Don't make this mistake

[Z Factor]

I wanted to loosen my fairing vents up since one was frozen, and two were hard to close/open. So I decided to spray some silicon on them, and what a mistake. They started to discolor almost instantly, and washing it off did not help. I was careful not to get any on the painted surfaces, but not my black vents have lightened in sections to a dull gray. Whats also frustrating is that it did not even loosen them up. So the moral of the story is not to use spray silicon on your plastic parts that are visible.

 

BTW- my vents are so stuck or tight that I dare not try to close them with force for fear of them breaking. What is the best way to lube them up?

[sarges46]

Take them out...there is a poorly designed gear mech in the back....maybe some sewing machine oil might help or sewing wax on the linkage. They sure are fragile arent they?

[dynodon]

There are some products that are designed to fix that grey look on black plastic, Some are nothing more than black shoe polish or black paint.

 

I have a small detailing business and sell something that might fix it both ways, while preserving the plastic instead of covering it up.

 

Something called Wurth Rubber Care. Works great on that black plastic on door handles, around windshield wipers, on truck bumpers etc.

 

if interested give me a PM and I can give you my web site.

[Tnventurer]

Ok What if they wont stay open , The vents move to freely. Any ideas?....Fred

[Guest KitCarson]

Unfortunately silly-cone products and some plastics do not mix well, I have found this lesson out the hard way also. And once the plastic is dis-colored, really not much you can do as far as bringing the original color back......with products. You either have to take the part off and with a lot of elbow grease physically sand the top layer off , and then polish it on a slow speed buffing wheel........or simply go to Lowes,Home depot, someplace like that....buy a can of the new Rust-o-leum plas-ti-cote plastic paint and lightly spray paint it. Paint would work well on the vents....as the paint does scratch easily, but on those they are not subject to much other than a polish rag......should work fine.

 

I use lemon pledge to clean my bike......have used that stuff since forever for that. Once in awhile will put armor-all on a rag and wipe seats and rubber stuff......tires and so on.......but you cannot beat lemon pledge.....especially on these 2nd gens.....with all those bees after you you can outrun a 1st Gen!!

 

WD-40 is good stuff.......have never had it hurt anything.........can even use it to clean tar and sticky stuff off the bikes......

[muffinman]

Ok What if they wont stay open , The vents move to freely. Any ideas?....Fred

Fred some guys use foam ear plugs to keep them open.

Jeff

[eagleeye]

Fred,

If you're talking about the cold air vents, I put one drop of goup on ONE louver to hold them open. I can easily cut it loose if I want.

 

On the vents next to the engine, I taped them shut from the inside.

 

Steve

[Condor]

For loosening them up I just use WD-40. They will pop out of the lower legs with a little carefull coaxing. They are held in by a couple of barbs like the dash vents. To handle the discoloration I've used Krylon Semi-Flat Black. The finish isn't shiny, but it doesn't look like primer either. MOF I have a couple of side vents that need to be done. Something splashed on one side, gray dots all over the place, and I suspect it was DOT 3 from not being extra carefull when bleeding the clutch?? I'll learn....just gimme time...

[Gearhead]

"Ok What if they wont stay open , The vents move to freely. Any ideas?....Fred"

 

 

Dash vents - mine have been OK - a little loose, but generally stay where I put them.

 

Fresh air shin vents - Mine were structurally OK but had been glued, shut or open I don't remember. I took them out and carefully cleaned the glue from the pivots with an exacto. Great, but then they were all loosey-goosey, which is why they were glued of course. I found some small e-clips in the hardware store that, when installed (sometimes more than one) on the pivot post where the linkage bar attaches to the center louver, added the required friction.

 

Hot air vents - One was totally shot, bought a new one for 60 bucks or so. The other had been repaired from being too loose by the PO. There's gear mechanism on the rotating knob that was broken, so the PO cut a tab out of a oil or coolant bottle and screwed it on to engage the gear teeth. Works well enough. In the Tucson summer I remove the covers and tape a piece of under-hood insulation over the vents to prevent hot air seepage.

 

Jeremy

[Z Factor]

Thanks for the suggestions. I just wish I had used a little more common sense and spayed one little section for color fade rather than decide to do them both at the same time. At least I was smart enough to cover the painted areas with protection.

 

I'll try Duralube a little later to see if that works.

[Redneck]

I wanted to loosen my fairing vents up since one was frozen, and two were hard to close/open. So I decided to spray some silicon on them, and what a mistake. They started to discolor almost instantly, and washing it off did not help. I was careful not to get any on the painted surfaces, but not my black vents have lightened in sections to a dull gray. Whats also frustrating is that it did not even loosen them up. So the moral of the story is not to use spray silicon on your plastic parts that are visible.

 

BTW- my vents are so stuck or tight that I dare not try to close them with force for fear of them breaking. What is the best way to lube them up?

You completely missed the moral to the story. The moral to the story is don't buy a first gen bypass all the head aches and buy a second gen.:rotf:

[sarges46]

Ive used a toothpick to keep mine open at times. I think Black Owl has a fix that invovles using one of those plastic ties for wiring.

 

Russell....were are you!

[Condor]

Ive used a toothpick to keep mine open at times. I think Black Owl has a fix that invovles using one of those plastic ties for wiring.

 

Russell....were are you!

 

Maybe just a rubber band wrapped around the post???

[Z Factor]

You completely missed the moral to the story. The moral to the story is don't buy a first gen bypass all the head aches and buy a second gen.:rotf:

 

To be honest I am not aware of the differences between the two having never rode a 2nd gen. That said, I enjoy my 1st gen and it does not feel like a typical touring bike, having a good get up and go. I don't ride often, but I can't imagine enjoying a different bike more than this one.

[bongobobny]

2nd Gens are for those who want a Harley look alike and are afraid of the speed that the 1st gens have...

[k7mdl]

The hot air side vents too loose - I fixed mine by removing the cover to expose the back side. There were some empty screw posts outside the vent frame. I selected a sheet metal screw to fit the screw post hole size with a screw head size just right to squeeze in the outer frame a bit.

 

The lower fairing fresh air vent - No removal required, I used a hot soldering iron tip to melt and push up some plastic frame ridges for the vertical vent blades to snap over/provide friction. Just pushed around a very small bit of frame plastic in between a few of the blades. You cannot readily see any sign of this if you select the right spot.