The quest for chain and sprockets

[elizilla]

Near Jackson Hole, my chain needed adjustment. At my next gas stop it was loose again. In my experience, if I'm adjusting a chain this frequently, the wear has gone asymptotic. Time to get a chain asap, before it stranded me. Also, best to use it gently and not go anyplace too far off the beaten path. It would be bad to get stranded in the Black Rock Desert. By the time I crossed into Nevada I could feel the pulsing as the stiff links went around. And when a chain is that worn, the sprockets are also going to be toast, so I needed to replace those as well.

Wells didn't have a bike shop. Elko did, but they didn't have the parts in stock. No big surprise there. I rarely find the thing I want in stock in a local shop. The customer they cater to is someone completely unlike me. The only advantage of buying locally, is the instant gratification, and the local shops don't offer that, so why bother to go at all? Online is cheaper, faster, and has more selection.

So I called ahead to Adventure Motostuff in Carson City. Most of their sales are online, so they have things in stock. They had the chain and sprockets I needed, so I gave them my credit card and asked them to hold them for either me or John Austin (event organizer for the Reno V-Strom gathering) to pick up. Then I called John. I asked him if he was going anywhere near Adventure Motostuff and if so could he pick up my parts? He wasn't planning to go there that day, but he said he would have all the needed tools ready when I got to the hotel. If the chain held, I was sure I could make Carson City by 6, when the store closed. I sprayed a lot more lube on the chain, and forged on.

By the time I got to Winnemucca the whole bike was vibrating. I took the business loop through town and found another motorcycle shop. I stopped in and asked if they had my parts in stock, just in case. Of course not. They seemed to think I was really odd for even asking.

At 5:55pm I was on US-50 a couple miles west of where I guessed Adventure Motostuff would be. I stopped to call them and ask if they would wait for me, I should be there in ten or fifteen minutes. They told me my parts had already been picked up. It turns out that after I spoke to John, he called the store, and asked them if there were any customers there on V-Stroms? There were, and they asked these guys if they were headed to the gathering, and they were, so they sent the parts to the hotel with them.

With the time constraint removed, I looked at the map, and saw there was another road that cut the corner between US-50 and 395. Nevada route 341. US-50 in that stretch is shopping mall hell, and 395 is the slab, so why not take a backroad? It's not like this was an empty part of the state, I wouldn't be alone there even if I did get off the main roads.

It turns out that 341 is gorgeous! Perfect pavement, tight curves, winding up, up, up, to Virginia City, which is a cool old town, all done up into a tourist trap but still nice to see. Then it winds up some more, and then down the other side, with the whole city of Reno laid out in front of you as you go through the hairpins. I bet it's squid central up there on weekends, but at 6:30pm on a Thursday, there's not much traffic up there. Plenty of scope to enjoy the sweet road. It put a smile on my face after my tense day.

Eventually it put me back on 395 and I scooted through town to I-80, and from there west to the rally hotel, Boomtown. The chain made it! Whew!

Comments

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

Glad you weren't stranded by a broken chain. I miss the 1980s, when more standard bikes came with shaft drive. Yeah, it's heavy and eats horsepower, but it's probably the #1 feature that can make a bike low-maintenance. Unfortunately you only get them these days on very high-end touring bikes, and maybe a few cruisers.