Bobines

As we sat eating our croissant for breakfast we looked at the map to see where we should be heading. Once through Tours we were going to be into the rural countryside. Although my bike had run well for the first hour of the day I was still concerned that I hadn't necessarily fixed the problem yet - I was beginning to doubt my 'bobine' (coil) - it was certainly old and showed signs of detereation.
A quick look on google maps and we could see that there was a Piaggio dealer only 20 minutes away. It was now or never if I was going to get any parts so we spun over to see them in the heart of the very lovely Tours.

We pulled up outside the shop at 12:15 and as we were taking our helmets off a chap walked over and said "are you here for the shop? It's shut!" after much horror and gesticulation it turned out this chap was the owner of the shop and he was about to take lunch... Until 2:00 (the French do their lunch properly)
I explained my situation and he said he might be able to help. He wasn't sure if he had a part in stock but if he had a suitable part on a bike then he would take it off for me to buy. And then he suggested we take lunch too or even have a sight- see of Tours until his shop opened again!
We weren't sure what best to do - wait on the off chance there might be a part available or press on, on the off chance that the bike would continue to behave.
As we were debating this, the owner popped out again to take my vehicle chassis number - things were looking up, he was investigating.
Within moments he came out of his shop with a very similar looking bobine to mine and said "try it and if it works you can buy it, if it doesn't I'll have it back" so there began another roadside mechanical job - I'm glad I had my tools with me.
It didn't work - the bike wouldn't even fire :-( "no problem" the owner says "I have a different one" and he went to get it for me to try.
This one did work! She ran fine.
"try it on the road" he says and promptly taped the coil to the bike as a temporary lash up. Sure enough it worked so I fitted it properly and was jolly pleased.
"cafe?" he asked and his daughter bought us out coffee as we sat on the pavement outside his shop :-)
Grammont Motos in Tours are absolute superstars - they were interested to help and nice to chat with.
The part cost €105 - and for those who are interested - it was a Yamaha part - exactly the same as the Piaggio part even down to reference numbers!

We got on our way again after a 2.5 hour enforced lunch break. Did it solve my problem? Well not totally, the bike started to bog again (wouldn't power) but I found that if I gunned the throttle I could get through the bog and she would run ok.
I guess if anything that €105 bought me some peace of mind as another suspect part was eliminated from my enquiries.
We were on the road again :-)