Tuesday, Sep 19 2017 [36,152 miles]
It is time for the bike’s 36K service. First, however, I want to repair a pannier that was bent Friday during the SMBC campout in Kings Canyon. I stopped (quickly) so I could go back and read a sign that I thought indicated no motorcycles. My co-rider was reading the sign and didn’t stop quite as fast :)
Bent pannier
Contact here
Dent there
His front fork/fender hit my pannier. No real damage to either bike, but the energy has to go someplace. It went into bushing forward and bending my left pannier.
Parallelogram
Bent retainer
The rectangular pannier turned into a slight parallelogram and one of the retainers that hold the pannier to the frame was bent. I’m not sure how I’m going to get things straight.
More or less straight
Straightened Retainer
The retainer wasn’t difficult to get straight enough. Not shown is the brazing I did to reenforce the joint where the threaded rod attaches. I don’t want it falling out as I’m going down the road.
Dents pounded out
A little pressure here
Better, but still not great
The dents were easy to pound out. My attempt at squaring up the box were only so-so. It is better than it was, but I think I can do better. I’ll try something else, tomorrow.
Wednesday, Sep 20 2017 [36,152 miles]
Front view
Rear view
I managed to get the box a bit more square. It still didn’t fit well onto the rack – the rack was slightly tweaked, too. I straightened the rack the best I could without removing it (I was being lazy). The pannier fit well enough that I’m calling the job done.