Short USA Summary

After 3 days riding, I arrived in LA. Nothing special about the ride other than finally seeing sun,

Mt. Shasta

the California Coast,

California Coast

and getting to LA for a day or two of last minute preparations before heading down to Baja.

I did have quite the amazing experience at the BMW Shop, West Valley Cycle Sales, in Winnetka when I stopped to see about getting my Anakee 2's mounted. The lady behind the service counter replied, “We can’t do that.” “What,” I said? I think I must have had a weird expression on my face as the lady just stood there looking at me. She finally said, “I can’t mount them because I didn’t sell them to you.” “I’ll pay,” I told her. Nope, she wouldn’t do it because she didn’t know where they came from or how they had been handled; insurance and all she told me. “You’re serious?” I asked her. As she started to walk back to her desk, she assured me there was nothing she could do. "Ah, do you know of any shop that will help me out?" “Maybe an independent shop, but no major dealer,” she said as she set down at her desk. “There aren’t very many of us anymore,” she said before getting involved with her computer screen. Well, no shit, if that’s how you treat a customer, I thought.

New Skins

The next day I stopped in at Pasadena Yamaha and walked out 1 hour later with the tires mounted. I even had a nice talk with the very friendly service manger. What’s going on with the BMW dealers in Southern California? They can’t mount tires they don’t sell? I’ve never heard of that before!

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Moto-Treks

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