Weird damage to a bike I looked at today.

Kyle_E

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Hard spot to photo of especially in a dark showroom.... but.

This damage is on the panel between the display and the windshield. Anyone seen anything like this before? Looked almost like an electrical fire, but no clue. Anyone want to hazard a guess on the cause?

 

MFP

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Hard spot to photo of especially in a dark showroom.... but.

This damage is on the panel between the display and the windshield. Anyone seen anything like this before? Looked almost like an electrical fire, but no clue. Anyone want to hazard a guess on the cause?

Looks like some sort of chemical burn to the plastic.
It also appears that some sort of bunched up nylon rope was present and left a large imprint in the plastic when the plastic was softened during the heat/chemical melting phase.
 

MFP

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Second possibility: A Dremel, grinder or orbital polisher gone amok.
 

Kyle_E

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Second possibility: A Dremel, grinder or orbital polisher gone amok.
I thought when I first saw it, dremel as well, but just didn't jive in person. I think you are on to something with the chemical spill of some sort.

Only other thing I could think of is heat damage from a work light etc.

I have read of folks who had sunlight focused by their windshield melt their dash. If that's what this was, then I guess it's a serious issue
I didn't think plastic shields would do that? But if it could happen this is the place for it (las vegas).
 
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Sierra1

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Some kind of plastic "protectant" combined with sun shining through the windshield at the perfectly wrong angle?
 

RCinNC

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It gets pretty hot under that windshield when the sun comes through it at just the right angle. I had my instrument pod display get cooked one day; it went black for a while until it cooled down. Back when I had a V-Strom, there were some guys who had bikes where the plastic over the instrument pod got melted from the sun shining through the windscreen.
 

nwrider

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If you have a National Cycle V-stream windshield, the sun can be focused like a magnifying glass and as the sun moves across the sky it will stitch a melted path on the dash. That happened to my 2012 Tenere. I started placing a cloth over the dash or draping my riding jacket over the windshield.
 
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EricV

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Perhaps a combination of sun lensing and a half cover? I used to put a towel over my dash and gauges when parking at work in St George. The desert does not like us. Taking a perfectly good bike and parking it for 8 hours or more during a prime riding day is just wrong too. ;)
 

Checkswrecks

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Not uncommon for the windshield to focus the sun on the plastic beneath. It's been the subject of a few other threads here.
Other examples of windshields melting plastic:



 

WJBertrand

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Definitely a sunlight induced branding problem. My previous ST1300 was susceptible to this as well, with many reports on the forums. I think what happens is that the sun shines on backside of the windscreen which approximates the shape of a parabola, reflecting a focused beam downward on the plastic bits. I’ve taken to throwing my jacket over the windscreen by habit when parking outdoors if I’m not planning to put the cover on.


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Kyle_E

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If you think that's bad, there are plenty of news articles about leaving a water bottle on a car seat and causing a fire or at least melted upholstery.
No, I knew that glass would do it. I just thought for some reason polycarb/plastic unless really thick couldn't do it for some reason.
 

Don in Lodi

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My favourite was a bottle of fix-a-flat canned air being kept in a glovebox. Windshield on the hood, destroyed dash...
 

HappyHiker

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I have a few melted spots on mine from the PO (up on the cowling of the bike, top of the instrument cluster) - Has Vstream touring shield installed. Been keeping a towel handy to toss up there if the bike sits in the sun for any period of time - but the thought of having something a little more aesthetically pleasing / always in place appeals to me .

I have looked to see if there were any "dash / instrument" covers made for the Tenere and haven't seen any commercially available - anybody know of some?

I have seen a few pictures of members that have made various shades and covers, if so please share what you did so I can shamelessly borrow your good idea :)
 

Don in Lodi

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Could use the fuzzy half of some sticky backed velcro, kind of a dash-mat.
 
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