Motorcycle parts and colder.....

As I was filling up my scooter tank with gas last evening before coming home from the day's fun ride activities, I looked down and found the gas door on the scooter had fallen to the ground...  I reached down and picked it up, but nothing seemed broken..

But then looking at where it had fallen from, I noticed that a small little plastic pin was gone from the hinge part...  Also a metal spring that held the door closed was on the ground as well...  Things made from plastic seem not to last very long...

My riding partner Al went over to his bike which is just like mine and looked at how it was supposed to be attached.  It was clear that the hinge was broken off...   I picked up the pieces and tossed them in the compartment under the seat.

Fast forward to today where we had a big frontal boundary go over during the night...   It was down right cold this morning in the 50s with overcast skies...  Rain was forecast with no warming in sight..

So Loyce began using the self propelled lawn mower and urged  me to use the  JD tractor until we had the lawn under control. We had to beat the rain.   After that was complete, I started on the internet looking up the parts needed to fix the bike.

This is the exploded parts diagram for the side compartments of the plastic outer panels...  They include the fuel door assembly..

Darned good thing I picked up that fuel door #8 with its attached chrome numbers #4, because the price for those two items is over $50.  Somehow though when I arrived back home, I couldn't find the little spring piece #11 even though I know I picked it up...

But the broken little plastic piece was #9.  Those little pieces #9 and #11 were about $10 online...  But shipping was $18..    So I called my dealer here in Olathe, to find that a broken fuel door hinge is fairly common and they had the parts right on hand....

I installed the liner into my riding coat, and headed over on the bike..  And yes he did have it, but their prices are about 150% more than on line..  Plus tax, but no shipping...  $17.  Better than $28 and no waiting for the mail..

As I was leaving on the bike, it began to rain.... I high tailed it for home... Its only about 8 miles over there, so I didn't get overly wet....  But it was 60 now and any wet at 40 mph is cold..

It was more difficult to get the little spring clip thingy back on after putting the door and hinge together than I imagined..  Its under quite a bit of pressure and it took a pair of water pump pliers to compress it.  This all the while not breaking the new plastic pieces....

I kept looking at that diagram above trying to make sure I was doing it right... Eventually I got it. There were only the two screws holding it to the bike so that wasn't a problem..

How does something like this take so much of one's day...?

It rained for the rest of the afternoon, and it is still wet outside tonight with the temperature of 55..  Boy fall is here in a big way!!  The bike is parked for now, but it will be sunny and brighter in the next few days...

But still I have not lost the faith because thru all of today, I had my short pants on....  With the rip stop overpants over them when I was riding of course...

Loyce had the grand child again today for the afternoon, and that always keeps her busy...  Abby had gone home by the time I got back from the dealer..

As we are one day closer to heading back to Arizona,  we still have Doctor's appointments and the like.   And I'm afraid that the departure day will be in November......  Is it possible that we will have an early winter in this interim, after all the hot summer days?

Gonna need those long pants before we get out of here!

Retired Rod