Rust

A couple of bolts that hold the heat shield onto the exhaust pipes became rusty after the first couple of days my bike got caught in the rain at work. Hubby bought some stainless steel washers to replace them but when he went to take one of the bolts off, it broke the top off. So, I'd been riding with only one bolt. Over time of course the rattle became a bit louder than usual. This morning when I started the bike to warm it up, it started to rattle right away. We kept saying that as long as that one bolt stayed on we would deal with it later. Well, the 2nd bolt looked loose which was causing the heat shield to rattle and even flap a bit just while it was warming up. So, I went to tighten down the existing bolt and you guessed it. It broke right off. So, the heat shield is sitting in the garage.

This is what it is supposed to look like:This is what it looks like now:

Mostly I was trying to tighten it in case the rattling caused it to break while I was riding. I didn't want to lose the heat shield. So, breaking off was probably better in the long run. So, add that to the to do list.

My bike is starting to feel it's age. I'm beginning to wonder what will fall off next. Maybe it is a good thing winter is coming. I should take advantage of the down time to really go over the bike and replace questionable bits. Should be a good learning season.