Too many Spare Parts?

Posted: Sat May 31, 2014 7:48 pm

Never been such a thing!

I'm sure that many of us have had this conversation:

"Why do you keep all that junk in the garage?"

"Well, those are good spares, honey. With a 30 year old bike, you need to keep some spares handy to do repairs."

"Bull. You just like keeping a bunch of trash: You're a PackRat!"

This week has proven to me the fact that you can never keep too many spare parts. I recently did over 1100 miles in 3 days with my friend PGSmick, and limped home with a bike that had a few "issues": On the morning that we left, the bike didn't want to start. We cannibalized the battery from the 900, and got it running, and off we went. Starting continued to be an issue for the next few days, needing to be "bump started" a couple of times. Upon my arrival back home, the speedometer was screaming at me, a horrible grinding noise. I purchased a new cable, hoping that this was the problem, but no luck. A couple of my friends responded to this need, (AlaskaGriz and CbxDog), and the issue was fixed with minimal hassle. While working on the speedo issue, I identified a problem with the ignition switch (poor contacts, etc.). I found on the shelf an old 1100 ignition switch that needed a new set of contacts, and had a set of contacts that I'd purchased while prepping for the 985 project, but never got used. Got that assembled, and installed, and now have an ignition key that operates the fuel cap, as well. That left the starting issue to be sorted, and I had eliminated the battery, and the starter clutch/gear assembly from the equation, which just left the starter as the possible problem. I had the starter that was in the 1100 when Bob and Phil came to help me rebuild the motor (2 years ago), but that turned out to be a 750 starter, not optimal to put back in the 1100, of course. I went digging on the shelves, and found another starter (this one a 438 starter), which came from the parts bike that became the 985 (once again, thanks to CbxDog...), which went into the 1100, and now the bike starts perfectly, again. A rebuild kit is on order for the starter that came out of the 1100.

As I said, you can never have too many spares...

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 2:45 am

"Too many spare parts"

Ha ha ha ha. I've heard that said but I always assumed it was a joke in poor taste.

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 1:15 pm

you should see my place. moving is gonna be a bitch.

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 4:53 pm

Hey Rick, Don't waste the rebuild effort and parts on a 750 starter, the internal winding's (like there are external ones....duh Bob) are weaker than the 900 / 1100 starters. (Besides the 750 is most likely burned up now.) Rebuild one one of the better ones and give the 750 one the kiss of death. You can always use a 900 / 1100 one in my prom date if she needs one.

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 8:11 pm

grump wrote:

you should see my place. moving is gonna be a bitch.

Hahaha. Yeah, I often think that same thing.
My wife says if I should go before she does, she's not worried about my parts stash or accumulated items. One call, and it'll be hauled. Shocked

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 8:43 pm

barryadam wrote:

One call, and it'll be hauled. Shocked

I suspect that may be the case in many situations. I would guess there are parts in caches (hoards) that will never see service life. That's the real loss.

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 9:13 pm

DrOlds wrote:

Hey Rick, Don't waste the rebuild effort and parts on a 750 starter, the internal winding's (like there are external ones....duh Bob) are weaker than the 900 / 1100 starters. (Besides the 750 is most likely burned up now.) Rebuild one one of the better ones and give the 750 one the kiss of death. You can always use a 900 / 1100 one in my prom date if she needs one.

Yeah man, the 750 starter is toast. Once I get the one rebuilt that came out of the 1100, I'll have a "spare", or one to put in my next 985 build. Stay tuned, LOL.

Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 11:25 pm

The old adage is "you know it's bad when you let the smoke out!"

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 12:40 am

My problem is that I have a Butt load of stock stuff and I need race parts.
The collection grows. Very Happy

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 12:57 am

DrOlds wrote:

The old adage is "you know it's bad when you let the smoke out!"

One of my first labs in college (electrical engineer) was called "smoke theory". Laughing

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 3:27 am

1100russ wrote:

DrOlds wrote:

The old adage is "you know it's bad when you let the smoke out!"

One of my first labs in college (electrical engineer) was called "smoke theory". Laughing

Adjust for maximum smoke! Very Happy

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 6:46 pm

LarryG once told me you never throw away a part for a bike you still own. I believe it.

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 8:33 pm

PGSmick wrote:

LarryG once told me you never throw away a part for a bike you still own. I believe it.

Yep, better to have and not need rather than need and not have Cool