Today on my motorcycle ride I managed to loose my left plastic side panel. New ones aren’t available at any price so far as I can tell. On ebay I can get a used panel, that is if I can find it in the right color and without too much damage, for about 50 USD. The bike doesn’t strictly need that panel to function but it does decrease its value and its astetic qualities. Maybe I will see about making my own cover instead.
Last week I bought a trickle charger from NewEnough.com for a very reasonable price. I chose the Deltran Battery Tender Jr. It cost me 30 USD plus a few bucks in shipping. I credit the charger for the easy time I had this morning starting my bike in the cold. Unfortunately, it was also partially the reason why I lost my left side panel. The panel has to be removed to access the battery terminals for charging. When I went to replace it, I must not have done a very good job re-securing it.
The rest of the winter I believe I will be riding around without any extraneous plastic bits that can fall off. Earlier in the summer I already lost one of the mini bullet bolt covers for my license plate holder. That time, the piece wacked Carl in the leg. This time I have no idea what happened to my poor plastic side panel. After I realized it fell off (as soon as I got home), I jumped in my car and drove the route to see if I could find it. Alas, it was all for naught.