odyssey Gel battery cranked it over for about 20 seconds and it fired up. Filled it up at the nearest petrol station and the fuel soon mixed & all was well.

None of us disconnected the batteries & I think only one was almost flat on turnover............. but it was a 1200 :green gri
 
Uncle Dick I never said that the Alternator would burn out.

What I was meaning was that when you release the jump leads you will likely cause a massive spike until a steady charge ratio is achieved again

Then you ride off with your 30 plus amps plumping into something that is much better served by getting long slow charge and you arrive at a set of lights and you stall ???? Not unheard of even on an eleben fiddy (and if you haven;t much charge how you going to start it Kick start ??)

All I am saying is save the hassle save the "possibilty" of voltage spikes and possible damage to expensive bits borrow a battery

And Jamieboy if its pretty damn flat and you do not opt to swap a fresh battery in? DO NOT keep on trying to turn it over to start because the old Hall sensors are prone to voltage / current surge and they're nearly £200 now for a plate, bit of cable, connector and a couple of wee magnetic things

The only common factor in 90% of the hall sensor failure I have had is a bad battery or the starter jamming very shortly before hand


uncle dick said:
You won't burn out a 1150 alternator charging a motorcycle battery - knackered or not. Unless it's actually gone short circuit - highly unlikely - it'll just draw whatever current it can, which won't be a lot. It might be a different story if you had Japanese reg/rec fitted. I'm sure most of the failures on those are due to knackered batteries allowing voltage spikes. The only real worry would be a seized clutch but it should've been pretty dry when it was packaged stateside.
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Confirmation the container is still on the ship.
You hear about so many being washed overboard.
How much did it cost to ship back ?
I asked about and to fly it it would cost £500 plus you needed to crate it.
 
Thanks very much for the replies all.

I will be reunited tomorrow and will let you know what happens.

Cheers
 
patzx12 said:
Out of interest, what shipping company did you use. 10 weeks seems a long time. did you leave it in storage for a while?
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just to ley you know , i have sold an old norton to a guy in oakland west coast of the usa.i used a company that was recomended from on here called james cargo in manchester ,they picked it up from here in co durham and away it went .it took twelve weeks to get to the port of san francisco and cost 980 quid all in .
but two hundred was to come to here to get it and take it to manchester ,i know two hundred is alot for that journey but i didnt have time to take it there myself.
 
I should have taken the bet!!! It turned over sluggishly but wouldn't fire. Needed to jump it, but it's a late GSA so was fitted with that jump start nut thing next to the starter. Very easy and she started fine, ran lumpy for 10 seconds and then settled down perfectly.

I'm never ever commuting 10 weeks on the tube without the bike again!!!

Thanks again for your thoughts.
 
Jamieboy said:
I should have taken the bet!!! It turned over sluggishly but wouldn't fire. Needed to jump it, but it's a late GSA so was fitted with that jump start nut thing next to the starter. Very easy and she started fine, ran lumpy for 10 seconds and then settled down perfectly.

I'm never ever commuting 10 weeks on the tube without the bike again!!!

Thanks again for your thoughts.
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She was just making you feel like a 1200 owner there for a second..glad you got her back....
 
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