Well, I found a Triumph dealer in Boerne (pronounced Bur-nee) which is a bit northwest of San Antonio, but they didn't have a chain and sprocket set for a Speed 4, and had no idea if anything they had would fit. They said if they could find a place in the state that had one they could get it within a couple days, but if they had to order it from England it would take about two weeks (as was the case when I broke a foot peg last summer). So I called the Triumph dealer in Austin. They had the parts, but their service department was booked solid for the next three weeks. So my only option was to ride 80 miles to Austin on a slipping chain to buy the new parts, then 100 miles back to Boerne to get it installed. On the way back from Austin I followed the signs to Boerne, which turned out to be the long way around. It could have been an incredibly pleasant ride through the country, and 'Old Towne' Boerne is a neat little place full of bier halls & brat hauses that would have been fun to check out. As it was, I was too nervous about throwing a chain, running out of gas, and arriving at the dealership too late to really enjoy it. But I made it, and with some time to spare, and Chris & Ceasar at Alamo Triumph took good care of my bike. The folks at Lone Star Triumph in Austin were very friendly too, and as helpful as they could be. Riding on a new chain isn't as much fun as fresh tires, but it was a huge relief to hear and feel the bike behaving normally again. I took a look at the old sprocket set after they pulled it off the bike. The rear sprocket was all chewed up and the front sprocket was actually cracked in a few places. For a while I was afraid my transmission was starting to give out as well, but it was just the chain rattling on the front sprocket. This round of maintenance only cost me about $325. Next up will be an oil & air filter change. If I can find an oil filter somewhere besides a Triumph dealer I could probably get away with spending less than $100 for the whole deal.
San Antonio is full of barbecue joints; more than I could count. And every person you ask gives you a different recommendation. It became clear that I would have to just pick one. So I picked one that was recommended that just happened to be closest to the motel, called The Smokehouse. It's the real deal, alright. You order at a window, they pull the food out of the smoker and slice it onto your styrofoam plate, give you a cup of sauce and some sides, along with pickles and onions and some plastic utensils, throw it all on a tray and off you go to a picnic table, each with its own roll of paper towels. The meat itself was delicious, very smokey and tender. The sauce was very tangy, but not very spicy. The potato salad was good, the cole slaw wasn't. The sweet tea at Sandra Dee's in Sacramento was was much better, but they do more of a Louisiana style sweet tea. On the way to Austin today I saw a place claiming to be 'The BBQ Capitol of Texas!'. I suppose I'll have to check that out tomorrow.
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There are probably as many bbq recipes as there are lumpia recipes and you could probably spend your life eating your way thru Texas bbq. I'm glad you enjoyed last's night's feast, but I'm curious to know, what on earth is "Louisiana style sweet tea?" How is that different from Sacramento tea or South Carolina sweet tea? (which they call "regular tea")
ReplyDeleteAFAIC, you will not find good slaw anywhere in the south.
Sorry about your sprokets, but I'm glad you could get them replaced without serious mishap. You've been lucky to find good places along the way for your service emergencies.
If I'm going to have to stop every other day and fix some expensive thing on my bike, then maybe I don't want to make a cross country trip!
BTW, what's happened to the map? You actually stayed in San Diego and are inventing all this stuff just to see how long you can fool us?
ReplyDeleteYour blog is so fun to read! The story about the killer mexican/cook was great. I remember going to El Paso and I actually did walk across the border to Ciudad Juarez while I paid some guy to watch my car. So I guess HE'S the only mexican you can trust in El Paso.
ReplyDeleteBTW, your brother did smoke up some kick ass pork for my birthday. There's so much, there might be some when you get back. But don't get your hopes up, and stock up on some Texas BBQ sauce while yhou're at it, OK? ;)
MMMMMMMMMMMM BBQ. The only reason Texas shouldn't be allowed to secede and then drop into the ocean.
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ReplyDeleteThe farther east you go the sweeter the tea becomes. Until you get about half way through New Mexico, tea is just tea and if you want it sweet you gotta put about 15 sugar packets into it yourself. At Sandra Dee's they put a whole lot of lemon juice in it, and a whole lot of sugar, so it's more like lemonade mixed with sweet tea.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the map, if you scroll down a little bit you should see a new map labeled 'Part II' that shows my route from San Diego to New Orleans.
I bought chain for my old Triumph at the farm impliment store. Got it in a 100 pound keg. It worked great and didn't cost very much. I had new chain all the time. It was easier to replace the chain regualry than taking the old chain off, cleaning it and then soaking it in a pot of warm grease. Yes, this was so long age it was before "O"ring chain.
ReplyDeleteBuy some spare light bulbs while you're close to a Triumph dealer, those will be the next to go along with the clutch cable, if your experience with Triumph is anything like mine.