Soon I was heading north and then near the edge of town I headed west. The road was paved, for the first mile or so and then turned to dirt. I love it when I get faked out by paved road that turn to dirt not far along. About an hour into the ride and passed a small village by 10 minutes, I lost power. Coasting to a stop I looked down and discovered the problem. My chain wasn't where it should be. Turns out it was along the road, some 100 feet back. I packed all manner of tools and supplies, but didn't include a chain breaker tool. That is exactly what is needed to put a chain back together once it separated. I tried flagging down several cars. None had a chain breaking tool. A motorcycle stopped and quickly understood my problem. The rider left and returned a little while later, not with a tool, but with two guys. They had a hammer, a Philips screw driver and a box wrench. I quickly understood that the one guy was a mechanical genius. They proceeded to remove the surplus remains of the chain, the with great skill tapped the pin almost all of the way out of a link. I found a 5 foot log and positioned it perpendicular to the installed chain to provide a base to drive the pin back into the second link. It took time, but these guys saved my bacon with the most basic of tools. I gave them a considerable tip by local standards and was on my way. Then two days later I bought a chain breaker tool and later brought a spare chain back to Bolivia when going home for three weeks. In fact, I am still riding on the same chain that these mechanical super heroes repaired in the middle of no where.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Bolivian Break Down
Soon I was heading north and then near the edge of town I headed west. The road was paved, for the first mile or so and then turned to dirt. I love it when I get faked out by paved road that turn to dirt not far along. About an hour into the ride and passed a small village by 10 minutes, I lost power. Coasting to a stop I looked down and discovered the problem. My chain wasn't where it should be. Turns out it was along the road, some 100 feet back. I packed all manner of tools and supplies, but didn't include a chain breaker tool. That is exactly what is needed to put a chain back together once it separated. I tried flagging down several cars. None had a chain breaking tool. A motorcycle stopped and quickly understood my problem. The rider left and returned a little while later, not with a tool, but with two guys. They had a hammer, a Philips screw driver and a box wrench. I quickly understood that the one guy was a mechanical genius. They proceeded to remove the surplus remains of the chain, the with great skill tapped the pin almost all of the way out of a link. I found a 5 foot log and positioned it perpendicular to the installed chain to provide a base to drive the pin back into the second link. It took time, but these guys saved my bacon with the most basic of tools. I gave them a considerable tip by local standards and was on my way. Then two days later I bought a chain breaker tool and later brought a spare chain back to Bolivia when going home for three weeks. In fact, I am still riding on the same chain that these mechanical super heroes repaired in the middle of no where.
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Cool...
ReplyDeleteGood trip
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