1 week in Medellin and I picked up my bike today 1/9/26

Today was a little different from the rest as I had to schlep my motorcycle helmet along with some other stuff to class. That was a lot of weight to carry to the metro, deal with passengers and then walk up the hill to class. 

 I arrived early and started to do my homework when Scott the English chap started talking my ear off. It was ok, as it was at least English and muy dificil a comprendo. In a few minutes I found out that my teacher Bivi was not going to be there and I had the pleasure of having Fredrico the owner of the school teach me for a couple of hours. He likes guitar and motorcycles so we hit it off well and I was able to give him some very good feedback about the school. 

I needed to pick up my new motorcycle today and they were short staffed we decided that I would have a couple of make up hours next week. I zipped down to the metro and got on with the masses toward the center of town. (Yesterday, I was able to help a couple from Hong Kong figure out the metro, which was fun.) 

 Since I didn't receive an email receipt from the accessories guys JC Bikes which I think they were trying to give me Gringo prices on everything, I went back to their place and asked for a receipt. My bike was in their shop being worked on when I walked in. The work should have been done the day before so I wasn't to pleased. They also didn't have the aluminum skid plate, they said it would be next tuesday. They had a Stainless Steel one that I orginally wanted, so I had them put that on and it also saved me 70,000 pesos. 

 Next, I went over to Teknik. 

I mentioned them yesterday. These guys are AWESOME! Here is a different link which you can get translated to your own language. 

Owner Daniel, young Daniel, owner Anthony, Juan the mechanic.  The owner Anthony and his brother Daniel speak impeccable English and Spanish of course. They are a couple of very interesting young hombres (I can say that because they are younger than me - Hahaha). Their shop is not just any shop, they can do EVERYTHING. Of course they sell, helmets, top boxes, locks, gloves and other accessories but where TekNik really shines is their other awesome ability to fabricate anything you need for your bike. They have a tube bending machine, welding, paint booth, these guys can make whatever you want or need at very reasonable prices. Juan the mechanic is top knotch and has been doing this for many years and as an added bonus is an engineer so he knows all about engines, electrical, welding, etc. Everyone pitches in to get the job done. And you know they do good work because they also are restoring multiple bikes in the back. I was fortunate to get a tour by Daniel and was super impressed, so if you need anything done in Medellin, go see the guys at Teknik. 

 After I told Daniel I would be back when I picked up my bike I headed over to the Suzuki Stealer and of course it took a very long time to get the paperwork, license plate and my questions anwered. I Can't even believe it, but the bike had fumes in the gas tank. I said to Santiago and Stivo (my sales helpers who were very nice),

What the Hell!, you spend over 14,500,000 pesos and you can't even fill the tank! It didn't make me very happy to have to find a gas station first thing but apparently that is how ALL stealerships operate, even the car stealers. I found this out talking to many people. After all the hugs, kisses, photos and bitching, I loaded up the bike an took off for the closest gas station. 

Now the best part, I get filled up (nobody but gas station attendants touch the pumps so they fill your car or bike, unlike America). Just after I paid the $50,000 for 3 gallons (they sell in gallons not liters - go figure) the sky decided to open up and pour like nobodies business.

It was coming down so hard that lakes were forming in the street. I saw some other motorcyclist putting on cheap plastic rain suits and asked about them. They said the attendant sells them so instead of staying for hours under the canopy, I went over and picked up the economy suit for $8,000 pesos.

It even came with booties so you totally stay dry. Pretty awesome. It was time to baptize the bike and ME to motorcycling in Colombia and off we went to Teknik for the rest of my accessories. 

 I pulled in out of the rain and we got started, David was giving directions and the other Daniel started gathering my top box, Anthony took off and found a back rack and in minutes they were dismantling my new bike. The rack went on in just a few minutes and while the young Daniel was installing that,

Anthony found a front bracket for my car play unit and I helped him install that.

Then he took apart the side of the bike to fish the wires through while the younger Daniel started looking for Hand guards. I'm talking these guys were tag team wrestling on my bike and it was really starting to come together fast. Juan came out from working on other bikes to help with the wiring of the car play unit and turned it into a better than factory wiring interface. SUPER IMPRESSED with this guys. One handlebar end gave us fits even with a hammer impact driver but with some other tools Juan was able to remove and we got the other hand guard installed. I wanted a cover for the bike and they had a VERY nice one which I can use as a tent from the rain if needed and then the last thing was a disk alarm/lock. We took pictures,

I asked if I could wash dishes in leu of pay and then they kicked me out. No, we had an awesome time and I can't recommend them enough. 

 Now my phone battery was down to 15% and I needed to figure out how to get back to the homestay. Talk about combat driving..... I pulled out onto the 1 way street (there are many in that area) and headed through the gauntlet of motorcycle mecca. Every store on a number of blocks is ALL motorcycles and parts, hundreds of motorcycles are lining the street, sometimes 2 deep. I followed a couple of other bikes through the maze, lane split and whatever to get out to the main road. I could see on the car play unit that I was about to hit a MAJOR congestion area (all red). Sure enough it was red tail lights for days. I followed the other bikes as we lane split and weaved through the cars. It was totally amazing that nobody got hurt. I wish I had it on video, you would NOT belive the chaos. After 20 min or so I pulled up to the homestay and took some things in before getting the remote for the parking garage a few blocks away. I had to push the bike across the street just like a pedestrian which is quite common. I then was turning the bike around to get on the street and 2 Army kids with Israeli machine type guns came over to me and I think they were saying I could not be there or something. I just smiled and asked if they spoke English and we talked for a few minutes, they in Spanish and me in very bad broken Spanish. I took off and parked the bike then came back to chat with them a little more. The homestay is across from an Army base and they have a tank out front with the young kids guarding the place. So there you have it, a day picking up the new bike.