Winter projects are a way for me to spend time doing maintenance and other adjustments to my bike that I don’t get to during the riding season. One of those items is always a complete service: Oil, oil filter, air filter, check the tires, spark plugs, brakes, etc. I opt to do this during the off-season because on my Concours anything other than an oil and oil filter change requires removing a good amount of the plastic panels and other bits to get to the engine. I don’t usually have one full day to work on the bike, so it stays in a state of half dress until I can complete the work. That’s why this is a winter project. I hate missing a good day of riding because I don’t have time to put my side panels back on.
One of the pieces I have to remove to get to the air filter is the windshield (I know, right). The Concours windshield is held on with small hex screws. Now, I’m going to admit this but I’m not proud of it, I have a cheap hex socket set. What this means is that smaller screws and bolts that I remove more frequently get damaged. Over time the hex heads get stripped and I have to get new screws. Simple solution would be to buy a better socket set, but that’s hard to justify when the screws are about a buck each.
Yet another reason I work on my bike in the winter. I stripped the head of one of my windshield bolts recently and was unable to get the windshield off, thus not being able to get to the air filter, or the engine, and so I couldn’t complete my service work. I called my local Kawasaki dealer and they would only sell me a whole windshield kit that included all the bolts, mounts, and a new windshield. This was over a $300 and not really what I was looking for. So, off to the internet!
I remembered a friend telling me that BikeBandit.com sold OEM parts and that I should check them out. Off to the site I went. I was pretty impressed with the site. After navigating to the OEM section I entered the make, model, and year of my bike and they had everything I needed. Their OEM section let me navigate to the specific area of the bike I was looking for to find the exact part number from a zoomable online parts diagram. This means I got to pick and order the exact thing I needed to fix my windshield. I found the screw, completed my ordered, and it was in my mailbox shortly afterwards. It saved me time and money and I’m glad I looked them up.
BikeBandit.com has motorcycle tires, accessories, and even riding gear. They have aftermarket honda motorcycle parts, Kawasaki parts, and just about anything you need for you specific model of motorcycle whether you have a Suzuki, Yamaha, or BMW. Their low price guarantee will match any price if you find a part for lower than they have it. This is especially useful for motorcycle tires. I go through a set of tires every year and they are not cheap for the Connie. It’s to know that I can get the absolute lowest price around on BikeBandit.
I’m hoping to restore a Kawasaki 1981 440 LTD soon. You can bet I’ll be spending a lot of time on BikeBandit once that project gets rolling, but that’s a story for another time.
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