It was not meant to be.

I've had time to work the spare engine and it seems to be a keeper, at least no death rattles yet, knock on wood.

Tuesday Mike and I were planning on a ride, at first through Park City, Heber, and down Provo Canyon, and then we decided to change plans to just go up to Wyoming to a bar he knows that is supposed to make an excellent Philly Sandwich.

He came over around 10am and needed to have his rear brake spring reinstalled as it had somehow mysteriously come off... Gremlins!! It took longer to install than I expected due to some parts being misaligned, but about 30 minutes with a sledge hammer and crowbar took care of that. With the rear spring properly tensioned, I noticed the chain was in really bad need of tensioning and a good greasing.

We pulled the chain guard off and I spun the rear wheel a few times inspecting the chain. That poor chain was so dry that the links wouldn't flex properly, they were nearly locked in their slanted positions... not good. As I was starting to lube the chain up Mike asked "Is that line supposed to be there?" .... um what line? He pointed to a crack that had developed in one of the rollers (I think that's what it's called, it's the little piece that goes horizontally and is grabbed by the sprocket teeth.) I stared at it for a good minute trying to decide if that was good or bad and finally announced "Mike, I wouldn't even ride this bike home until your chain is changed out." Now Mike is a firm believer in the power of positive thinking, and though he is willing to overlook a lot of things that would probably bother me, this wasn't one of them and he agreed it should definitely be changed.

I did some calling around to check on prices and we decided to go to one of the local shops we tend to frequent, Wrights Motorsports. I think every single employee there owns and rides some form of motorcycle, and while that doesn't make them an expert on our old machines, at least they have a pretty good idea of what they are talking about. We picked up a new O-Ring chain and new sprockets. As always I couldn't resist buying a few tools that I always seem to be breaking.

We arrived back home and set to work changing out the chain and sprockets. The shiny new sprocket looks a little out of place, but that's ok it'll dirty up quickly enough :)

Mike is cleaning what looks like 30 years of built up chain grease from the sprocket area.

It isn't really hard, but it does take a little time, and unfortunately by the time we were done it was too late for us to ride to either of the destinations we had thought of. Oh well, I was perfectly fine with this, as there is little doubt in my mind that it was only a matter of time before that chain gave out and at best stranded Mike. There will be other rides, I have no doubt.