wjb
Nitrous
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2019
- Messages
- 1,270
- Location
- California No Longer!
- Ride
- 2008 Rocket III Touring 2002 Bonneville America
My Rocket III Touring has a locking quick de-tach luggage rack that is lockable, but it takes a different key than the rest of the bike.
The ignition and saddle bags take the same key but that pesky luggage rack has it's own key.
So I decided to try to combine them into one key so I would always have a key to unlock anything on the bike.
I ordered a Triumph key blank and first took it to a local locksmith to have one side cut to match the ignition key and the other side of the blank cut to match the luggage rack. Well, the locksmith said he could do it but only if I purchased a key blank from him! And of course he didn't have one in stock so he would have to order one and I would have to wait until it came in. I told him I didn't want to buy a key blank from him since I had one in my hand!
I told him to pound sand and took my key blank to a local hardware store that copies keys. There's always some kid there that thinks he is a key copying expert so I told him I had a challenge for him. I explained what I wanted and gave him the two keys and the blank and he cut one side for the ignition/saddle bags and the other side for the luggage rack.
Problem solved! Now I carry one slim key in my pocket and can use it for anything on the bike.
I cut a notch in one side to indicate the ignition side so I don't have to guess which side of the key works what.
The ignition and saddle bags take the same key but that pesky luggage rack has it's own key.
So I decided to try to combine them into one key so I would always have a key to unlock anything on the bike.
I ordered a Triumph key blank and first took it to a local locksmith to have one side cut to match the ignition key and the other side of the blank cut to match the luggage rack. Well, the locksmith said he could do it but only if I purchased a key blank from him! And of course he didn't have one in stock so he would have to order one and I would have to wait until it came in. I told him I didn't want to buy a key blank from him since I had one in my hand!
I told him to pound sand and took my key blank to a local hardware store that copies keys. There's always some kid there that thinks he is a key copying expert so I told him I had a challenge for him. I explained what I wanted and gave him the two keys and the blank and he cut one side for the ignition/saddle bags and the other side for the luggage rack.
Problem solved! Now I carry one slim key in my pocket and can use it for anything on the bike.
I cut a notch in one side to indicate the ignition side so I don't have to guess which side of the key works what.