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Weirdness with BMW/Touratech adventure cases?

I

inte_gs

Guest
Originally posted in Hexhead forum ... then realized probably belongs over here:

Picked up a set, and the locksets seem to be giving me grief.

All keyed the same, yet some locks work perfectly & others bind, severely sometimes.

Also, the right case snaps on great, the left one takes a pretty significant effort to get it to clamp down.

Curious to know if mine is a unique case (no pun intended), or if this is a common symptom.
 
The only problem I have with mine is the top box lock does not stay locked. I can lock it with the key, then take a ride. After a bit I stop and check the lock. I can take the plastic protection cover and give it a turn and unlock the lock without use of the key. This only happens after riding for about ten miles or so. So I keep that in mind when "locking" items in it. But really, just how secure are they? A decent size screwdriver can pop one open in about five seconds.
 
Locking?

A good question. I rarely lock mine, but know the dangers could be lurking! I use Jesse luggage, but the locking issue interested me here. When I tarvel and the bags are all loaded up, stuff straped on top of the bags too, I find most would probably never mess with the bike. I'm never far from it though, even as I park at restaurants, I try to park where i can see the bike from inside. Out of sight, one may wish to lock up however and your concern with locks is obvious. My Jesse locks are not smoothly operated either, but never come unlocked as i know it, when locked. I've heard the same on/off strugle with the tourtech bags, from others. It'll probably get easier with wear in and more use. Randy:thumb:usa
 
I like to lube the locks when I get a new machine in. I use a spray, Miracle Mist, that my locksmith recommends, which is amazing stuff. Don't use WD-40; it leaves a sticky residue.
 
The only problem I have with mine is the top box lock does not stay locked. I can lock it with the key, then take a ride. After a bit I stop and check the lock. I can take the plastic protection cover and give it a turn and unlock the lock without use of the key. This only happens after riding for about ten miles or so. So I keep that in mind when "locking" items in it. But really, just how secure are they? A decent size screwdriver can pop one open in about five seconds.

My topcase was the same way when I got it. Guessing you'll find the same issue - the lockset in my case had no plates in it other than the last "catcheplate" to keep the barrel from falling out of the lock. You can open with virtually anything - screwdriver, fingernail, or the plastic protection cover. Try "locking" it with a screwdriver - if you case is like mine was, you'll find the lock just spins & doesn't actually lock.

I pulled that out & installed what few plates I had handy and now it's keyed to bike's ignition. This worked perfectly with the topcase, and some of the sidecase locks. Odd in that keying them all identical does not cause them to all work. Leading me to believe the case castings are askew from one to the next.

Only workaround I've found so far is to use less plates in the troublesome locks.

Biggest problem to my mind with this is the cases can fall off the bike when keyed like this. Offroad, the cases are subject to forces on the latches - bumping into the catchplate actually turns it, allowing the latch to open. This happened to one of my sidecases.

Curious if this is a widespread issue or very isolated. Working on a solution in any case...no pun intended.
 
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