The news from the motorcycle repair shop wasn’t good. The battery charging issue with the V-Strom, they said, was down to the flywheel, not the regulator, but they couldn’t get their hands on a second-hand example anywhere. A new flywheel would set me back R7,810, plus VAT, plus labour. Oh, and flywheels were back-ordered and delivery would take six to eight weeks.

That wasn’t all: the problem was with the flywheel’s magnets, which had come loose. The mechanic had found shards of broken magnet in the oil, so the recommendation was to strip down the engine completely to ensure that there were no other shards waiting to destroy the engine from within. The total cost of the repair would be around R22,000, which is a shade over £900, which to me is a lot.

The deal-breaker was the six-to-eight-week wait for the part; I had to head back to the UK in three weeks and wouldn’t be back till much later in the year. So I had the bike trailered from the workshop to our home for a very reasonable R450 (about £20) and there it now sits while I consider my options.

I paid about £3,500 for the bike in December 2010, and as a going concern it could be worth around £2,500 in South Africa today. The nearest bike-stripper will give me about £600 for the Suzuki, which ain’t enough, frankly. So the decision now is based on whether I can find a second-hand flywheel in the UK, bring it back in my luggage on our next visit to South Africa and fit it ourselves (my wife and me); check out the price of a new part in the UK and see if it makes sense to buy it there; or go ahead with the South African repair and costings.

It’s primarily a financial decision now, as the propensity of V-Strom 1000s to shed their magnets seems all too high, according to the owners’ forums, and so I have no massive desire to keep the bike. Once again, it seems as if our horribly bumpy dirt road has claimed another victim; it could so easily have played a part in shaking the magnets loose. I’ll do some parts-shopping and reach a decision this summer.

It’s a shame in another sense, too. I’d been thinking about replacing the UK-based Honda Valkyrie with a smaller, lighter bike. I’ve been experiencing an irritating but not debilitating pain in my right arm when riding the Valkyrie over the past year, which I have attributed to the riding position. A few years ago I burst one of my bicep tendons and decided against having it repaired, as the majority of people who went for the repair seemed to be body-builders or serious weight-lifters. For everyday life, you can get by with just one tendon, and I have – until now. I think that the angle of the Valkyrie’s bars, their height, and the need to hold the throttle open manually for long periods have conspired to cause me pain in my wrist, forearm, bicep and shoulder. It sets in within an hour, whereas I can ride my wife’s Tiger 800XC, the V-Strom, the Ducati Sport Classic and the Suzuki TL1000 without any pain.

Okay, that’s not entirely true: the Ducati and the TL are beginning to be a pain in the neck, literally, from the need to keep my head up from their naturally head-down riding position, but that’s another story! But the new Triumph 900 GT Pro seems to have a lot to offer as a tourer, along with the same flat bar as the Tiger 800, and the V-Strom likewise. The reputation of V-Stroms for alternator and regulator issues, however, has eliminated in from the list. I plan to try the Triumph anyway, and probably the Yamaha Tracer 900 and the BMW 1250 RS. They each offer a useful weight saving over the Valkyrie – more than 100kg in the case of the Triumph – which might be welcome as the years advance.

In the meantime, I’m not quite ready to walk away from the wonderful Valkyrie. It’s my third, and I’ve owned one for a total of 18 years. I’ve tried to tackle the problem from the other end – me! Can the arm problem be fixed to the point where the pain goes away and the Honda becomes a pleasure to ride again. I’ve started with six sessions of acupuncture to my arm and neck. The chiropractor reckons he’s found a few issues that he can deal with, and that’s already having a positive effect. A bit of gentle work with weights, gradually increasing the load, might help complete the task. I shall be reunited with the Valkyrie in mid-June and can’t wait to see if the problem’s been sorted. Otherwise, it’s bike-shopping time!