Arrrrrrrrrgggghhhhhhhh!

Monday morning.
Bike was parked up sunday and I was actually please the weather was bad so I didn't feel too bad about losing ride time. But that split link was worrying me.I still can't believe the guy at the bike shop on the saturday refused to help me out even though the split link could have come off on the motorway.
"come back on monday" was his rather sad answer when I asked to borrow the softlink tool..."I don't know what it looks like..sorry mate" was his answer..I tried to explain I'd be fucked if it came off on the way home..but this guy wasn't bothered his ass..
I made it back, driving well below the speed limit.
Monday morning.Weather is looking good.Split link in pocket- check! off I went towards yamaha centre. Kept to the city roads and not motorway to keep the speed down...take a long right...open her up around the apex..and theres a dip, infamous after Swedish winters...crunch!...clutch in..throttle down and I roll to a stop..car follows and stops..."is that your chain lying in the middle of the road?".. .. ..
-"no shit sherlock"...

Fuck me I was PISSED! Every swear word in the vocabulary was aimed at saturdays svenny...it was ALL his fault...obviously on reflection..it was all my own fault..but blame is easier...
So, I phoned another local bike shop, about 1km away..
-" hi..I'm in big trouble..chain link off...need a tool to put the one in my pocket back on the bike."..
the answer didn't help the swearing or my own already disfigured ideology of Svennies...
"naa..sorry mate..don't lend tools..not even of you leave a card.."..............
Thanks very fucking much, MATE!

so..there I was.I did what had to be done.I phoned a mate, went and bought the chain extractor / rivet tool, collected the tools required to remove the engine casing and of course the blocks to lift up the rear wheel. 15 minutes later having collected the gear the new split link was on the bike and my bpm was down a tad.

On reflection I was lucky the damage wasn't worst than it was. The only victim was the top of the magnesium chain cover which was cracked and a small piece removed...new replacement already sourced..it could have been much much worst.
I think what disappoints me more than anything else is the attitude from the bike shops.It's not just the bike shops mind, but every subculture that I'm been involved with just isn't the same anymore...getting old perhaps and missed a sign of the times sign somewhere along the line.
Years ago I was working on a bike , late in the evening in Musselburgh,scotland, when I heard a loud scooter on its way along the long straight just next to the housing. Then it popped and wheezed and there was that annoying silence you get when something has just stopped working.
I walked out of the garage and towards the scooter boy who was shaking his head at his wheels. When he saw me he didn't look much happier, as back in the 80's it was rockers versus scooter boys...that was the classic..
..but that evening we pulled his scooter into the garage and he went off with my promise that it would still be in one piece when he returned the morrow. I even tried to fix the thing, but to be honest I simply couldn't get to grips with the design or build..it was alien to me..
Wheels are wheels..oil is oil..and oil is the blood we all share.Or used to. The whole saga surrounding the chain break is actually more a disappointment of an end of an era..or simply I'm in the wrong place at the wrong time..it's like an end of an era...