I've decided after yesterdays experience looking for bike parts and
mechanics, that the African system may work better than our modern 1st world
system (only in some respects of course).

I have been having a problem with my top chain roller since I left
England.
The previous owner of the bike had neglected it and as a result, it had
fallen off and the chain had cut into the shaft on which the roller should
have been fitted .

I have gone through 3 rollers up to now, as I haven't been able to fit them
properly.
Yesterday, I set out to find a new chain roller and get the shaft rebuilt
and filed to size.
I was expecting a day of frutrating hunting around, with no result.

How wrong I was! Within an hour, half the local population had pointed me in
the right direction of the motorbike 'souk' (like an open air market), here
thousands of little shacks have heaps of second hand spares for various
obscure motorbikes.

I found myself a 'runner' , showed him what I wanted and let him loose on
the scent.
A half hour later I had 2 bearings which fitted the shaft.

Next I was pointed in the general direction of a machine shop.
Once I found it, it wasa simple matter to explain what I required, then
haggled over a price and sat back and drank Pepsi's at his expense!
3hours later, I had a chain roller, which seems better than Yamaha's genuine
spare, a rebuilt shaft and a once more healthy bike!
All this for a day out and 16US dollars! Try that in London!