Magnets for sidecover attachment

[cbrophy22]

One pain of owning a GS is how fragell the side covers are.
I havent done this yet But what do you guys think about glueing magnet to your side covers.
Take off the rubber grommet off the frame so you have good contact.
just a thought.

[bonanzadave]

I kinda like that idea. You can buy peel and stick magnets. Im using velcro.

[isleoman]

I just use the adhesive backed velcro on both the frame and side covers. You can buy it at Home Depot and other places.

If your lucky enough to still have any tabs left, when you want to take the cover off:
With your seat off, use a screw driver on the back side off the cover to push the tab through the grommet instead of grabbing the edge of the cover and pulling them out. Pulling from the edge of the cover laterally loads and breaks the tabs. Also Armour All your rubber grommets.

[wayne cooper]

Saving side covers

A method I've used for years is to put a little bit of grease on the grommets and save breaking the tabs in the first place. I do this to all bikes that come into the shop. If you have a tab that you can take a mold from a product called plastec works well at replacing the broken tab. If you search this site you will find others that have used it. If you are only doing little things like tabs the small kit is good as a little bit goes a long way.

[buster]

I'm with Wayne Cooper, there is a motorcycle junkyard in my area and the owner says that the grease on the tabs gets them in and out easier and makes the grommet last longer, and as George constantly reminds me hes been working on these jap bikes since before my parents met.

And I love the plastex product, I fixed my side cover by creating the main tab and fixing the upper tab. Repaired my broken case on my roofing gun (works great) and even repaired my daughters broken toy tierra (sp?). Cant say enough good things about the product, the liquid though will eat away at paint quickly. Don't ask how I know:shock:

[Mysuzyq]

If you do go the magnetic route, get some rare-earth (neodymium) magnets off ebay, and rest assured they will not blow off while riding. The dime-sized ones should be fine...IIRC, the larger quarter-sized magnets had a 20lb pull, and might actually damage the cover while attempting to get them off, or cause the magnet to separate from the glue. I picked some up to make a quick-release oil cooler block-off plate, for cool weather riding, but have not proceeded with it.

I have been using Vaseline on the sidecover tabs and the grommets while prepping the bike after each winter....also use it to coat the battery terminals at the same time.

Tony.

[Mark M]

I just use the adhesive backed velcro on both the frame and side covers. You can buy it at Home Depot and other places.

Where are you attaching the velcro on the side cover? Along the edges or where the plastic tabs used to be? I have one cover with all 3 tabs broken and the other has 1 left...

Mark

[Bad Kaw]

I also think that the little asain engineers used rubber on those grommets for a reason: it reduces the effects of vibration. Don't know what your proposed set-up would yield, but it would definately be interesting.

-KR