Lack of respect and common sense in traffic in Rio

Sometimes, there just isn't anyone in the right.

My boss told me about something he saw on Sunday, on Avenida das Américas, a busy road with 4x3 lanes.  A motorcyclist ran a light that had just turned red, hitting the side of a car that had just started going on a green light, with the impact likely at around 60-70km.

The lady that got hit?  Did a U-turn to look, then drove off.

My boss, who was in front of the car that got hit?  Stopped to look, didn't get out (excuse: had small kids in the car that he couldn't leave alone), eventually drove off since he felt unable to help.

Other traffic?  Simply drove around the accident at the highest speeds possible, nobody stopping to help or even to check if the motorcyclist was alive.

Pedestrians?  Stared.

Nobody actually did anything.  No idea if an ambulance or the police were actually called.  The lady whose car was it left her bumper with license plate at the accident, so she would be easy to find - if the police could be bothered to follow up these sorts of cases.

OK, this specific case seems like attempted suicide by motorcycle, but that doesn't justify that nobody stopped to help or do anything.  Really, here in Rio nobody has any respect for anyone else in traffic.  Just the other day I nearly got hit passing an intersection at a green light because a driver felt like doing an illegal left turn into oncoming traffic.  Yesterday I got nervous waiting at a red light because cars, buses, and vans were passing me at 70km/h - they apparently feel lights are for Christmas trees, but at that speed, if someone had clipped my mirror I could have been tossed into traffic from the opposite lane.

The insanity is general - once on a bus I was stuck in traffic for half an hour, because a bus had run a red light to cross the main artery through the city centre, but couldn't fully cross because of traffic - and so ended up blocking the road for nearly the full half hour. 3 fire engines and several ambulances, all with the emergency lights and alarms on, were stuck as long as I was.

There's just no respect for anyone's safety in traffic here.  What can be done?

Just another day on the road in Rio de Janeiro

Cruising on a sunny Sunday

So, we had a fairly sunny Sunday here in Rio.  I spent the morning at the Hippie Fair in Ipanema with the family, then lunch in Copacabana, and then I got to take the bike out for a cruise.

Ever hear of CheckMyTour?  It's a cool little smartphone app that lets you track, save, and publish your trips, designed for use by motorcyclists, but open to anyone.  It tracks you by GPS, and you can add photos and comments along the route as you like.

Here's my tour for today, available for all to see.  Feel free to comment or check out my other tours.

During the week I had bad luck with rain on the way home from work, especially getting caught in a squall on Thursday - apparently 27mm of rain in 15 minutes. My bike really doesn't like wet weather - it seems like it sometimes gets at the electrics, shutting everything down, and regularly drowns the engine, which means I have to leave the choke wide open and keep the engine at high revs to not stall. I hope the weather is better this week.

I've also had some bad luck with traffic. The worst thing that actually happened was dinging my mirror on a taxi overtaking me illegally, but with unsignalled lane changes and other nuttery, I have two things to say to every driver in the country:
1.  Hang up the damn phone;
2.  Pick a lane.  That dotted line?  It's supposed to be to the side of your car, not down its centreline.

Looking forward to another week's driving!

Servicing my bike at the dealership - Brazilian style

This week I took my bike to get serviced, the 3000km review.  The bike was in apparent perfect shape, except for sometimes having trouble shifting into 2nd gear from 1st, so it was mostly a formality, and a check to see if the dealership's mechanics would find any budding problems.

So, the next day I picked it up from the dealership.  They'd changed the oil, looked at the shifting problem, and gone through the general review.  And wrecked it.

Now the shifter pedal has been moved so I have to use my whole leg to shift gear instead of just the tip of my boot.  The engine idling speed has been tuned down to the point the engine dies at the lights 2-3 times every trip.  They've loosened the gear mechanism, so I need less pressure to shift gear and it's easier to shift into neutral - except now it feels worn, rickety, and crap. The problem shifting into 2nd remains.  But hey, at least it was expensive and time-consuming.

This sort of half-assedness is, unfortunately, endemic to Brazil.  It makes no business sense, of course.  Kasinski makes some profit selling its new bikes - but not as much as other companies, since they're trying to be competitive on price.  They don't sell used bikes, as far as I know.  They don't have parts available (I've been trying to get a rear saddlebag for months, but they never have them in stock - "they're on backorder"), so they don't make money off that.  Now I see that their mechanics suck - so unless you're insisting on making use of your warranty on a new bike (which doesn't cover the price of standard servicing anyway), there's no point ever taking your bike to the dealership.

The mechanics in Favela Mangueira are far cheaper and more experienced, plus they're at least attempting to be competitive.  I overheard a phone call while picking up my bike, the gist of which being that the mechanics at the dealership simply don't know if a certain part from a Mirage 150 will fit on a Mirage 250 - both bikes they're supposed to work on.  They don't work on the 650s at all, nor do they sell them at this dealership.

Well, what's the immediate result of this?
1.  Suddenly buying a Mirage 250 as my next bike seems like a terrible idea.  Sure, it's fairly cheap, and it's the only 250cc cruiser on the market: but I can't count on getting parts or competent service on it.
2.  At first I considered driving straight to Mangueira to get a real mechanic to service the faults that appeared from the service.  (I didn't had time.  Work.)  I really, really don't want to ever patronise a Kasinski dealership's mechanics - meaning they lose that potential income.
3.  From chatting to a colleague at work, I learned how to fix the main problems created.  I've since adjusted the throttle cable to fix the problem of the engine dying (needs more fine-tuning, though), and tomorrow I'll adjust the shifter pedal.

Long-term result?

First, I will absolutely learn more about fixing bikes - that SENAI weekend course on motorcycle maintenance I've heard about.  If mechanics are unreliable, I'd rather fix everything myself if at all possible.

Second, I'm reevaluating what bike I'll buy next - I really would like some more power, as my current bike groans taking a passenger over the mountain to work, and vibrates so badly at 80km/hr that I can't see anything in the rear-view mirrors.  The candidates are:
Honda Shadow 750cc
Yamaha Midnight Star 950cc
Harley-Davidson Sportster 883 Roadster
If I win the lottery or get a fat raise at work: a Harley-Davidson Super Glide.

Maybe next Christmas?

Opinions?  All of them are built in Brazil.  All of them seem to be very comfortable rides - I don't think I want a street bike, though I'll take a few for a test drive.  All of them have a fair number of dealerships, and so should have fair accessibility to spares - less for Harley-Davidson, of course.  All of them are expensive and less economical to run than my current bike...

Cruel doubts!  Let's see where my thinking, opinions of friends and family, and the advice of strangers on the internet lead me.

Maybe Christmas 2016?