Sidecar Adventures (Part 1) Lithuania

Sidecar adventures (part 1) Lithuania. As I already explained in the previous post, the idea of ​​this trip was to travel to Lithuania by plane, buy a motorcycle with a sidecar there and return calmly to Spain doing quiet routes of about 300 km each day. The idea at first was to do it alone but almost by chance, Jordi, a co-worker who is just as bad or worse than me, has decided to accompany me on this adventure where I have informed him actively and passively that the plan is not to There is a plan and the only thing I could promise you is that you will not forget this trip for a long time. He thought it was perfect so, the journey begins!!! Well, on Thursday night we decided to go to the airport since the plane left early on Friday and it wasn't worth waking up at 02:00 in the morning to take a taxi that would probably cost us a fortune. So, we went on Thursday night and spent the night at the airport.

I do not like to fly

As some of you know, I don't like flying, but sometimes there is no other choice, so all you have to do is relax, watch a movie and watch the clouds. We finally arrived at the Vilnius airport in Lithuania around 11:00 in the morning and everything seemed really easy, from finding our luggage to getting to the first Hostel, to choosing the right bus. As you will see later, we can guarantee that people in Lithuania are friendly and try to help you as much as they can.

Piece of Hostel!!!

When we arrive at the hostel, they tell us that the room will not be ready until 14:00 p.m. (it was 12:30 p.m.) because they were cleaning it. It seemed strange to us but we decided to take advantage of the time and meet with one of the motorcycle sellers that we had located through the Lithuanian websites. I won't talk more about Hostel, just say that it was a big shit, it only had a double bed that took up the whole room. And there was only a span ahead to the door. In short, in worse places we have fought. What surprised me the most is that I looked under the bed and it was full of shit, so I don't know exactly what they were cleaning for an hour and a half.

Do you like it? We buy it? Come on!!

From the Hostel, we met with the seller and went to his town by taxi to see the motorcycle, it was 20 kilometers from the city. The motorcycle is a Russian DNEPR from the 90s with a sidecar in apparently acceptable condition, with all the documentation in order and a price according to its condition. The sellers were 2 slightly serious military men who answered our questions to the best of their ability. After testing the bike and negotiating the final price, we decided to buy the bike. I had brought several photocopies of Lithuanian and Spanish sales contracts that I had obtained from Google but it was not necessary. The military took us to a technical center where, after paying for the motorcycle, they were in charge of processing all the documentation for the name change. This center is responsible for both passing the inspection and carrying out the name change and instantly gives you your new registration, in this case temporary so you can drive the motorcycle to your destination country and be able to file the new documentation there. This registration has an expiration of 1 month. And what surprised me the most is that doing all these procedures costs a whopping €14,01!!! Yes, friends, once again, SPAIN IS DIFFERENT!!! If you want to do the same here, you need to have 2 or 3 days free, make an appointment in advance and pay a lot more money to do the same. After approximately 1 hour. The bike was ready to ride with its new license plate and full fluids, so...we prepared for the first contact. The Sidecar Adventures begin.

oops!!! This drives differently...

After the first half hour of driving we made several things clear:

• My partner said it was a joke in the sidecar.
• I confirm that these types of motorcycles run more than they should.
• Driving has nothing to do with a normal motorcycle.
• I am delighted with the purchase I have made.

As I was thinking about all these things, on a downhill stretch, the bike stalled and wouldn't restart. So we pushed it to a bar and decided to grab a bite while we thought about what might be wrong with it. After eating, we tried to start it again, and it started right up, so we quickly got on and rode straight to the hostel without letting off the gas. As we arrived at the hostel, the bike stalled again. We parked it and went to get dinner and drinks. It was Saturday, everything was closed, and our theory about the bike was that it would malfunction when it got hot. Probably due to an electrical problem, but... what kind? We thought that if we could get out of the city and onto the open road, maybe we could go far on both Saturday and Sunday, making the most of our time until Monday when we could take it to a repair shop. We hadn't managed to ride more than 16 kilometers before the bike suddenly stopped. Luckily, we managed to push it to a gas station, and there we decided to take it apart and check various parts to try and figure things out. You can't imagine how much we missed having a multimeter. After several hours of drawing some rather unsubstantiated conclusions, given that it was already 7:30 PM, we decided to call the RACC (Royal Automobile Club of Catalonia) for roadside assistance. I'll just say that the assistance finally arrived at 2:00 AM, and that at that gas station in the middle of nowhere, it was cold, dark, and we were attacked by mosquitoes. Long before the tow truck arrived, a young guy stopped to help us, and he called two more friends who came to try and help repair the motorcycle. Luckily, I asked them if they could lend me a multimeter to run some tests and get a diagnosis, and we concluded that the whole problem stemmed from the battery, which, although new, was shorted and shorting out the starting system, among other things. We woke up on Sunday feeling a bit tired but eager to see more of Lithuania, even without our motorbike. Since we couldn't do much about it until Monday, we decided to visit Kaunas, about 100 km west of Vilnius. On the way there, we met Mika, a really nice 21-year-old guy who not only walked us to the station but also decided to spend the whole day with us, showing us around his city. We strolled through the old town and sampled the best beers and tapas in the area. We saw the confluence of Lithuania's two largest rivers, as well as the castle and the most iconic churches in the region. I have to say again how pleasantly surprised we were by the friendliness of the people here. Finally, we took the train back to the hotel and were able to rest a bit after a very enjoyable day. Today, Monday, it's time to pack my luggage and go to a local workshop to get the motorcycle repaired so I can continue my journey, but that's another adventure that I'll tell you about later….