Here's how they took off the factory chain on my bike at the dealer in Mesa(now in Tempe/Chandler). They took a die grinder with a cutoff wheel and ground off the heads of the rivets on one link. Then they punched out the pins using your typical chain tool for that job.
The new OEM chain and sprocket set they put on wasn't an endless chain. It was a 120 link they cut a few links off and installed.
