When One is None

My 1992 c1500 ignition is worn so I don’t need the key anymore.

I got an XR150l in May and ride the shit out of it. It came with two keys. The key I use I attached a bright color 6″ streamer, as I ride and hike in the deep dark woods, and if it falls out of my pocket at least I might be able to spot it.

I kept the other key at home, for about the first month. I realized that if I lost the first key in the woods, I would have the spare safe at home. (But even at home, if years past, you might lose it). So then I figured I should have the spare on the bike, but hidden, but unlike a car, you can not hide a spare on a bike very easy. So I removed the seat and tied it with wire to the frame (under the seat). So if stranded in the woods, with no key, all I have to do is remove the 4 bolts to get the seat off. But that requires a 10mm socket – so I put one of those in the bike tool kit.

BTW the XR150 has a notorious blown starting fuse problem. The kickstand will short out the fuse. Many Youtubers report this problem. I blew the fuse twice, in the woods, the last time in a deep dark hole. I had to push the bike up hill and jump start it. The headlight is on the circuit. No headlight, can not ride at night, and can not ride on a paved road back to civilization. Now I pack two LED headlamps as back up.

So I studied the problem, I wired hot the kickstand retard switch hot. The kickstand position no longer affect the ignition, the circuit now “thinks” the kickstand is always up. You do not need this safety feature, only a retard needs a kickstand safety switch, which I think is required on all new bikes. That safety feature made me unsafe. (If you only could see where I was, taking old logging trails down steep mountain to creeks. And in the late evening it is already dark.)

Without a kickstand retard switch I can now start the bike and let it idle, and not be on it. I like that, I wish the bike did not come with one, and there is another retard switch I despise.

The bike has another retard switch that has caused me BIG trouble. It has a red toggled ignition kill switch by the throttle. I accidentally tripped it on one of my forays. I could not get the bike to start, I had tools, and determined no spark. I had never used the emergency cutoff switch, and in that moment did not think of it. I had to hike out 10 miles, got home, looked it up, and felt like a retard.

I talked to my son who rented a motorbike in Greece. He uses the kill switch all the time, but that bike had a third position, which he did not know about and got stranded in the mountains after dark. He called for help and the locals knew how the switch worked properly.

I bought the XR150 because I wanted a bike with ultra reliability. It is carburated, no computer, but the wiring on this simple bike has made it unreliable. I may disconnected the kill switch, just so that circuit is out of the loop. All this technology “improvements” makes me more of a Luddite every day. Back on the ranch, I never had a horse not work because of a kill switch.

After I stupidly left the one and only ignition key in the ignition in the locked Firebird, I soon found out how easy it is to unlock the door with a bent coat hanger in about 20 seconds. Still need to make more duplicates…

Funny how Pontiac made separate keys for the ignition and doors/trunk. My Mopars always had an ignition/door and separate trunk key.

My brother is a Jeep man (weirdos with their stupid little ducks). We were in my Firebird and we pulled in to our destination and I told him to roll up the window and lock the door.

“Why?” He asked.

So no one will mess with it! Duh!

Being a Jeep guy, he often drives without doors or a top. He reminded me that his Jeep is always left wide open and as long as you don’t leave stuff visible that people want to steal, they will generally leave it alone.

Why have I been locking my car up tight? I found out it can be unlocked in 20 seconds anyway. Since then, I hardly ever lock it or roll up the windows except when it’s parked in the driveway at night. No one ever messes with it.

All I ask is when someone does finally decide to mess with it, I catch them in the act. Please God.

The other reason for 3 keys is that in several cars I have owned, you can “program” the car to accept a replacement “chipped-key” which was cut at a hardware store. Owner’s manuals and searches on the web will turn up the procedure. On my current cars, as long as I have 2 other keys to set up the computer to accept the new key as valid, I can do it for the price of the key and save a hundred bucks or so that a dealer would charge to make one. I have one, my wife has one, and one is in a file box.

It’s almost impossible to kill the motors on old Japanese bikes, the the electrical systems are a weak spot. Honda was notorious for weak stators, and on the GL v-twins you have to pull the engine to get at it. Often the stator-to-harness connector is the culprit, check it for corroded or weak contacts or evidence of melting and overheating. At the very least spray it with electrical contact cleaner; if it looks suspect but still works, it is prudent to solder a new connector in place. The main hot lead going into the fuse box is another common failure point.

Fleabay is the best source for obsolete Jap bike parts if you have to resort to that.

A second set of keys in a known place is always the best bet…

Let’s not forget the ubiquitous 10mm socket…lol

Check the furniture. I had to turn over the recliner to fix the POS mechanism and Shazam, the last original brass key to the storage shed lock was on the floor when I flipped the recliner back into place. Missing for three years.

Check shoes and boots. The spare key fob for the 05 Grand Cherokee was in a shoe I hadn’t worn all summer, missing 4 months. THAT would have been expensive to replace.

Central storage for all spares – ziplock bag in my computer desk cubby, and inform all trusted family members where these spares are. Key code tags that came with the key sets are on the rings with the keys when available (the rare times we’ve bought anything new).

Blame others – spouse or sig. other come in handy for this! “You hid my glasses again, didn’t you!!”

I have a tangent problem. I’ve bought so many beaters over the years that I have a key board with several hundred keys and sets on it, only a few dozen of which do I know what they fit. Looks kind of neat though…

Suffer’ers of C.R.S. = Can’t Remember Sh… stuff.

It’s not too bad if you mutter “C.R.S., again?” under your breath while looking for something, or for the reason to be in the room, etc.

It IS bad when you mutter, “C.S.R.” ’cause ya can’t even remember the acronym correctly.

I feel your pain – I lost the keys to my old beetle a few years back in the dumbest way possible… set them on the bumper of my truck, got distracted and then drove to the parts store to get some fuel line. They flung off somewhere between here and there.

By a stroke of luck the old owner called me the next day right as I was going to disassemble the steering column to see if there was a code on the ignition switch. He says to me “Hey man, i was at my old safety deposit box and found these original keys to the VW, want me to bring them by next time im in the area?”

I drove and got them that day (along with a box of dynamat he was getting rid of). The Auto Gods were merciful upon my stupidity.

‘With older bikes like my ’83 GL60, the dealer may no longer have the necessary code book to cut you a new key even if you can give them the key code that you found stamped on the lock cylinder.’

When I went to the Nissan dealer to get a key cut for my 1998 Frontier, the parts counter guy remarked that ‘if your truck were one year older [i.e., the previous generation Hardbody pickup], we wouldn’t be able to do this for you.’

I usually try to have multiple keys for all my cars mainly because I occasionally misplace keys, if it’s say for a padlock I just cut it off. It’s a lot easier to replace or weld a padlock back together than it is to replace all the locks on a car or bike though.

One problem not mentioned though is that new cars seem to have only one keyed door and as most people tend to use the fob what happens when the battery is dead and the lock is seized due to not being used for years? Better to use the door key occasionally to avoid that situation.

Saint Anthony, Saint Anthony, come around, something’s lost that can’t be found

Uncanny how it does work from time to time.

Lost a set of keys over two years ago, still can’t be found.

It’s called a ‘barrier event’, as soon as you walk through a doorway and into another room, you completely forget what you were after.

You go on to the next task, what can get done, always something to do. Then it finally dawns on you what it was you were seeking.

“What the hell was it that I came in here to get?”