I fought the road, and the road won

StephanSF

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Mar 10, 2020
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Las Vegas, NV
So Im a pretty new rider and have been doing my best to advance my skill set by riding as much offroad as I can around where I live in Las Vegas. A few days ago a friend and I went on a road which was pretty rocky and towards the end there was some deep gravel and I went down. Someone placed a large rock in a very inconvenient place in front of my bike and so I now have a cracked windshield and a cracked headlight lens.

So my question is, how do I repair my headlight short of replacing the entire headlight assembly which runs somewhere around $500. The Yamaha dealer here said you cannot buy just the clear plastic lens portion.

Any ideas ?
IMG_20200624_215840.jpgIMG_20200624_195914.jpg
 

twinrider

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This is a valuable lesson on how it's not a good idea to learn how to ride off road on a 1200cc touring bike, and a cheap lesson since you didn't get injured. Buy a new headlight assembly if you can't find a used one and move on.
 

Tenman

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Natchez Ms USA
Bummer. If you gonna ride a 1200 offroad. You have to have tires to help deal with it. The biggest performance enhancer is tires. Hope you can find a used headlight assembly. Try searching motorcycle salvage. Over the years. I've found some deals on dirt bike parts. Good luck
 

RCinNC

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There's a seller on ebay called Mototech271 that's parting out a 2014 Super Tenere; I bought a part from them back in April. The bike is still listed. I don't see the headlight cowling listed separately, but you could always contact them and get a price.
 

Checkswrecks

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This is a valuable lesson on how it's not a good idea to learn how to ride off road on a 1200cc touring bike,...
Pshhhaw - Bunches of people on the forum ride this bike off road and a lot of us have dropped the bike multiple times. There's a reason the bike's earned the nickname The Biggest Dirt Bike In The World (TBDBITW) and a member at one point sold T shirts with that acronym. That said, these bikes are heavy and wash out easily in sand and loose deep gravel.


Bummer about whacking the headlight. For all the folks who do take these things off the paved roads, we've only had a couple write in that they broke the headlight lens. I'd search for a used one and do a temp fix till finding one. You want a glue that penetrates the plastic so I'd probably use modeling cement to put it together as best possible and then cover it with Gorilla Tape. That tape is truly waterproof, does NOT come off, and somewhat pliable so you can stretch it a little.
 
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RCinNC

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Modeling cement won't work on the lenses in the headlights. Regular modeling cement isn't a solvent for polycarbonate, so you can't form a bond between the pieces.

Superglue will work, though it's not the best choice. The best option for gluing a headlight lens back together is something specifically for polycarbonate, like Scigrip 16 or Scigrip 4SC. These are one part solvent adhesives specifically for polycarbonate. Another choice is a two part epoxy based glue, like Scigrip 42. That's probably the best choice for a strong bond with durability, but it's going to be harder to use.

I deal with a company a lot called TAP Plastics. They sell a variety of solvents for many types of plastics, and could probably guide you to some other options.
 

StephanSF

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Mar 10, 2020
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Las Vegas, NV
I see you are in vegas, is it a gen 1 or gen 2 bike? I got a windshield for a gen 1 if you want it (free).
Thanks, yes I'm in Vegas and its a Gen 1 I believe (2012). The guy I bought it from had the orignal OEM windshield which he was going to give me when he sold me the bike but with covid-19, the exchange never happened, but I am messaging him now to see if he still has it, if not I would appreciate your offer.

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StephanSF

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Mar 10, 2020
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Las Vegas, NV
Thanks for the info on the glue, I'll take a closer look at the lens and see whether gluing it back together might work, not entirely sure about how the Gorilla Tape would work though, unless there is clear tape.

As far as this not being the best bike for riding off-road as some people have said, it's the bike I have, and so it's the bike I'll have to ride. If I had a bunch of money I could have the appropriate vehicle for each circumstance, but that's not the case. And I think for the most part it works quite well. I'm not really looking to ride very technical or challenging Terrain , that's not my thing, I want a bike that will let me ride beyond the tarmac when I see something interesting.

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StephanSF

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Las Vegas, NV
Modeling cement won't work on the lenses in the headlights. Regular modeling cement isn't a solvent for polycarbonate, so you can't form a bond between the pieces.

Superglue will work, though it's not the best choice. The best option for gluing a headlight lens back together is something specifically for polycarbonate, like Scigrip 16 or Scigrip 4SC. These are one part solvent adhesives specifically for polycarbonate. Another choice is a two part epoxy based glue, like Scigrip 42. That's probably the best choice for a strong bond with durability, but it's going to be harder to use.

I deal with a company a lot called TAP Plastics. They sell a variety of solvents for many types of plastics, and could probably guide you to some other options.
Thanks for the info, I will check out those glues after I take a closer look at the lens to see how feasible gluing it would be. Too bad they don't sell this psrt seperately.

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ballisticexchris

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Looking at that headlight shell , it does not look repairable. If you have some half decent fabrication skills you might be able to purchase a thin sheet of polycarbonate and form it with a heat gun. You can use your old broken shell as a pattern. The light pattern might be strange but it's a budget option.

I would also highly recommend a set of open block knobby tires if you plan on riding any of the back roads around the Clark/Nye county areas. Lots of loose, deep rocks and sand out there.

Don't feel too bad. Contrary to what you might hear, these big adventure bikes get can very expensive whenever they are dropped. The Super Tenere is no different than any other 600+ lb bike when it hits the ground. My two slow speed tip overs cost over 500.00 and hours of labor to repair.
 

StephanSF

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Joined
Mar 10, 2020
Messages
98
Location
Las Vegas, NV
Looking at that headlight shell , it does not look repairable. If you have some half decent fabrication skills you might be able to purchase a thin sheet of polycarbonate and form it with a heat gun. You can use your old broken shell as a pattern. The light pattern might be strange but it's a budget option.

I would also highly recommend a set of open block knobby tires if you plan on riding any of the back roads around the Clark/Nye county areas. Lots of loose, deep rocks and sand out there.

Don't feel too bad. Contrary to what you might hear, these big adventure bikes get can very expensive whenever they are dropped. The Super Tenere is no different than any other 600+ lb bike when it hits the ground. My two slow speed tip overs cost over 500.00 and hours of labor to repair.
Lol, I have zero skills, but I might be able to cobble it together to last a little while, and yes I'm aware of my tire deficiency.

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ballisticexchris

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Lol, I have zero skills, but I might be able to cobble it together to last a little while, and yes I'm aware of my tire deficiency.

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That's cool. You have a lot of great riding out in your area!!
 

twinrider

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As far as this not being the best bike for riding off-road as some people have said, it's the bike I have, and so it's the bike I'll have to ride. If I had a bunch of money I could have the appropriate vehicle for each circumstance, but that's not the case. And I think for the most part it works quite well. I'm not really looking to ride very technical or challenging Terrain , that's not my thing, I want a bike that will let me ride beyond the tarmac when I see something interesting.
I'm not saying don't ride the S10 on dirt. But if you can, pick up a cheap beater 125 or 250 dirt bike and learn on that. Take lessons or get tips from someone experienced if possible as that will greatly speed up the process. The skills you gain will transfer to the S10.

While that may cost you a little cash up front, you'll save in the long run by not further damaging your S10 or getting injured. You can also sell the dirt bike later.
 
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mebgardner

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Mar 27, 2015
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Tucson AZ
Thanks for the info on the glue, I'll take a closer look at the lens and see whether gluing it back together might work, not entirely sure about how the Gorilla Tape would work though, unless there is clear tape.

As far as this not being the best bike for riding off-road as some people have said, it's the bike I have, and so it's the bike I'll have to ride. If I had a bunch of money I could have the appropriate vehicle for each circumstance, but that's not the case. And I think for the most part it works quite well. I'm not really looking to ride very technical or challenging Terrain , that's not my thing, I want a bike that will let me ride beyond the tarmac when I see something interesting.

Sent from my MHA-L29 using Tapatalk
I dont understand why no one else will tell you this. You got lucky here, you walked away un-injured from a drop of a very large cycle.

This is NOT the cycle to learn off road skills.

Get a smaller cycle (used beater), have fun, break some bones (you need to wrap your head around this: You do this off road thing, you *will* get hurt, you absolutely *will* need medical insurance, good insurance), heal up then come back and try your off road luck on this beast at some later date. After you get some skills.

Now go play offroad, but not on this. Not Yet.
 
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