[Rohnsman]

I ordered a nice reflective sticker to put on the front of my (what is this piece called - a headlight bezel??). Anyway, probably bad mojo as when I dumped my bike yesterday, it scarred this piece up pretty good. (The matching scratches on on leg and elbow

will heal, but this won't). Sanding plastic doesn't seem like much of an option (is it?), so replacement of this part is probably in order. I'd guess that though this is from a '93, that this part is pretty universal, no? Maybe someone parting out a bike or who have switched to a round headlight has one of these for sale?

Also, this view shows where the mounting points which also hold on the turn signals was torqued to the left (note the gap over the speedometer vs that over the light indicators). Is bending it back into place the answer?

Finally, the '93 speedometer has no odometer. How tough it is to replace the speedometer with a newer model that has the odometer?

 

[lizrdbrth]

Windscreens are the same '87 to present, varying only by color.



Trip odometer came on '01 or newer, I believe.

 

[Gerry]

Truelight, unless you are a purest or have lots of money, should you buy a replacement part, don't put it on. Enjoy your bike, and, as I suspect something like this will happen again. When you get ready to sell, then put on the 'nice' part to have the bike look a bit more presentable. I am not suggesting you mis-represent what the bike has been thru, just save your 'Sunday' clothes for church. Gerry

 

[bluedevilfootballman]

jus as a side note, my 2000 has a trip meter.

 

[wrench-puller]

Ouch! Thats one of those " i want to restart my day! " moments. There are a few bezels on ebay but wrong color, one blue, one black n red. Here is a speedo link , http://cgi.ebay.ca/94-yamaha-tw200-tw-200-SPEEDOMETER-GAUGE-ASSEMBLY-/160473077086?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories. There is also one at PG here in B.C., but shipping would be crazy. I once found a offshore place that has new plastics for lots of motorcycles, if i can find it i will pass it along.

 

[Rohnsman]

Ouch! Thats one of those " i want to restart my day! " moments. There are a few bezels on ebay but wrong color, one blue, one black n red. Here is a speedo link , http://cgi.ebay.ca/94-yamaha-tw200-tw-200-SPEEDOMETER-GAUGE-ASSEMBLY-/160473077086?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories. There is also one at PG here in B.C., but shipping would be crazy. I once found a offshore place that has new plastics for lots of motorcycles, if i can find it i will pass it along.

The link you provided for the speedo was to one from a '94 which also has no trip meter. My speedo works, I was just thinking about upgrading.

 

[Rohnsman]

Truelight, unless you are a purest or have lots of money, should you buy a replacement part, don't put it on. Enjoy your bike, and, as I suspect something like this will happen again. When you get ready to sell, then put on the 'nice' part to have the bike look a bit more presentable. I am not suggesting you mis-represent what the bike has been thru, just save your 'Sunday' clothes for church. Gerry

Interesting way of looking at it. Perhaps I should figure that a trail bike should wear it's "war wounds" with honor, kind of like badges of courage and scars of honor. Your logic makes sense and I like the "Sunday clothes" analogy.



Oh yeah, I learned Yamaha calls this part a "cowling", not a bezel. Gotta get my parts terminology straight!

 

[Rainman]

I'm with Mr. Gizmow on this one and leave it looking gnarly. If you wanted to, you could sand it down some and repaint it. Its just a battle scar. I don't wish it upon you, but it may happen again. You are correct, the piece is called a cowl, or headlight cowl, or even a number plate.

 

[vuldub]

Truelight. If your not in a hurry, I'm sure something will pop up on ebay.



I hear what your saying Gerry, but for me, I like my stuff to be in good shape so I would probably replace it. I put a small dent in my gas tank when my knee hit it as I dumped over - it's a small dent, but it bugs me. That's just me though. On another forum for cruisers there was a discussion about who polishes their bike and who just rides it. There was quite a variety of opinions - and to my surprize there were guys who had never washed there bike in all the years they owned it! Each to his own.



Gotta do what feels right...The fact you dressed up the cowling with a neat sticker says something right there....

 

[Rohnsman]

Yeah, I'm not in a hurry on something cosmetic like this and so watching for an e-bay deal is a good idea. I -do- need to figure out what is rattling around in my muffler though.. either something broke loose or a piece of gravel got down in there.

 

[JarrodWeaver]

I used to have a muffler rattle that drove me crazy(er). After cutting it in half with my trusty Sawzall I found that one of the spot welds on a baffle had come loose. Now I have a FMF Q4 on my bike and a spare stock pipe that is about 3" wide with no baffle whatsoever. It will be a good project when I get my hands on a welder...

 

[peruano]

Truelight, The thread banter between you, Admiral, Gizmow, and others got a bit tangled, causing me to offer up a headlight bezel to Admiral and he pointed out that it is you that had the need. My offer of a free one is good, but it unfortunately is a blue plastic (with bright red fading to orange at the sides decal. (I believe a 1993 model year). There is a slight scratch on the decal and a bit of a rub (the size of a pea at the upper right margin of the head light (no serious surface damage is evident to me). Let me know if you want it. We might consider this one of those pass it on things. You do something nice for someone else down the road. I could photograph it if you want such. Tom

 

[ATXthumper]

truelight, if you want to sell your old cowl let me know ive got a project that i'm working on i need a "new" cowl. it would be a plus if the reflective sticker is still on it.

 

[Rohnsman]

Well guys... I sure appreciate the offers of a free cowling (which is likely in better shape than mine, see below). I haven't attempted it, but wonder if there is such a thing as "sanding plastic" to remove the deepest gouges? I have had good success with plastic paint, (the cowling was painted white and reflective graphic applied and it all looked very nice (before the crash).



Here where I got the graphic BTW - 2 for $7.99 (which I thought was a great deal) I put one on the cowling and the other on the back of my helmet. (Had to slit it slightly to get it to conform to the curved helmet). The reflective properties are great in aiding to the visibility of your bike. Reflective Yamaha Logo sticker



Here's what it looks like now...

If you want to do some swapping around, I'll gladly accept the free offer of the cowling from Peruano and ship on my old cowling to ATXThumper] also for free. Drop me a private message if you want to set up these exchanges.



FWIW - My elbow had scratches matching the cowling, though now about not quite 2-weeks later, my road rash has healed nicely. My biggest injuries seem to be bruising where the 300+ pounds of TW flopped down hard on my leg. Something on the side also poked two pretty deep holes in my leg (and those are taking longer to heal). I --really-- glad it was the left side of the bike that I was under, rather than the hot right side with the muffler or I'd have been cooked!

This is about 12 days after. The whole lower left leg was a nice plum purople for a while. Things are quite a bit better in this photo.



Here's the biggest "owie" - two deep holes where something got me...

As soon as finances allow, I think I'm gonna order some of those Bohn Armor Pants. They look like a great way to go.



Cheers gang..!

 

[admiral]

I knew you were hurt'in pretty good, now I can see why your family wanted you to get it checked out at the hospital. Makes me cringe...and reminds me of what my foot looked like when I hit the rock and broke my foot while riding out of the creekbed a few years ago. Get well soon!

 

[ATXthumper]

man that leg looks rough! hope you're able to get right back on the horse soon!

maybe while youre still healing you should see what lines up to the gouges in your leg and maybe do some modifying to keep that from happening again? if its bolt heads, mebbe you could find snap on bolt head covers that would make for a smoother surface that may contact your leg?



the problem with sanding to level out the gouges is that you're going to sacrifice ALOT of material to try and blend the deepest scratches. and the result is a flimsyish cowl that flexes and vibrates at speeds above 40mph (voice of experience) if you do go that route i would suggest a jimbo shield. it adds a good amount of stiffness to the cowl and calms the vibrations down. and it looks good to boot!

 

[Rohnsman]

I knew you were hurt'in pretty good, now I can see why your family wanted you to get it checked out at the hospital. Makes me cringe...and reminds me of what my foot looked like when I hit the rock and broke my foot while riding out of the creekbed a few years ago. Get well soon!

Thanks Admiral. This shot was just yesterday. You should have seen it about 4 days ago. Doin' much better now though and yesterday after I'd installed my "new" muffler, I rode the bike down to the store, first time I've been back on it since the "incident." I've also installed my new AgriSupply containers, (which look like booster rockets!

, but I like the functionality). I'll post a pic here soon.



This nice cool weather makes me want to go riding again soon!



Oh yes - today is the "Big Day" - GO BSU BRONCOS!

 

[ATXthumper]

The Following is a PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT brought to you by ATXthumper:



everyone who rides, especially in back country/off road situation, should carry a first aid kit.

i ride with a semi hard clamshell zip case



it has just the essentials but i reorganize, remove extraneous materials and make additions to the original contents. this small first aid kit has come in handy for me several times. luckily ive never experienced a major emergency where this would be inadequate but even in that kind of situation i feel that something would be better than nothing.

 

[Rohnsman]

The Following is a PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT brought to you by ATXthumper:



everyone who rides, especially in back country/off road situation, should carry a first aid kit.

i ride with a semi hard clamshell zip case



it has just the essentials but i reorganize, remove extraneous materials and make additions to the original contents. this small first aid kit has come in handy for me several times. luckily ive never experienced a major emergency where this would be inadequate but even in that kind of situation i feel that something would be better than nothing.

Good advice. Let me add to that you should really think hard about riding solo in the backcountry. I was fortunate and had a great riding partner who helped me get back on my feet and home again. At first, my leg was pinned under the bike and smelling gasoline dripping and knowing I had a hot engine, that was NOT a good feeling. I was able to wriggle out from under the bike, but had my leg been broken... who knows? It's made me think twice about solo backcounty rides I'll tell ya.

 

[ATXthumper]

man, for preaching about a first aid kit i often break the golden rule of strength in numbers. i ride, fish and kayak alone quite often. a habit that i should probably break.