The VBMWR Helps a Traveller

You would have received Wayne's message about the fellow, David, from Colorado who experienced problems with the fuel pump on his 2015 R1200GS and needed a place to stay.

Excerpt:
"Good morning. My name is David Bergstein and I'm a GS tourer from Colorado. I am on my way back home from a roll thru AK and my fuel pump began to fail around Vernon. I limped the bike to Kelowna on Monday and have been here ever since. A fuel pump has been difficult to find in all of Canada, so I ordered one to be overnighted from US. That was Tue. I just got word that the delivery is stuck in customs and is now expected to be delivered on Monday afternoon. 
I've been in a hotel here in Kelowna since Monday. The expense has gotten pretty costly as it's high season here. So, I'm reaching out to see if perhaps a moto member in your club might be willing to let me camp in their yard or something like that. I'm very low maintenance and a solid citizen. Any other ideas would be welcome. I've been on the road for 8weeks, so the timing here has been challenging."

I texted David offering him a place to stay and he ended up staying with us 4 nights. He also heard from many of you with all kinds of offers of help.

While we awaited the arrival of the part we had a great visit with David and heard a lot about his several trips to Alaska and the Baja. In recent times he is spending about 6 months a year adventure riding. We did some local things like walking the waterfront downtown, hiking the KVR at Myrna Canyon and taking in a wine tasting + lunch + music at Priest Winery.

The dealership had read the fault codes on David's bike and felt that the problem was with the pump and not the controller. David had tried to read the codes with his GS-911 but had been unsuccesful. We got that sorted while he was here. David had only used the GS-911 at home where it could connect to WiFI and wasn't aware that when out in the field you connect your phone to it device-to-device ("D2D") rather than via WiFi. The stored code indicated that the pump had drawn too much current which would suggest that either the pump was seizing up or the filter was clogged. In any event we were confident that the new pump would solve the issue. BMW only sells the pump as part of an assembly which includes the housing lid, filter, pump, fuel level float sender and screen. US$526 or CAN$1100 for the assembly!

We did some research on the fuel pump while we awaited its arrival. Like the fuel pump on our bikes (F800) it is entirely possible to source the filter and the pump as separate items in the aftermarket at a far lower cost but the assembly was already ordered and on its way. We also found a couple of used assemblies available from a breaker in Alberta so another alternative would have been to get a low mileage unit from a wreck for only US$180.

Early Monday morning the UPS tracking revealed that the assembly had arrived in Kelowna and delivery had been attempted but of course the dealership was closed. We headed off to the UPS store to see if someone there could help us intercept the parcel. There we were told that no they couldn't help and that we would have to see customer service at the UPS warehouse in Lake Country but that it would not reopen until 4 PM. Seems that are only open in the morning and afternoon. We figured that we would head out there anyway and talk to someone. Sure enough we walked in customer service and were greeted by a wonderful woman who said nothing about it being outside of hours and just asked how she could help us. David told his story and she was immediately sympathetic having travelled in Alaska herself. She figured that the parcel was probably back on the shelf in the warehouse and set off to look and indeed found it. Then she said what we knew was coming - the parcel was addressed to the dealership and not to David so strictly speaking she could not release it to him. But undaunted she said she'd speak with the supervisor and he came out and approved the release! Great folks there. We had the part in hand.

So next was the decision whether to await the opening of the dealership the next day or take up an offer of help from the club members. David opted for the latter and in short order we were off to Gary Sampson's who provided the garage, tools and expertise and we were soon joined by Tom Maxted who provided the beer. Gary and David soon had the new assembly installed and only had two body screws left over at the end! Great team effort.

David was back on the road the next morning with a stop at the dealership to sort things out there and then down Hwy 33 to meander his way back to Colorado. We enjoyed his company and were happy to help a traveller in need.