 Steering Bolt Plugs / Covers |
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What's The Problem? Anyone who has ever had to remove their Maxim-X handlebars or forks will know that the chrome bolt plugs which cover the bolts to improve their appearance are a lost cause once removed. The bolt plugs are made of a soft, chrome-plated plastic so they're not easy to remove without damaging them. As you pry under the edges, the plugs flex and consequently the chrome plating lifts from the plastic surface and buckles causing obvious creases. Sometimes the chrome will even crack and peel off. They commonly look like the pictures below after they've been removed just once... and these are good ones.
The most tragic part about it is that you can see it coming but no matter how much care you take, the damage is almost always inevitable. It's really quite unfortunate. Replacements Plugs from Yamaha Although it's true that replacements can still be ordered from Yamaha (April 2008 - Yamaha Part# 90338-08163-00), they're not cheap and depending on your location, the price varies dramatically. In April of 2008, I put together a list of Yamaha delears across North America and their prices for these plugs. Here is that list:
Sadly, I live near the second dealership from the bottom of the list and, as such, would have to pay nearly 170% more for these plugs than someone who has the good fortune of living near Zanotti Motor Co. in Butler, Pennsylvania, USA. I think you can agree that that sort of price difference is gouging, plain and simple. So assuming you're advantageously located south of the border, and assuming they're not back-ordered, it should be fairly problem-free and reasonably inexpensive to replace your damaged or missing steering bolt plugs (and triple tree bolt plugs as well). But for the rest of us, life isn't quite that easy. Even if we were content to pay such high prices for a tiny plastic plug, it begs the question, "What about the next time?" Just buying them once is one thing but the reality is that it might become necessary several times during the life of your Maxim-X. Fork seals will fail repeatedly and there might come the time that you feel the urge to change your handlebars to something different, or perhaps the bike falls over and replacing the handlebars becomes a necessity. Whatever the reason, you may find yourself buyng these over-priced plugs more often than you care to and that need is precisely why an alternate solution will be of interest to everyone... but particularly Ontarions like me. Alternative Allen Bolt Plugs One thing that really didn't interest me about buying replacements from Yamaha (apart from the price) was the fragile nature of those plastic plugs. I really wanted something that was a lot more rugged and resilient. My preference was to find plugs that would be made of some kind of weather resistant metal like stainless steel or nickel-plated brass. With that in mind, my search led me to some typical 1/4" snap button hole plugs as shown below.
They're certainly rugged and they look fine and they might even satisfy some Maxim-X owners looking for replacement Allen bolt plugs, particularly because they're somewhat easier to source and definitely cheaper, but they look nothing like the original plugs. Snap button hole plugs just don't look right for the Maxim-X because the head size is a lot smaller than the heads of the original Yamaha bolt plugs. Rather than covering the entire steering bolt hole, snap button hole plugs cover only a fraction of the bolt head itself. For me, they just weren't good enough so my search continued. I must have visited three dozen web sites and half a dozen more stores before the right alternative finally surfaced. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted a package of Snap Fasteners as shown below - the kind of fasteners often used on tarps.
The final metamorphosis required the purchase of a short length of 1/4" x 0.170" vinyl tubing which I conveniently had around the house. I originally tried some windshield washer hose but that turned out to be a little too big for the 6mm Allen head of the steering and triple tree bolts. The 1/4" vinyl hose was a little smaller and fit perfectly without any modifications apart from being cut to a suitable length.
The post on the back of a snap fastener finishing cap is too long and too narrow so I simply used a grinder to shorten the post and then pushed a short length of vinyl tubing over the post with a drop of glue to keep the two pieces together. The following picture shows the three stages of the fabrication process:
Believe it or not, the alternative Allen bolt plugs are better than the real thing. Fabrication takes very little effort in only a few minutes and the end result is a far more resilient plug that covers the bolt & hole more completely. It can also be reused without being damaged and costs less than the original Yamaha part. The final cost for me was 83˘ per plug without attempting to source larger quantities of fasteners at cheaper prices. It really is better than the original and most people won't even be able to distinguish the alternative plugs from the original plugs. The picture below shows both in use.
With any luck, this will save other X owners the grief and the cost of having to buy replacements from Yamaha. It could actually save some people $2.00 per plug and with 8 plugs of this kind on every Maxim-X, that's nothing to sneeze at. I really hope this helps others - I know it helped me. Mine have now all been switched over to the new nickle-plated brass plugs. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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