Istanbul and a leak (day 61-71)
Day 61 - 71 (12th - 22th Oct)
5,795 miles
Sofia - Istanbul
The first night at my hostel in Sofia was a little strange.
After the usual pantomine of unloading my bike, jamming it straight outside the front door and trapsing all my gear up to the room, I was 'confronted' with one of my room mates. There were no conversations as it wasn't a back and forth, I did manage to understand he was from Poland, and that his name was Dmitry, that he had some sort of negative view of motorcyclists, that he likes to be drunk in the morning as well as the evening, and that he has no personal hygyene - you can guess how I learned those things. After fending off the room mate I aired camping kit in my bed and went to sleep, hopeful to avoid further interactions.
First thing the next morning I went for a run round the city to see some of Sofia's sights and reccy a spot for lunch/writing in. It's been a little while since I've made any continuous effort with running and each time feels much harder than I remember it being. Sofia hadn't really woken by 9am, the weather was calm but the streets were very quiet, save a few elderly ladies crocheting and knitting articles and garments to sell by their stalls on the pavement. Hunting through Google I hoped to add in what looked like the main attractions but after 40 minutes of running and sightseeing, it didn't feel like there was much more to go at and I felt a little underwhelmed by the place. I got a shower and headed back out with tablet to tuck myself away for the day writing somewhere and found a cafe busy with friends meeting, couples dining and small groups of reunions - it seemed I had found a spot off the beaten track. I whiled away the hours with admin and writing, prepping myself with research and logstics to leave the European Union accompanied by multiple latte's crafted into Harry Potter sorting hat motifs and various treats. I discovered I can buy vehicle insurance at the border for Turkiye, that I don't need a visa, I booked a hostel for 5 nights to give me 4 full days to explore Istanbul, and bought an e-sim as my EU roaming would stop once I left Bulgaria. Eventually I had ticked off enough things and I needed to move my legs so set off back into Sofia feeling like it deserved another chance before I left the next morning. I found the main street of the city and felt like I had discovered where all the people had been hiding. There were street performers, the Rila Mountains in the background, and at the far end a Guitar Festival with acoustic workshops being held in tents, a stage with various solo guitarists 'shredding' and a load of street food vans and drink venders. I got some dinner and a beer whilst enjoying the range of guitar styles (and skill) until it started to get dark then wandered back to the hostel - it seemed I had maybe cast my underwhelming impression of Sofia a little early, I still don't think I'd necessarily come back to explore but it wasn't as quiet and subdued as the morning had suggested it was.
I packed up my stuff the next morning, loaded the bike and nipped to a bakery for breakfast before the 570km ride to Istanbul. As I set off it was 9°C and my hands felt it, but switched to warmer gloves and continued until the sun worked its magic. I got to the border for 13:00 ish and spent 30 minutes queueing to leave Bulgaria, stopping my Shengen ticker at 62 days. In no-mans-land I pulled in at the 'Duty Free' to try and buy some vehicle insurance and check that my Turkish simcard was active and working. The insurance would need to be bought after I'd passed border control and customs, but before the declaration and final gate to Turkiye. I got back to my bike and had a quick glance down spotting an ominous dark pool. I had a closer look and figured it was oil, and that it had come from my bike.
The back of the sump was wet, but it was all over the underbelly of the bike, sump guard, swing arm, sub frame, everywhere. The two resevoirs it could have come from were the gearbox or engine, but at this point I wasn't even in a country so it wasn't the best time to tackle it. Parking that problem for the moment I went through passport control, got to customs and had to negotiate passing without the appropriate vehicle insurance to be instructed where I could get it. With the V5 and my passport I bought the shortest period of vehicle insurance of three months which suited me anyway, and only cost 54 EUR for the bike. After getting the insurance I then had to go back to Customs, for them to register the bike as belonging to me prior to my entry into Turkiye. I headed for the final gate to leave the border but was sent back again because the particularly grumpy customs officer who had been through my belongings earlier hadn't ticked the box on his tablet. Refusing to walk the 3m to my bike from where he was stood, I had to do a convoluted loop back past other parked cars to get to him, he looked at the top of the contents and clicked his button. Customs officials I guess - ultimate power.
I passed through the final gate and officially into Turkiye - pulled over at a fuel station and put the bike on its centre stand to look at my new problem.
When I was at the BMW dealer in Norway I bought a litre of engine oil, strapped it to the back of the bike and have been carrying it since. I've no idea why I bought it, nothing I was doing in Norway needed oil, it wasn't enough to do a full oil change, it seemed a bit odd at the time but I was very grateful to still be carrying it now. I gave the top of the sump below the bellhousing for the clutch a wipe, reasoning that its likely to be either the countershaft or the crankshaft seals, behind the clutch, rather than the gearbox. When you have an oil leak the wind basically splatters the entire environment with oil, so it can be very hard to work out where the problem originated, I was wearing it on my boots, the bottoms of my trousers, it had gotten onto the tyre and covered the underside of the wheel arch with oil, but luckily avoided contaminating the rear brake pads so far.
I rode 14 miles then pulled over and confirmed that oil was coming out of the back of the engine onto the sump so it was crankshaft or countershaft seal. After another hour of riding I clocked the rate of loss to be about 100ml an hour, which was far too quick to manage by topping it up for the next 5000 miles before home. I gave Pa a call mostly to complain aloud about the situation and for him to confirm to me that I do actually need to sort out the problem, he was at Rach & Joe's open house party with the rest of the UK fam eating drinking and being merry whilst I was at the side of the road in Turkiye coming to terms with the fact I'd be spending the next few days in a foreign city trying to find parts and somewhere to fix the bike, again.
I set off from the UK wanting this to be an adventure with mechanical challenges to keep it interesting but I feel like I'd ticked that box fairly comprehesively in Norway and topped it off in Warsaw - alas, there was more to come.
I carried on toward Istanbul in the warm afternoon and eventually got to the edge of the city after sunset, skyscrapers and buildings all over the place - looked down at the navigation, 32km to go, still. Someone asked me later which made me realise - this is the biggest city I've ever been to, official population of 16 million, huge land mass, thousands of buildings, enormous. I rode through the heavy traffic and pulled over to photograph the 50,000 mile anniversary of the bike before getting to the doors of the hostel and checked in, unloaded my kit and headed to the bar on the rooftop terrance - looked out at the view across to Asia, bought a beer and sat down. The night ended learning how to play Hearts and She Wolf (la loba) with Andrea, Shay, Byron, Jeremey and Garron - between us representing South America, North America, Asia, Australasia and Europe.
After a slow morning of procrastinating the need to tackle the challenge I set off north of the city to the BMW dealer who had a motorrad department in hope I'd be able to win the parts I needed. The traffic and riding through Istanbul is a sport in itself. Bikes and scooters zipping through the multi-lane gridlock traffic endlessly, lanes drifting in and out of roads taking you off in all sorts of directions - not a restful ride by any measure. I was able to order the crankshaft and countershaft seals as well as the fuel quick release o-ring I bodged a fabrication of in Romania, and a spare connector for 'insurance purposes', to be collected tomorrow. I headed back to the hostel which took 1 hr 30 to claw my way through 18km of traffic then had a search for areas with motorcycle mechanics, workshops and garages in hope I could find space to work.
I headed to a region 10km south of the hostel along a public transport link I could use to commute once the bike was in bits, and went to try my luck. The language barrier became much more apparent when you break from the tourist trail in Turkiye, there isn't much need to speak English if you're mostly repairing scooters for locals. Using Google Translate, I started asking if various workshops knew of anywhere I could rent space for a few days. Conveying the problem with the bike was relatively easy, asking to rent space to do the job myself was not going so well, its not a common request. Space is a premium in Istanbul, I went to 5 workshops in the blistering heat, asking the same thing, trying different approaches, getting recommendations of other places to try, and getting nowhere. The best bit of the afternoon was just being laughed at by 4 guys gathered round the owner of a garage I had parked outside when I told them what I needed, what I was going to do, and how long it would take, stood with my skin tacky inside the riding gear, hungry and depleted. I gave up as the sun was setting, got a turkish pizza kebab thing with mystery meat then headed back to the hostel. Chatting to the hostel staff about my day and the issue of having nowhere to work, but that I really didn't need anything just somewhere secure and safe to work - the manager Can offered space outside the hostel which was perfect. I would have to be entirely self-sufficient with it, making sure I had all the tools and workshop ancilliary bits like cleaning products before I started, and a way of supporting the front of the bike when it was in two, but the more I thought about it the better the option felt. I could work without the restriction of opening hours, there would be people around, I could store the bits I removed in the basement of the hostel, had the facilities during the day and there was a gazebo to shelter from sun and rain - it was a good option
The next morning I went for a scout around the hostel for things to help with the job. I found a pallet nearby I could butcher to support the front of the bike and some cardboard beer boxes to protect the floor from any spillages then suited up and went in search of cleaning products, torque wrench and sockets for the clutch carrier knowing I'd need to torque everything up on the rebuild. In the UK you just go down to your local motor factor or tool shop and get the stuff you need, its straightforward. 'They' say if you can't find something in Istanbul, it doesn't exist, which I think I'd agree with - but knowing where to look, who to ask, and how it works, is as important as anything else. I found a region littered with little tool shops jammed with the full range of branded to total trash, realising that this was my option. I sat for 30 minutes in one of the tool shops after being shown a torque wrench in a catelogue and the chap leaving the store to return with it (but I have no idea where he went). I found a shop that sold grease and oil I'd need for the splines and the oil change I'd do afterwards but had been warned that fake oil was a big problem in Turkiye, so I don't know how to get round that. The oil looked real but I guess thats the con - I'll just have to hope I'm lucky and will change it again when I get back. I went back to the BMW dealer to pick up the parts and was back at the hostel by 7pm after a day of hustling but ending with everything I needed.
I had a quick bite to eat then set about stripping the bike with the company of a new Danish friend Line (pronounced closer to Lenur) playing tunes and singing along into the night with a few beers and by 23:30 the bike was close to being ready to split. I woke up and had breakfast then using my penknife chopped the pallet up and made two smaller pallets to stack and take the load of the bike once the back was removed. Having done this task in August I was able to strip it quicker than before and left a few things attached I knew I could get away with, by early afternoon the bike was in two and starting to get attention from guests and locals with the bizarre sight outside the front of the hostel.
I'd been in Istanbul 3 days and done nothing except tackling the problem so when Andrea and Laura mentioned they were going over to the Asian side to explore and get some food I opted to join them and have a break from it. They both work remotely as digital nomads, Laura as software support for a US company and Andrea as a therapist (as well as volunteering in the hostel), so juggle their days around needing to work at various hours but able to travel whilst maintaining income has huge benefits once you're into the routine! The ferry ride over was relatively cheap (maybe £2-3 ish?) then we wandered around Moda district on the Asian continent, mooching around the shops, getting snacks and sitting down for some Egyptian food before coming back and taking refuge in a cafe as Laura started working remotely.
The next morning Andrea asked if I wanted to get falafel at a really good spot she new a few miles away that evening, so my challenge was set - finish stripping the bike, fix the problem and rebuild it in time to test ride and get some falafel for dinner. Taking the gearbox and clutch off I could finally see the seals, and gratefully discovered the friction plate of the clutch had not been contaminated by oil, and that it was the crankshaft seal which had failed afterall. I cleaned it all up, swapped the seals, deliberated leaving the countershaft seal but conceded to change it in the end as the new one would take 5800 miles of life out of the seal, and begun the rebuild. The main obstacle in my mind with the whole job, after confirming the problem and changing the seal, was lining up the two halves of bike again. When I did this at home I had the front suspended from the roof of the garage and Pa to help manipulate the two halves together again whilst I aligned the drive shaft. Having raised the front of the bike onto the pallet which kept it stable such that I had to lift the back into position, I was able to nudge it around to align in a fairly controlled manner, and with relative ease the bike was together again. With the six joining bolts secured - the rest of the rebuild felt like a formality.
Over the last few days various locals and tourists had been walking by and stopping to watch and chat about it, the biggest crowd I'd drawn was about 8 people stood watching as I worked. It had become a talking point amongst the guys who worked in the shops locally, and I started to get to know them, being offered Turkish tea, coffee, cookies, all sorts - everyone was very encouraging and interested, a few guests had been interested in the project too and it was a really nice way to meet people and share stories. The talking point aspect of bike touring and the people you meet when facing problems, you don't get as easily backpacking, and I've started wondering whether South America would be as interactive if I don't take the bike. Maybe I'll look at how difficult it would be to ship my bike there to continue breaking it on foreign soil to help meet people.
I continued working on the bike and by 20:00 it was fully rebuilt - I booted up, borrowed a helmet for Andrea and we set off to test ride the bike and get dinner, as promised. The seal held, the test ride was successful and the leak was gone after 16 hours of spannering over 4 days from discovering it at the border with no means or plan on how to resolve. I intended to change the oil whilst I had the facilities and space but that could wait a few days. I extended my stay in Istanbul (having originally planned to spend 4 days exploring and done very little) and could finally switch to being a tourist.
The following day I headed over to the Asian side with Laura for the afternoon to get to the huge mosque on the hillside - Grand Camlica Mosque. The atmosphere on the Asian side of the city is a little more relaxed, and feels slightly more traditional and organic, a bit less hustle and bustle. We stopped by a cafe for some coffee and cake managing to identify the name of the 'brain like cake' we kept seeing in cafe windows as Borek, then walked up to the Grand Camlica. There was a chance we'd see the A3 Comet that evening just after sunset so headed to a restaurant with a sunset view for dinner looking out over the city. The view was incredible but the clouds, light polution and smog removed any chance to see the comet in the end.
Fuelled with the want to see the major attractions now my mind was free from worrying about the bike, I got up early the following morning and headed to Hagia Sofia and associated museum to learn about the history of Istanbul, through the various empires that have besieged the city and the changes in culture over the last 2000 years. It was really interesting learning how the city had changed, the evolution Hagia Sofia had been through with the shift from 1000 years of Christianity to the past 500 years of Islam, the failure of its architecture and the role Mimar Sinan had in reinforcing it to survive until modern day. I had a browse around the mayhem which is the Grand Bazaar and its 3,600+ shops then went over to Galata Tower and sat with a coffee for a bit before heading back to the hostel that evening.
The atmosphere in the hostel was really warm, a small group of people had developed into a bit of a social crew, occasionally going off and doing their own individual things but generally convening to spend days together, going out for food or playing cards until the early hours. Andrea, Toby, Laura, me, Shay, Richy, Wass, Jasmin and a few others coming and going through the days too - it was really nice to have a social circle around, then the staff at the hostel felt part of it too with Sinan, Can, Nejat and Peter on the nightshifts witness to our late night card sessions. There was another guest John from Birkenhead who I'd gotten on with really well with for the last week or so too, he'd come out to Istanbul solo travelling and doing his own thing but we swapped stories of things we'd seen or been upto during the days and it was really nice to get to know him and hear about the experiences he'd had in life too. The social aspect of the Cheers Vintage hostel made it once of the nicest hostel experiences I've had so far on this trip and I'll miss the familiarity of the the place when I leave.
I made the most of the pre-breakfast start the next day too and beat the crowds into the Blue Mosque, which was nice but had less information available about it and I feel played a smaller role in the development of Istanbul through time (compared to the Hagia Sofia), so I was pleased to have been but didn't feel that the visit added much more to my view of the city. With some time still available before the hostel breakfast finished, I headed to the Basilica Cistern to learn about how the Romans developed a waterway below ground to provide for the city which was really interesting and afforded some pleasing photographs as they cycled through different coloured lighting for the labrynth of columns housing 80,000 tonnes of water. That afternoon nine of us from the hostel headed to Asia for a turkish hamam and dinner which was really good, having use of the steam room and saunas before getting scrubbed and beaten - sorry - massaged by robust turkish chaps. I changed the oil on the bike then finished the night as many other nights had, in the bar of the hostel playing cards until the wee hours.
I checked out from my room and started the process of re-loading the bike with spares, tools and cramming turkish trinkets to the already full panniers which took most of the afternoon. I said my farewells to the friends I'd made in Istanbul and set off east from the city with an hour of daylight remaining, toward Cappadocia. Hunting through Google maps I found a hillside with tracks into the undergrowth to the east of Izmit and followed my nose until I ended perched atop the hill as the sun set, with the familiar sound of dogs barking in the distance as the athan of the local mosque rung out into the evening.
