Sirius Scratch
Moped
Wrecked the Connie in a low speed turn back in August '10. Besides snapping off a drop-side foot peg and brake lever, I trashed the right mirror and rashed the bajeebers out of the right pannier. Foot peg replaced, mirror semi-repaired [complete disassembly to find that the friction ball joint behind the glass cracked in half, reinstalled the pieces and tightened the bolt that holds it. Mirror holds until first bump then sags out of adjustment!], front brake lever replaced. All of you who have ever dropped your Connie while in motion know how sturdy the panniers are. I believe mine not only held the bike, but likely meant the difference between the walking brace I wore on my right leg, and open knee surgery. The upshot of that drop is the right side pannier's aluminum rim interlock is warped out of face, and one corner rashed so bad that it looked like it needed a haircut.
In addition to motorcycles, my cager preferences run to muscle cars and my son and I regularly watch the PowerBlock on Sundays. I saw the Trucks! guys repair a cracked dashboard with a heat gun and a lot of patience. I've found that this worked marvelously on the pannier and I have been able to flow the road rash down and close the gaping hole in the corner! I have the pannier where it will work OK for now with a little persuasion and actually lock closed. But I want to see if I can do a little better. Good used and new panniers are prohibitively expensive, so I want to give this fix the proverbial college try. So here's some questions:
1) On the panniers, are the clamshell halves glued into the aluminum interlock rims as well as held in with tiny screws? I removed all those tiny screws, and tried to get the clamshells free but they wouldn't budge. The clamshells work against all my efforts to get the aluminum rims realigned because they are stressed out of shape from the accident.
2) Once I get the aluminum pieces aligned I also need to reshape the pannier a little bit in the corner. I have been pondering different curved heat resistant items [household or readily available and cheap) that will fit in the corner of the pannier to give me something to shape the flowing plastic against. Any suggestions?
3) To anyone who sees this post, do you have or know of someone who has a spare right Connie mirror for sale?
Thanks for your input,
Ride Safe
1999 Concours w/engine mods
In addition to motorcycles, my cager preferences run to muscle cars and my son and I regularly watch the PowerBlock on Sundays. I saw the Trucks! guys repair a cracked dashboard with a heat gun and a lot of patience. I've found that this worked marvelously on the pannier and I have been able to flow the road rash down and close the gaping hole in the corner! I have the pannier where it will work OK for now with a little persuasion and actually lock closed. But I want to see if I can do a little better. Good used and new panniers are prohibitively expensive, so I want to give this fix the proverbial college try. So here's some questions:
1) On the panniers, are the clamshell halves glued into the aluminum interlock rims as well as held in with tiny screws? I removed all those tiny screws, and tried to get the clamshells free but they wouldn't budge. The clamshells work against all my efforts to get the aluminum rims realigned because they are stressed out of shape from the accident.
2) Once I get the aluminum pieces aligned I also need to reshape the pannier a little bit in the corner. I have been pondering different curved heat resistant items [household or readily available and cheap) that will fit in the corner of the pannier to give me something to shape the flowing plastic against. Any suggestions?
3) To anyone who sees this post, do you have or know of someone who has a spare right Connie mirror for sale?
Thanks for your input,
Ride Safe
1999 Concours w/engine mods
I had a very low speed drop early on and have done repair to the plastics but haven't really worked on the bag yet. Mine wasn't that out of shape and is still furry! I also got lucky on the pegs and mirror.