Navigating Day 6 of the Route Napoleon: A Guide to Overcoming Breakdowns on Your Motorbike Tour
- MotoTravelDude
- Jun 6
- 5 min read
Updated: Jul 24
Ride report.
67km and 261km
France. A day of two journeys.
A lazy start this morning we were on the road by 10 am after having breakfast with views of the Mediterranean.
Our route took us straight north up the lower Italian side of the Haute Alps. It’s true what they say about Italian drivers, the scooters were lunatics, the little cars were all over the place, no one indicates and it is just carnage. Yet only a couple of miles from the French border.
We took a back road route through Col de Vescavo pass through the mountains. Our route was crazy twisting and winding ascending over 1000m in just 5 km. It is some of the most technical riding i have ever had to do. The road was so steep with lots of landslip and sharp stones across the single carriageway. We were lucky there was very limited oncoming traffic.
At the top of Col de Turini, we headed north west on our way to Col de la Bonnette, the tallest paved through road in Europe.
As we are winding our way down the hill, my tyre pressure monitoring system starts flashing at me. I was rapidly losing pressure on a single lane narrow road.
We found a relatively safe place to pull over. There was nothing here for Miles the nearest village was a good 15 km down the hill.
One of those lovely sharp rocks have put a slice in my tyre. Five tire packets came of everyone’s top boxes with five experts or putting in their suggestions.
After reinflating the tire with a portable compressor the first try was a standard mushroom plug. It seemed the hole was bigger than we first thought we tried 4 or 5 sticky twist strips, with a splash of glue, but that still wouldn’t hold.
Final try with another mushroom bung and some glue, but unfortunately there is still the escape of air.
I’ve already been on the phone to the RAC and triumph assist who are very good listeners and managed to drop my GPS coordinates on a map. Thank goodness the breakdown was somewhere with 4G in good signal.
The rest of the crew headed on with Trevor the Red Baron leading the way, whilst I sat very bored on the side of the road with my 45 minutes ETA.
After an hour of pretending to do yoga overlooking the valley and a grand total of three vehicle vehicles coming by (all of whom stopped and asked if I was okay mind you), I was back on the phone with the RAC.
Turned out that while I had fantastic 4G and signal, my GPS had pinned me the other side of the mountain. With the location resolved, it was nearly another hour before my knight in a flashing van arrived. About time too because by now I was out of water and little snacks, and decided yoga wasn’t really good for me.
We loaded the bike up with a gazillion straps and made our way down the hill.
Jean Pierre in his manual Mercedes sprinter, shifting with his elbow and on the phone to every garage that he could think of, as cyclists were heading down the hill towards him.
We had no luck with my tyre size and headed back towards Nice, where he knew a motorbike garage that he hoped might be able to repair it. The guy took one look at the plug had a quick squeeze of the rubber and shook his head in a typical ‘c’est impossible’ way.
Jean Pierre was out of ideas as no one had the right size tyre in stock, so we headed to their breakdown depot on the outskirts of Nice.
There was worse news yet to come with his perfect English speaking boss and multiple secretaries calling around every dealer and entire shop they could think of, and it was a firm no. It would seem the earliest I could get a tire delivered would be Monday (five days time), as tomorrow is Ascension day, a national public bank holiday. Merde!
His suggestion was I leave the bike at the depot, find a hotel for two nights and he would call around on Friday morning. Not even Triumph have the tyre in stock.
After lugging my luggage over a dual carriageway, I saw there was a B&B hotel over the road. The walk in price is €149! But book online (in the foyer) and it’s €60! Go figure?
Once rehydrated and settled in, I got back on the phone to as many garages as I could.
Whilst it is possible to fit a slightly smaller tyre, sign out it’s completely legal in France and none of the mechanics were interested in doing that. With a shaft drive, I’m not technical enough to be able to do this on my own, ignoring the fact that I don’t have the tools to change a tyre.
I found a boutique key looking hot rod and custom motorbike shop that said it closes at 6 o’clock, so at 5:59 I put a call in. Using a compilation of Franglaise and Google translate it will seem he has the right size in stock. And he would happily open the garage at 9 am tomorrow if I paid him over the odds in cash. Booked.
Now on the outskirts of Nice, I can just about glimpse the sea from my hotel window. I need to find an ATM. Another hellraising run over the dual carriageway and a 25 minute walk later I found myself at the Allianze Nice football stadium, with a shopping centre adjacent but no ATM. A further walk and I found a bank but considering my run of bad luck, the machine was out of order.
An hour and a half later, I now have a handful of cash, a fairly rubbish pizza from reception and three bottles of beer to keep me company. But it looks like I'll be overcoming my motorbike breakdown on tour.
Good luck, I should be back on the road early tomorrow morning and catch up.
That’s enough of my news! The guys had a fantastic run up to Col de la Bonnette today, and they seem to follow my pre-planned route fairly well. I’ve already called their Hotel in advance with their ETA and book them a table for dinner.
Depending on how quick I can get on the road tomorrow, I may pound the mileage and do two days worth of riding in one, I’m brand-new rubber. To be continued…
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