Before I call it a night, I always go into the garage to check that the doors are closed and locked. I also check to make sure I turned off the ignition switch on the bike. Last night I noticed that I parked the bike a bit too far forward, which lets water drip from the house air conditioning, onto the front fender. I put the key in to unlock the forks, straightened the bike and backed it up a foot. When I did, I heard this crunch noise. I had accidentally left the key in the fork lock. The key no longer fits the bike's ignition or fork lock. My other key still works fine, so all I did was screw the key up and not the lock. I compared both keys and could see no difference between them. The bad key doesn't look deformed or missing anything.
Tom

 

Weird. You'd think that since you can't see any difference that it would work.

 

Never leave your key in the fork lock while moving your bike around the garage........
Don't ask me how I know...............

The key fits in there pretty tight anyway. I'll bet the slightest tweek will make it hard to slide in.

 

weird

 

dont feel to bad tom. i did the same thing, just to move my bike a few feet.. got the damaged key to work again but it dont feel right, so had to go to the other one.. have not checked yet to see how much to have another one made.... kerry

 

sounds like a great reason to buy a new bike!!

 

Thanks for the heads up. Could happen to any of us.

Now off to get another key cut...

 

D'oh!

 

I'm a tool maker by trade, so surely I should be able to tweak the bad key enough to work again. I doubt if I would ever fully trust it again, probably just carry it as an extra for an emergency.
It will be interesting to see how much the dealer wants for a new key. I also have the gold CVO key that comes with the SE bikes, but I figured I would keep it as a show piece.
Tom

 

Im a Locksmith a.k.a Penetration Specialist and it sounds like the key should be able to be tweaked as long as its not cracked or the cuts damaged. Take it to a good Locksmith and he may do it for free, I know I would.