Plastic repair

[bmc5733946]

 I have broken one of the retaining pegs on the plastic sidecover for my Mille GT. I have known of the risk of this for the 29 years I have owned this bike. The pegs push into rubber grommets for retention,  not really a good system. I have kept them lubed with silicone grease and they have survived till today. The grease but, the grommets still harden and refuse to compress even the little bit needed to pass the bulge in the peg. It is a pretty clean break. It might be repairable. I'm thinking to drill a small hole in the center of both sides of the broken peg and using a roll pin or some such and then epoxy or some such to hold it all. Advice welcome.

Brian

[Dirk_S]

Couple ideas…

• Plastex Plastex Plastex!
  https://youtu.be/oZHP6fE-BNU?si=3S7jJ2VJ81KQjp2q

• An expensive option could be to purchase these V7 Racer/Stornello metal grommet pegs that you attach to the inside of the side panel with a screw on the outside. Part # 886368. Not sure if they can be bought elsewhere under a different description for cheaper.
  
  

• Or you could move on from the grommet-peg setup and convert it to a screw and clip nut set?

[Guzzistajohn]

I drilled a small hole in the CX100 cover 20 years ago and inserted a wire tie 

[John A]

I made a peg out of aluminum round stock from the hardware store that I drilled and tapped for a screw. Then I drilled a hole in the sidecover and colored the screw black. It’s worked well. I replace the rubbers when they get hard.

[blackcat]

I drilled a small hole in the CX100 cover 20 years ago and inserted a wire tie 

I fixed the CX side panel with Plast-Aide about 5 years ago, not perfect but it's hard to see when attached to the bike. 

[John A]

I had a problem using grease on the pegs because then the side covers would blow off in the wind so I use a gob of spit unless I have some light soap handy.

[Tom]

You can heat the grommets up with a heat gun to make them soft or replace them. Grommet kits on Temu.  Pretty cheap.

[SIR REAL ED]

Great thread.  I will be making similar repairs soon.

I might end up replacing the pegs with bolts or quarter turn fasteners.

McMaster.com is also a good source of grommets.

Soaking your grommets in oil of wintergreen will soften them (don't go there Huzo).

Plus they will smell great (don't do it Huzo)!

[faffi]

I use a solder iron and preferably plastic of the same quality as the stock part to weld pieces together. Failing access to the right part, I use zip ties as the welding material.

I had a sidecover on my Virago where I had previously cut off the majority of the bulging outside in order to be able to fit a flat numberplate. But when I went away from the scrambler look, I used a bit of fairing material off an old Honda, plus I cut strips off the same fairing for material to weld the two items together. This is how it looked on the inside after soldering them together:


Outside, before paint


Painted


I also bought a used battery holder for the bike, as I had butchered my own to fit a larger battery years earlier. Too late I discovered that the one I bought was also butchered, but to a much lesser degree. So I cut bits off my old remains to be melted into the new for repair, again using the soldering iron. Not the best of pictures, but the lower lip was cut off, again to give access to a fatter (and cheaper) battery.


After repair. Not all that elegant, but strong. Plus hidden by the sidecover above

[jrt]

What are they made from?  If they are ABS, then you can make a paste of ABS dissolved in acetone (I use lego bricks!) and use that as a glue. 

[faffi]

What are they made from?  If they are ABS, then you can make a paste of ABS dissolved in acetone (I use lego bricks!) and use that as a glue.

Not sure. The battery bracket is much softer than the sidecover. I took strips of the fairing I used to fix the sidecover and put in a jar of aceton, and after a week of soaking, the bits were as they were the day I put them in, so I dropped the idea of glueing the parts together like that.

[jrt]

Could be polypropylene?  On all the plastic parts I've worked with recently, they are stamped with ABS or PP.  I don't think the acetone works on PP.  Some of the other suggestions here sound pretty good though- 

[John A]

Not sure. The battery bracket is much softer than the sidecover. I took strips of the fairing I used to fix the sidecover and put in a jar of aceton, and after a week of soaking, the bits were as they were the day I put them in, so I dropped the idea of glueing the parts together like that.

Yeah, it only works with a solvent for the particular plastic. I find an inconspicuous spot to put a drop on to see if the plastic reacts. Then it works really well, hopefully a chemist will be along shortly..

[Tom]

The same thing for adhesives.  The have to be compatible with the plastics.

[bmc5733946]

I zip tied it on today and went for a short ride. 65 degrees here today. First ride of the year for me Woo Hoo!!!

Brian

[Pescatore]

I think my V65 has the same kind of covers.
This hack has worked fine for the last 15 years.