Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Richard230]

Today I visited my daughter to whom I gave my 2012 S as she was apparently having a minor running issue that seemed to be a return of the "glitch".  She also had a floppy mirror, which I repaired with an 8 mm wrench.  I was planning to take the bike out for a test ride and while pushing it into the driveway, I notice that the entire rear plastic portion of the bike, including the tail light, was flopping around.  Upon removing the seat I discovered that the aluminum U-shaped support bracket, which is attached to the main frame rail, had broken at the metal bracket that attaches to the rear fairing assembly.  The bracket was completely sheared off at either side of the bracket, near where the tail bracket bolts to the U-bracket.  The entire design appears rather flimsy to me.

To make the repair, I cut two lengths of aluminum sheet the same width of the broken section of the metal that bolts to the the fairing bracket, drilled holes in either end and bolted it to each end of the broken support, just past the 90-degree curve, with the original bolts.  I then drilled holes in the new sheet metal and bolted that to the rear support bracket with new longer bolts. The repaired section consists of two 1/8" thick pieces of new aluminum, with the broken section of bracket sandwiched between, mostly for alignment of the existing holes and to match it up with the broken section of the U-bracket. It seems pretty sturdy now.  Sorry about not taking any photos.

In the process of removing the rear plastic fairing, I broke most of the plastic push-in fasteners.  I discovered that the local Ace Hardware store sold auto plastic push pins and I bought the smallest ones they had for 33 cents, which were a perfect fit to replace the pins that I damaged when I took the fairing apart and some pins that were missing from the fairing "tank" cover. 

[Burton]

I would have loved to see pictures

Having worked with aluminum a lot in the past for my ninja 250 brackets I don't really like the material you can find at the hardware store as it always seems to break after a while -_-

Many of my key brackets are not stainless steel

[peter]

The plastic push-ins plugs are M6, if it helps.

Peter

[Richard230]

The stock rear tail light support bracket is made of thin aluminum.  I used a thick aluminum shop measuring ruler and straight edge that was laying around and cut it in half lengthwise to make the repair.  Not only was the aluminum easier to cut, but I figured that using similar materials would be better than mixing steel with aluminum.  But mostly I used what was easily available in my daughter's garage as the repair caught me off guard and I was not prepared to make the repair.  I was only visiting for a few hours so I just did the work quick and dirty in order to get her safely back on the road.  The local hardware store had a very limited selection of plastic fasteners and I just got what they had.  If this had happened at my home, I would not have bodged the project so much.   

Frankly, the pictures would not have been pretty, what with a couple of pieces of silver aluminum ruler and some hardware store bolts.   

[Burton]

I completely understand using what tools you have at hand

You should see what I did with my ninja 250's upper stay after it broke for the second time ^_^
When my welder comes and I am confident enough to work on my bike with it I am going to weld a new bracket for the upper stay and fix the broken tabs on the bike. Then I might weld up something for the rear wing rack so I don't have to worry about it breaking.

[Richard230]

I think my main reason for making this post is to alert owners of 2012 S and DS models to keep an eye on their rear fairing/tail light assemblies and if they look like they are a little loose and flopping around a bit, take your seat off and look at the support under the rear cowl you may find the support bracket broken and needing repair.  If this repair isn't made, I can envision the entire rear assembly dropping on to the ground as you are riding and being run over by the following SUV.  If that happened it could be a real headache.      After all, how many of these brackets, fairings and tail light parts do you think Zero has in stock and ready for shipment to your dealer's parts department?   

[ColoPaul]

This seems like a good thread to add this to.

I have now had the plastic supporting the rear turn signal break, the first about a month ago, the other side today.
The pictures show today's break, and the repair I made about a month ago to the other side (epoxy and a cut piece of reinforcing plastic).
When I repaired the first side, I did inspect the other side carefully, and found no damage or cracks, so when it goes, it goes pretty quick.

I'm 100% sure I did not clip a fixed object with either turn signal.  Anyone else have this happen?

[Lipo423]

I guess a few of us had the same issue...mine broke as well  (poor design and materials...shame on Zero).

My 5 cts. on this subject would be to suggest you probably the best Epoxy type (some plastics like polypropylenes, Polyethylene...etc are hard-to-bond). It is not cheap, but does a great job!

3M DP 810 or equivalent (it is an Acrylic 2 part structural adhesive).

[trikester]

You can also get a great (but expensive) plastic bonding epoxy at West Marine. It even tells you how to prepare polyethylene for bonding. It always remains flexible after setting up so it won't crack. Last time I purchased some (I've used it a number of times over the past ten years) it was $26 for the pair of tubes. If I have to repair my 2012 DS bracket this is definitely the product I will use.

Trikester

[eyeinsky]

Here's some Ideas

http://electricmotorcycleforum.com/boards/index.php?topic=3836.0






Jerry

[aelwero]

This seems like a good thread to add this to.

I have now had the plastic supporting the rear turn signal break, the first about a month ago, the other side today.
The pictures show today's break, and the repair I made about a month ago to the other side (epoxy and a cut piece of reinforcing plastic).
When I repaired the first side, I did inspect the other side carefully, and found no damage or cracks, so when it goes, it goes pretty quick.

I'm 100% sure I did not clip a fixed object with either turn signal.  Anyone else have this happen?

removed all the plastic before any had a  chance to break, but one of my tailights actually snapped in half at the flexible rubber part.

[pluto]

Just found this thread. The tail end broke off completely from my 2012 XU. It is pretty weak where the plastic was bolted into the frame, and the plastic cracked completely apart around the bolts. It actually did fall off while I was riding (luckily at low speed). I was able to prop it up using Rok straps temporarily but my 'permanent' fix was to drill new holes a few inches further up and use a block of wood to reinforce the bolts (needed longer ones). I also used zip ties all over the place to make sure it wouldn't go anywhere. Looks like crap if you look up close but it seems nice and solid now!

[ColoPaul]

Well, it finally happened to me, I'm pretty sure this is what Richard's original post was about.
My tail assembly has been flopping around for awhile, and when I took it apart I found several broken bracket pieces.
I fabricated several aluminum pieces and epoxied them in, and also added several additional bolts.
We'll see how long my fixes hold up.  If it falls apart again, I'll fabricate an entire new tail assembly for it like eyeinsky did.

[Richard230]

Your bike really did a job on that rear "fender".  My daughter's was not as bad and we caught it early, so the fix was easier and no dismantling was required.  Those 2012 Zero models sure were flimsy.  My daughter's Zero eats those black plastic plug rivets that hold the plastic parts to the bike like candy.   

[SunPropulsion]

Eyeinsky,   where did you get that Tidy Tail set up ?