Emergency Lid release

[Coyote Chris]

The sun came out in Spokane so I took off my seat and studied the lid latch and locking mechanism a bit. I turned the key and watched the locking latch on the Port side rear and it looks like you could drill a 1/4 in hole in an emergency in the plastic above it and throw the latch with a small screw driver... Is this correct? Hole would go where orange tape is.

 

[JQL]

You can also poke a screwdriver through the vent hole at the front of the case and unlatch it that way!

 

[Coyote Chris]

You can also poke a screwdriver through the vent hole at the front of the case and unlatch it that way!

I plan on installing a rod and knob attached to the operating rod. But am I right in thinking there might be two ways you couldnt get the Port lid open...?
1. The key unlock mechanism fails?
2. The latch mechanism fails?
The quick drill trick would take care of the former and the rod the latter.

 

[JQL]

I know there are a lot of people having problems with the latches.

I believe a lot of the problems stem from two things:

• Opening and closing the lids while on the side stand which makes it more difficult to do:
• Not closing the lids so that both latches latch simultaneously.

When closing the lids press either with both hands one at each latch or with one hand in the centre between the latches.

The ONLY time I have problems is when she is on the side stand or I'm not closing it properly (i.e. both latches simultaneously).

 

[ken]

You can also poke a screwdriver through the vent hole at the front of the case and unlatch it that way!

. After feeling smug for three years that my panniers always worked perfectly, last night my left one refused to open. Worse, I'm about a third of the way on a 4000 mile trip; oh and did I mention that my clothes are in that pannier? Luckily, I'm visiting my daughter and can wash my clothes, but I would really like to get the lid open. I've reviewed the posts on this topic, but I'm a bit confused. Should I be trying to use a coat hanger to move the seat release lever, or is there something else I should try? What should I "poke" to unlatch it? And should I be trying to unlatch the lid? Any specifics you can add, or a link to a discussion I didn't find where this is discussed would be greatly appreciated. The weather in Newport Beach CA. Is great, but my job in Louisiana is calling. Ken

 

[BillyDoc]

After reading a post yesterday on a similar subject, I removed my seat and took a look around. Someone had suggested disabling the seat latch so you could access the panier latches, and taking that approach to heart I saw that a simple linkage from the seat-release lever where it connected with the seat release cable would be easy to do. So I did some experimenting and found that a short length of stainless steel TIG welding rod (3/32" dia) could be bent to "hook" between the end of the release lever and the cable pin very nicely. I then bent an "eye" in this bit of rod so that it was just forward of the release lever, and a second eye in another length of welding rod to attach to this eye. I then threaded this second rod through the usual vent hole, forward of the release lever, and bent it backward to lie in the "valley" on the top edge of this vent hole and cut it so roughly an inch of rod was in the valley. By using care this "V" in the rod can be placed so the seat latch spring holds a slight tension on the assembly, and the "V" is snugged against the top edge of the vent slot.

Now I don't need to open the port panier to release the seat, I can use my pocket knife to hook the welding rod at the vent and pull forward about 3/8" for a release. My feeling is that this emergency access to the panier latches will save me a great deal of pain some day, and the bit of welding rod that is exposed is fairly unobtrusive. A perfectionist could easily cover the exposed part with some black heat-shrink tubing.

Bill

 

[kenstone]

BillyDoc:
Thanks for the post, could you post some pics?

 

[BillyDoc]

I couldn't get pictures of the installation directly without taking a bunch of things off, so I just made another pull rod . . . in principle at least. The first picture shows the vent slot, and the second picture shows this rod. Note that the "joint" in the rod is necessary because when the rod is pulled the "crank" attachment has to rotate 40 degrees or so.

Bill