I'm insufferably pleased with myself

I bought some parts to replace some damaged items on my Virago in anticipation of selling it. One of the easiest to replace was the taillight lens, which had been broken when the bike was accidentally backed into something. I also bought six rubber grommets of the type that easily come out and are lost, and which are inexpensive to replace if one doesn’t mind waiting a couple weeks for the fifty-cent part to arrive from Yamaha.

The item that was real fun, though, was the helmet hanger. It was almost a year ago that my helmet was stolen by a thief who pried open the helmet lock. I never bothered to replace it lest I ever trust it again. The broken lock served as a helmet hanger anywhere I’d trust that an unlocked helmet would remain, but offered no false promise of security.

In the interest of selling a bike on which all damage had been repaired, I ordered a replacement helmet lock with my last parts order.

When it arrived, I realized that there was a flaw in my plan. The new helmet lock came complete with its own set of keys. The original lock had operated with the same key as the ignition. An additional key might not be too much trouble, except that the new keys appeared identical to the old ones: the same keystone-shaped grip on the same type of key blank. Put these on the same keyring if you want to be forever confused as to which is which.

On a hunch I looked at the underside of the assembly. Sure enough, there were screws holding the backplate on. I unscrewed them and dissassembled each of the locks, saw how the new one functioned as the old one did not, and managed to pull the lock barrel from the old lock and put it in the new one.

The result is that I now have a helmet lock keyed to the bike’s ignition key. I also reassembled the old lock, repairing the damage done by straightening one bent pin. This means that I could have fixed the original and not spent $27 on the replacement part.

The old lock (with the new key barrel) is cosmetically marred, so having a brand new replacement part is probably for the best. Also, I could not have known that the lock was so easily fixable without getting it apart first. Having to switch the barrels meant that I had to take the parts all the way apart, and I got to see more of the mechanism than I otherwise would have.

Now I need to find something to attach this old lock to. It’s gotta be good for something.