I believe in mercy killings.

Trip report coming soon. Meanwhile, enjoy this photo set.

10,000 miles since the start of Memorial Day weekend… and two sets of tires. Twice to the Blue Ridge, and once with Alden to the 2005 BMW International Rally (and then out to Brad and Anime’s, as if we were not riding enough). When I haven’t been riding, I’ve been hosting company, or throwing parties for drunk bastards.

Or working on my bike. Since I just got the pocket camera, I’m not used to keeping around. Too bad, because the paper remnants stuck to the inside of the sprocket cover used to be a gasket, and I’m sure you’d get a kick out of it. Suffice to say that dealers have removed this cover multiple times, and unlike the rubber gasket that fits the valve cover and is reusable, this paper one is not and *should* have been replaced each time. Instead, it looks like they cheaped out and tried re-using the same gasket repeatedly. Farktards. Brian, that’s what you get when you pay Cletus.

However, even Cletus can be a silver lining–in fixing the oil leak I knew about, I discovered a coolant leak I *didn’t* know about. Now with all the Tigers, Thunderbirds, T-bird Sports, Legends, Tridents, Sprints, Speed Triples, Trophys, and Daytonas that have this same 885cc engine, you would think that the at least one Triumph dealer around here would stock the two stupid O-ring seals needed to fix this problem. Oh, wait, I’m in St. Louis. Oh, and I’m dealing with Triumph dealers again. So I spent all weekend doing the 48,000-mile servicing, and it seems that this Tuesday I get to put new tires on, Wednesday it goes to RPM to have the forks and headset serviced, and this Thursday night (when I should be packing) I’ll be draining the coolant, pulling the water pump, rebuilding and cleaning it, and putting it all back together. Oh, did I mention we’re headed out on our big Western trip Friday morning? Joy. But hey, if all goes as planned (waiting for laughter) we’ll be seeing Will and Tracy this weekend as we start our Tour O’ Fun, so it will all be worth it.

Odds are I won’t be updating until our return–have fun ya’ll and we’ll go drinking when get back!