Day 12 – Agadir, Morocco

Agadir - Atlantic Ocean

Amsterdam|Dakar – Day 12 – Agadir
September 13th, 2011
Woke up this morning … and something was missing ….. ahh yes, the ear shattering “Allah-u-Akbar” from the mosque next door in Rabat was missing! The muezzins had clearly found the volume button last Saturday and you could not hear yourself think several times per day when it goes off. I’m tempted to think God must get really bored with all this name calling – “oh look, I’m still as great as I was two hours ago and they’re reminding me again in case I’d forgotten” – it all seems pretty robotic by and large, the religion is simply an unthinking cultural habit for most! Although that trait is certainly not confined to the muslim or islamic world by a long shot!

At any rate, yesterday, on the stretch between Casablanca and Marrakech, I noticed the old problem of tire rubbing on the exhaust that I had had with a fat Euro exhaust on the way down to Istanbul two years ago. This hadn’t happened on the journey out to Fes last week with panniers and 2 up on the bike. So something must have been different. Justyna had apparently shifted back onto the back rack for a change of position somewhere along the road, and I think that this likely increased the moment/force on the back shock when going over the low frequency undulations on the road, say over a bridge. At any rate she now has strict instructions to stay on the seat and refrain from acrobatics. I figured the problem was fixed with this but the bike still seemed a little slushy at the back last night. However on a couple of gas stops the tire was no longer wearing on the exhaust – thank allah (in these parts) for that. The skinny Canadian exhaust I have in there is generally well out of the way and we’re carrying a fair bit of weight with 2 up and luggage, but most of the heavy tools are up front in the tool tube thereby pushing the heavy stuff to the front with little in the way of heavy items riding on the back!!

Checked it this morning and there seemed to be some oil where the shock joins the swing-arm linkage and I instantly reckon that the shock has blown. Being that today would have been the longest stretch on god-knows what roads – the nice smooth toll highways are now behind us – I decided that it was not a good idea to proceed until I’d checked out the problem. Bottom line, we’re right on the edge of the desert heading south and I’m not into taking silly risks. The guy serving breakfast at the hotel, it turns out, is interested in mechanical things and shows me which area of the city the mechanics and garages are at. And also where parts might be available if necessary. And most importantly of all, what the french word for “shock-absorber” is 🙂 Very handy when trying to explain the problem!

Head over there, after checking in for another night – this also means that a pile of laundry can be done as well. Find the dusty light industrial part of the city and things look hopeful – spot a bike repair shop fairly quickly. Older Moroccan guy is there with a friendly smile, listens to the explanation, and pokes around at the bike, says “not a problem” (quell surprise) and he checks the measurements of the shock and, after giving us two low stools to sit on in the shade, disappears on his moped. He does seem to know what he’s doing – and his guys are working on a couple of other Indian made okada style scooters. Always good to see a shop busy, as you know that they are more likely to know what they’re doing and be good if their customers keep coming back. It had a similar feeling to the oily garage workshop shop in Dromara, McKnights, but with the umm-ing and ahh-ing in French rather than with a Northern Irish brogue. About 20 minutes later the guy comes back with a whole Kawasaki shock assembly – it looks almost identical to mine – I’m amazed and impressed. I’m pretty sure if I showed up with the same situation in Europe or North america I’d have to make an appointment and it would take days. This is in minutes.

But I have noticed that this shock seems to be a little wider at the top, and slightly longer than the one currently in the bike. Our guy notices too but figures on giving it a try. Pop bike side-covers off and loosen bolts etc and within 10 minutes the back sub-frame is half off and we can get at the top bolt on the shock. Pull bike up on the side stand and in a few minutes the shock is out. There are definitely some fundamental differences between the one that the mechanic just purloined and the one that just came out of the bike. However the original shock in it is not showing any signs of leakage of oil of any sort and in fact appears to be in fine shape. What I do notice is that the stiffness adjuster is only at 3 instead of 4 – max. Dammit, was sure I had that set at 4 when I did the bike refurbishment in 2010! So I’m thinking it might be that the adjuster wasn’t at it’s stiffest setting after all!

Mechinic guy heads off with both the old and new shock to wherever he got the last one from ….. and returns with a ….. “non, they don’t have the same one as mine!” As the old one doesn’t seem to be busted, decided to simply put the old shock back in and make sure it’s locked at the #4 setting for maximum stiffness. Bike goes back together in 20 minutes, and manage to wipe it clean a little bit as it’s now 2384miles (3814km) since leaving Holland! Take a couple of pictures of the boys who fixed the bike – Moustafa the older guy is built like Danny de Vito and I felt like Arnold Schwartzenegger in the movie Twins when we had our picture taken!

Head back to the hotel, time to get rid of some of the smellies that have been building up and do a bit of laundry and perhaps even take a look at the beach! On the way back she feels a bit stiffer at the back which is a hopeful sign.

I couldn’t resist a beer at the “English Pub” and then went down to the beach to check out the Atlantic Ocean and took a couple of shots of the beaches at Agadir. It’s a colorful place to be sure. Tomorrow, bound for Western Sahara, long day ahead and no idea where to stay in Laayoune either!

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