Peterborough to Inverness on a 125: Part 3

Well, the trip certainly didn’t end the way I was planning on it. Instead of riding the final 284 miles home from Abington Services on the M74, I instead did the journey in the passenger seat of a recovery van, after the Yamaha MT 125 conked out.

The bike hadn’t started for us since it arrived, and I’ve been bump starting it all weekend. But after a coffee stop at the services, it refused to fire up at all. Bumping, pushing, and even jump starting all failed to work, so the lift home was called for instead…

The problem doesn’t seem to be the battery, and the lights aren’t dimming when I hit the starter, so we think the problem is probably something in the electricals. Four days of abuse from road salt, torrential rain and freezing conditions can’t have helped!

The bike’s going back to Yamaha soon for a diagnosis, so keep an eye on MCN in the coming weeks for the full story once we figure it out.

Of course, with temperatures hovering around the -5°C mark when I broke down, not counting the 70mph wind chill, I’ve spent the past twelve hours denying all charges that I sabotaged it just to get a warm and dry lift home…