Loctite? We don't need no stinking loctite! - Motorcycle-Journal Forums

jroosterM50 · 08-27-2009, 12:13 PM

Ever have one of those "der da derrrr" moments? Ever have one of those moments in front of all your riding buddies?

Tuesday night I put on my new HK Strippers. Everything's great. Ride home that evening. Ride to work Wednesday morning. After work, ride to a restaurant near work to celebrate a friends birthday. All my riding buddies are on me about seeing and hearing my new pipes. Eventually, we all go outside and I start her up. Everyone oooo's and ahhhh's at how they sound. Then I rack the throttle a bit to make 'em nice and loud.....
My buddy Matthew taps me on the shoulder and hands me an anchor nut assembly. "Hey, brain child, you ever hear of loctite?"

The bolts had come out of the top pipe and the anchor nut assembly apperantly fell out when I twisted the throttle. One of the bolts on the bottom pipe was starting to come loose as well.

I KNOW I tightened those bolts Tuesday evening (well, at least I think I did. My brain recalls doing so anyway). Somehow within 40ish miles of riding two fell out and one was on the way.

A short trip to Home Depot and $5 later, I had four new bolts, 6 washers and lock washers (why can't I buy washers in packs of two or individually? That's an f#####g racket if you ask me!). With loctite in hand, I replaced all the bolts and put her to bed for the night.
So far, so good. Rode to work this morning with no issues. I guess this situation could have turned out a lot worse than it did. Karma was on my side this time. I'm lucky it wasn't anything that was going to cause a safety issue.
Lesson learned: V-twins rattle and shake more than I thought. Certainly way more than the inline fours that I'm used to. Probably a safe and smart idea to blue loctite everything regardless.
Sometimes morons like me learn things the hard way.