Ain't she purty?

Nothing like a new clean chain - especially when it's bling-bling gold! After cleaning up the back wheel and swingarm, I reinstalled the wheel. The wheel has always been a pain to get back on because you need to lift it slightly while aligning the brake caliper bracket and wheel to slide the axle in. I read about someone using a shovel to pry and lift the back wheel while installing the axle and it worked like a charm! With the long handle of the shovel you have plenty of leverage to move the heavy wheel. Score!

As you can see from the photo, the chain fits like a charm - all I need to do now is install the master link. Having a chain rivet tool is the mutt's nuts and thankfully I have one. It's one of those tools that is kind of expensive and you end up not using it that often, but when you do use it - you know the purchase was worth it.

Back to work I go......

The trip is on!

Finally got the trip planned with my friend Ben. A week from today we'll depart and he'll take his bike to it's new home - Seattle. I'm going along for the first couple of days and then will take an alternate route back. The route to get out there isn't anything exciting, but it'll still be fun to hit the road. Basically, Ben has to be back at work on Monday morning.

Getting out of the highly populated burbs is a welcome vacation. Travelling through South Dakota is pretty peaceful and the skies are so much more blue. I am used to the pace of the burbs however, so I definitely couldn't live out that way.

The Seca is pretty much ready for the trip - I only need to make some minor adjustments to a few various things. My bike, on the other hand, needs a little more work. I got home early today so I was able to start getting it apart. The major thing is the new chain. The old one came off with no argument thanks to my Dremel. I pulled the axle and the rear wheel was as good as out. The mess left behind, however, is a different story. I probably removed 5 lbs of greasy sludge which built up from all the chain lube hidden behind the front sprocket cover. The swing arm was pretty nasty too.

The bike was running a little funny the last time I rode it so I pulled the carbs and checked them even though I recently cleaned them. They were all ok so I drained the gas tank and installed an inline fuel filter. The plan is to get it buttoned up tomorrow.