So at the end of last summer, I lost the only key (d'oh!) to my motorcycle. It's getting to be great riding weather again, so I finally got around to calling a few locksmiths to help me out.

The first one (recommended by local motorcycle shops) said I'd have to bring the bike down, because it would be a long procedure to try and make a key from scratch, and it'd be too expensive for them to come out.

This was a bummer for me, for I have no trailer for it, and various other reasons that add up to my general laziness.

So I finally called another locksmith out of the blue. "Sure, no problem, be out there tomorrow morning".

I watched carefully as he spent roughly two and a half minutes... He put a key blank in to the receiver, wiggled it, pulled it out, looked at the marks the pins made, filed 'em a bit, repeated three times. Voila, bike started right up. He probably would have been faster too, but I was jabbering away at him while he was working.

I feel *so* confident about my locks now!

Now, this was an expensive lesson for me, $120. $60 for coming to me instead of bringing it in, and $60 for doing the work. Dayum... wish I could make $60 / 2.5 minutes!

 

Wow, no kidding. What kind of bike?

 

it's an 1985 honda nighthawk CB450. Not one of the ones they could just look up the key code from the VIN, and it was easier for them to impression a key than to pull the lock out to see if there was a code on the cylinder.Sad part is I got the bike for $1,000, which was a great deal, but with stupid stunts like losing the key, it's starting to add up!