Date: Tue, 8 Apr 1997 11:34:24 +0900 (JST)
From: jyoshida@east.ncc.go.jp (Yoshida, Junji)
Subject: Re-keying the Saddlebags -- End of the Story (LONG)
Mime-Version: 1.0

Sorry for the bandwidth, but I'd like to share my long story with you all
about re-keying the saddlebags for my RS, which started right after I
joined the IBMWR list in September, 1995 (Oh, so long ago!).

My BIG THANKS to Presidents Jonathan Hutchins, Cameron S. McCaig, Chuck
Hawley, Jonathan Jefferies, Rik Steenwinkel, Laurence 'Mike' Hammer, Mark
Bergman, Martin Jangowski, Kari Prager and Butch Hays. I have completed
re-keying the saddlebags, and two complete six-locking-tab cylinders are
now in place. I can't help being amazed by the power and kindness that the
list brings about. Thank you very much, Joe, for making this happen.

President Cameron was the first to tell me that to grind down the tabs
sticking out of the side of the bag cylinder, the ignition key being placed
in the cylinder, was the way his MC dealer had shown him. Yes, his would
make the bag lock be operated either with the bag key or with the ignition
key. But it sounded too "gewaltig" for me.

I preferred the more gentle instruction posted by President Mark Bergman. I
studied the lock cylinder and the key, pulling out the 6 locking tabs.
Although President Chuck Hawley posted that "You have to remove a strip
above the pins. Pins and springs come out. Then when you are done, you have
to restake the strip into it's groove", I couldn't find any strips.The tabs
seemed to come in just 3 sizes, and each had one of the three figures --1,
2 or 3. My bag cylinder had the tabs with 3-3-3 on one side and 1-2-2 on
the other starting from the bottom to the top of the cylinder. By
inspecting the keys and replacing one tab with another, I thought that my
ignition key requires 3-2-2 and 1-2-1 arrangements in the cylinder.

Thus, I needed 2 tabs marked 1 on them and 2 marked 2 to arrange the 2
cylinders. I asked BMW Japan if they sold them. Their answer was, as I
expected, no. They only would offer key cylinders as a set of 4 units (!!)
at about 12000yen. They agreed that the easiest and cheapest way to achieve
it was to grind down the tabs. I also asked two local dealers, but their
replies were the same.

I asked BMW Japan if I could get in contact with Neiman. But they didn't
know at all and told me that asking BMW head office in Germany wouldn't
work either. I also asked the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in
Tokyo how to get in contact with Neiman. But, again, their list didn't
include this famous BMW lock maker. President Rik Steenwinkel posted me
that Neiman might be a French company and suggeted asking French Chamber of
Commerce and Industry. But that damned nuke-testings made me hesitate to do
this.

President Jonathan Jefferies gave me a kind suggestion to ask Prez Kari
Prager at California BMW / Triumph. He was so kind to ask them about this
issue -- e-mail system was out of order at Kari's then -- and recommended
me to take out the two lock cylinders and send them with a spare ignition
key. He told me that the labor cost for them to do this would be US $25.00
and the shipping charge.

This was really a kindest offer. But what I needed was the locking tabs and
I was confident enough to replace them. I asked him to consult Kari to sell
me only those tabs. The tabs, however, were not official parts, so that
they offered me to exchange the tabs with my extra ones. They required only
the shipping charge for this kindness.

When I was about to go for this idea, President Martin Jangowski gave me a
wonderful offer. He found that the locking tabs were the same as those in
door cylinders in the old BMW 3xx cages (model E30). He told me he could
"wrestle out" some tabs and send them to me. How nice!!

On arrival of the tabs on October 16th, 1995, however, I re-assembled the
cylinders immeadiately and found in deep sorrow that my brain was
good-for-nothing. I noticed that the arrangement I had thought to fit with
the ignition key was actually WRONG. I had thought that ignition key
required 3-2-2 arrangement on one side, but actually it was 3-2-1. Thus, I
needed another pair of #1 tabs.

I wrote to Martin via e-mail and snail mail begging for the necessary tabs,
but couldn't get in contcat with him. So I sheepishly assembled one
complete cylinder and another with only 4 locking tabs, which needed two #1
tabs, and installed them back into the bag. They worked OK, but the fact
two tabs were lacking occasionally came to my mind and I felt sad.

Now, you kow that the esteemed President Butch Hays recently purchased a
sparkling black R1100RS. He was in the process of re-keying the system
cases and found that
he needed four #3 tabs rather than the four #1 tabs that he had. I was so
pleased to find him posting this in the March 30th morning. I had the very
four #3 tabs and was in dreadful need of two #1 tabs! He wrote "And yes, I
know I can file the #1's down a bit and make them work."

I e-mailed him immediately that I wanted to be the one to exchange the tabs
with him and asked him to never think of filing them down. But our server
was being replaced then and I couldn't get incoming e-mail messages that
day. Instead, I could somehow browse web sites. So I asked Butch to send me
his reply via his web page.

Next morning, I arrived at the hospital early and found his reply messages
both via the web and via e-mail. Oh, how glad I was to be in time before he
filed down the #1's!:)

I found his letter and the TABS in my mailbox last evening and sneaked out
into my *secret* garage in the hospital this morning. I forgot which key
cylinder was incomplete, but, as luck would have it, I could at once pull
out the 4-tab cylinder in the left bag. I assembled the two #1's and the
tiny springs in place and installed the cylinder back, which worked great.

Now this is the end of the story. I hope the four #3 tabs will get to Butch
shortly and he will be a happy owner of beautifully re-keyed saddlebags.

And to those who will be re-keying; I still have two #2 tabs here. I
believe Butch still has two #1's. Ask us if you need them.

Best wishes,

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Yoshida, Junji, M.D. '93 R1100RS / '96 Honda Domani
"Memento Mori"
BMWMOA #71184/BMWRA #20664/ IOC #491
BOOF #36/OSP #6/DIPS #9/RATCJ #1/IAJS#1/'59ers #611
Web Album at; http://mars.superlink.net/~rriegler/njsbmwmr/junji/
by courtesy of Richard Riegler, NJSBMWR
Division of Thoracic Surgery, National Cancer Center Hospital East
6-5-1, Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba, 277 JAPAN
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