Long Ride little mishap at the end

[Phyer Phyter]

So weekend before last my son and I went for a long ride. All most 1000kms. Literally 150 feet from pulling into sons underground parkade I dropped my steed. Coming from a stop up a slight hill into a left turn (All in about 20ft) The crosswalk I was about to go through was closed to pedestrians. Low and behold some one quickly trots out right in front of me. I grab my brakes. It went over so fast it seemed like it was past the point of no return by the time i realized I was losing it. My l left side mirror housing took the brunt of it. Split right in half. I have a new housing on order from partzilla.
In the mean time I thought I would try and repair the housing. I put little notches next to the broken edges and also drilled shallow holes so the JB WELD would hopefully have better adhesion. Used electrical tape to hold the 2 halves together. Tonight I’ll post pics of the finished product. It’s not pretty due to the scratches but it looks better than a naked mirror.
And, no, the pedestrian that jumped in front of me didn’t stick around to say ooops.

 

[Uncle Phil]

I've had great success with superglue gel and baking soda on ST1100 mirror covers.

Uncle Phil - West 2009 Day 05

It make a rough but solid repair which you can sand down and use Bondo skim coat to smooth out.
With a couple of rattle cans from Colorrite you end up with a 'new' mirror cover.
FWIW, I've had 2 right side wineberry mirror covers on order for months with no ETA.

 

[pmatulew]

Interesting scarifying technique. I've had decent durability with the two-part plastic specific epoxy.

When it was time to repaint I went full on plastic weld with a soldering iron and some donor material. Then sanded and painted the normal way.

Either way, save those shells. They aren't getting any easier to come by.

 

[Phyer Phyter]

Okay, so all is back together now. The break is on the bottom side of the housing so it hides well. I have to say it looks pretty good. The scratches weren’t as bad as I thought. They 99% buffed out with a lite cutting compound and a power polisher. There was a zig zag scratch on the fairing above the mirror that looked pretty nasty. I didn’t think it would clean up nearly as good as it did.

 

[Phyer Phyter]

I've had great success with superglue gel and baking soda on ST1100 mirror covers.

Uncle Phil - West 2009 Day 05

It make a rough but solid repair which you can sand down and use Bondo skim coat to smooth out.
With a couple of rattle cans from Colorrite you end up with a 'new' mirror cover.
FWIW, I've had 2 right side wineberry mirror covers on order for months with no ETA.

I didn’t know you could mix baking soda and gel super glue to make a better bonding agent.
i called several Honda stores in Canada and they all said no stock any where in Canada but they could be back ordered as they still showed “available” but no available lead time.
The housing I ordered from Partzilla shows it haa shipped and is in transit. They showed that they had 2 L/S on hand. I didn’t check for the right side.

 

[Phyer Phyter]

Now I only need the signal light housing and the spacer between the mirror and the fairing. I think I would like to put in the white lenses with white bulbs that flash orange.

 

[NVDucati]

Interesting scarifying technique. I've had decent durability with the two-part plastic specific epoxy.

When it was time to repaint I went full on plastic weld with a soldering iron and some donor material. Then sanded and painted the normal way.

Either way, save those shells. They aren't getting any easier to come by.

When plastic welding it can be handy to lay carpenter stales across the seam and heat them with the solder gun and melt them into the plastic on the back side for strength.

And for those faring tabs that push into a rubber o-ring ... If you use modeling clay on a good one (two halves) to make a mold. Then pour in the baking soda and super glue ... presto!

 

[TerryS]

I came SOOO close to a drop in the weekend. I was doing a u-turn out onto a gravel shoulder then back onto the tar. The turn went well until the front wheel hit the shoulder onto the tar and stopped dead; lack of momentum and I may have been in 2nd gear, so the bike stalled and then we rolled backwards onto gravel while I paddled furiously until I could grab the front brake and stop the ride. It was quite a workout!

 

[pmatulew]

Gravity will sneak up on you like that.

 

[Erdoc48]

That was a very good repair! Personally, I’d use the repaired part and store the new one- it’s true that parts, especially body parts are becoming more difficult to find.

 

[SMSW]

I came SOOO close to a drop in the weekend.

Two kinds of ST riders. Those who have dropped their bikes and those who will drop their bikes.

 

[Uncle Phil]

I didn’t know you could mix baking soda and gel super glue to make a better bonding agent.

From what I've been told, the idea came from RC plane flying groups.
What's nice is if you have a 'problem' on the road, you can generally find baking soda and super glue at most markets.
The process is simple - glue it with the super glue gel then dump the baking soda over the glued seams.
Just don't touch them for a bit - it gets really hot!

 

[Sadlsor]

Looks like a really nice repair, to me.

 

[NVDucati]

From what I've been told, the idea came from RC plane flying groups.
What's nice is if you have a 'problem' on the road, you can generally find baking soda and super glue at most markets.
The process is simple - glue it with the super glue gel then dump the baking soda over the glued seams.
Just don't touch them for a bit - it gets really hot!

A lot of times folks fill the crack with the baking soda first and then add the super glue. That way the powder doesn't sit on top of the rapidly curing glue.
It will also flow the mix deeper into a crevices so you can add more after a few seconds.
_ And if you are out on the road and want to finish your trip, you can find lots of plastic things in that store which can be chopped up into gussets and braces to to make your repair even stronger.

 

[Uncle Phil]

A lot of times folks fill the crack with the baking soda first and then add the super glue. That way the powder doesn't sit on top of the rapidly curing glue.
It will also flow the mix deeper into a crevices so you can add more after a few seconds.

Never tried it that way - but I will sure give it a shot when I need to. Thanks.

 

[gringo88]

Two kinds of ST riders. Those who have dropped their bikes and those who will drop their bikes.

Two kinds of riders, those that put the new mirror on as soon as received, and those that expect the old one will just get hit again. Run what you brung!

 

[Phyer Phyter]

That was a very good repair! Personally, I’d use the repaired part and store the new one- it’s true that parts, especially body parts are becoming more difficult to find.

Had I known it would have turned out as good as it did I likely wouldn't have ordered a new one. But I guess the new one will come in handy if I have another whoopsie. Otherwise it will help the re-sale a little bit, when the time comes. By the time I paid the difference on the USD $$ to CDN $$ plus shipping, excise tax, and handling fees it more than doubled the price!

 

[SMSW]

The crosswalk I was about to go through was closed to pedestrians. Low and behold some one quickly trots out right in front of me. I grab my brakes. It went over so fast ...

I've sort of been in this situation a lot - I mean grab the brakes suddenly to stop unexpectedly quickly. We are supposed to practice emergency full on braking in a parking lot. That is very different than nabbing the brakes to avoid hitting a kid or the car at the gas pump who decides to beat you to the street. In the former case, we are practicing, brace ourselves and prepare for a fast stop and are focused on the whole process. In the latter (unexpected 'emergency' braking) we are likely focused on the kid or car, and unless you are fortunate enough to have the front wheel pointing straight ahead and are a big, strong guy w/ long legs, a top heavy bike like the ST is going to stop and fall over.

Since I now wear a Turtle 2, I'm focused on what's going on around me even more than I used to be. Now, a drop will cost me a new 100gram CO2 cartridge, plus the embarrassment of becoming the Michelin Man for a couple of minutes. Despite this increased situational awareness, I've had a few close calls - i.e. almost drops. It almost seems inevitable to me. I'm separating a simple drop from a crash, though I'm sure a statistician would say otherwise.