My Lesson Changing Mirrors or "Reverse Thread, What?

[TheSmokingArgus]

So having now ridden my completely geeky wave of "OMG I own a Genuine Scooter" now for just over a week, I excitedly two-stepped outside having completed work to install the two new mirrors and a windshield which arrived from Scooterworks earlier in the day.

However, thinking that tying on my bandana and lugging my late-father's old tool box out of the garage, somehow turned me into "Allie-the-scooter-mechanic" quickly gave way to "oh @#$%$%%" when the stem of the old mirror broke off right at the handlebar.

Exhibit 1


Fortunately, searching through the posts on MB enlightened me to the fact that the right-side mirror is reverse thread, which is something that never ever occurred to me as I was struggling to get the mirror to come off whilst chanting "Righty-Tighty, Lefty-Loosey."

Anywho, after searching here and elsewhere on how to remove the broken piece, I thankfully stumbled across a video that said to take a drill bit meant for metal, drill out the center and make it so the hole was wide enough to insert a screwdriver, spray some lubricating oil, and then try to back the broken piece out of the hole.

How this managed to work is beyond me, but wow what an awesome trick, and it helped make me feel like much less of a dork for being so ignorant/careless.

So for me the lesson here is ... search the Modern Buddy boards FIRST, before trying to undertake anymore scooter projects.

Fortunately, everything went pretty smoothly from there, even taking into account the absolute horrible directions included on how to install the windshield.

Exhibit 2 - Tadah!

[PeteH]

There ya go! Good job!

[Tocsik]

Nicely done! I would say you definitely are on your way to becoming "Allie-the-scooter-mechanic" after removing a broken bolt!

Re the mirrors: think of it this way (for future reference) - if you are riding forward and either of the mirrors strike something (or just get forced back by the pressure of the wind from scootering at massive speeds), they will loosen rather than break which is why one of them will have a reverse thread relative to the other. Kinda like car mirrors that fold back but not forward.

[opposable_thumbs]

Nicely done! I would say you definitely are on your way to becoming "Allie-the-scooter-mechanic" after removing a broken bolt!

Re the mirrors: think of it this way (for future reference) - if you are riding forward and either of the mirrors strike something (or just get forced back by the pressure of the wind from scootering at massive speeds), they will loosen rather than break which is why one of them will have a reverse thread relative to the other. Kinda like car mirrors that fold back but not forward.

Excellent way to put it! I'm going to remember that!

[JettaKnight]

Glad it worked out.

And a note for the future - that LH threaded bolt that comes with the windscreen is almost impossible to replace. When mine snapped I end up drilling out the holes and threading them BOTH for a new RH thread. I then used top quality SS bolts instead of the cheap ones provided.