I’d heard of problems with the Wonderlich oil cooler screen, specifically that they sometimes fall apart. I found out about this problem first hand in Death Valley in April.
trim piece
I had lunch with friends at Furnace Creek. When I got out to the bike I found this on the ground very close to my front tire. I recognized the shape and remembered the stories I’d heard. I stuffed the piece under the map holder of my tank bag.
Screen on mounting frame and trim piece
I finally got around to doing something about it, today.
This pictures shows where the trim piece belongs. The trim piece and
screen are just glued to the frame piece. I was lucky in that only the
trim piece came free. Doubly lucky that it came free when parked so I
didn’t lose it.
tape clamp
I found some epoxy I had and glued the trim to the back of the screen. I used tape to clamp the bits together until the epoxy set. The pieces to be joined were cleaned with alcohol before applying the glue. I’m hoping it will stick.
Back on the bike
After the epoxy set I removed the masking tape. The edges weren’t pretty so I covered them in black electrical tape before putting the screen back on the bike. I don’t know if this repair will hold or not. I invested less than an hour of my time; if it doesn’t work I’ll just replace the screen with something else.
Update: As of March 2012 the repair is still holding.