[Charro]

My O5 Military came with only one gas cap key. And you guessed it I lost it sometime this last week. Do does anyone out there have gascap #5101, if so I will gladly pay you for your time, if you can make me a copy.  Does CMW carry repacements? HELP!!

Thanks Andy

[clamp]

I usually duplicate a key before I loose it.  Its a little easier to do it that way.

    I suppose  that was'nt much help to you was it really.

  I got two keys with mine.  I would'nt have thought a military should be different.

    Mythbusters picked a lock with the filaments of a light bulb last week!!

   

[Kevin Mahoney]

Asking for a replacemnt by using a key number is brilliant! We are unable to get replacements so this is a great idea

[Charro]

The rest of the story: Last night the wife and I went out to dinner, we took the same route as I had done so earlier on the RE and lost the gas key. Well as we are going along I see a glint on the road.  I tell her "that looked like a key laying on the road," I backup and low and behold, a Minda gascap key #5101.

Called CMW today , Tim told me that they do not have replacement keys, but they sell the new gascaps with (2) keys. Its on the way.


Andy

[Bilgemaster]

Sorry to revive this decade-old elderly thread, but it's the closest match I can find in the forum archives to my own predicament: I only received a single set of keys for my 2005. In fact, I never got a key for the Neiman-GKS steering lock--Don't believe the previous owner ever had one either. I can live without a steering lock for now, but given my history of wayward and prodigal keys, I am really hoping to get duplicates ASAP of the pair I have: one for the ignition and side panels and a second smaller one for the locking fuel cap.

I have been able to get hold of a couple of blanks for the ignition/sideboxes (apparently, a Curtis B-56 normally for some older GM cars does the trick just fine, and I also found an astonishingly baroque brass sword-and-scabbard deal from India off eBay, just for a gag), but I am having a real hard time sourcing a blank for that tank cap. It's the Minda brand key stamped "5145" shown with the cap, the lock cylinder of which is similarly stamped, in the photos below:

Does anyone know of a source for these Minda key blanks or a suitable substitute? I did swing by a local locksmith shop, but both guys just sort of cocked their heads like baffled mutts. I've also written to the Minda factory folks in India--twice--but weeks later have not yet received so much as a peep in response. Suffice it to say, it is not in their current catalog of key offerings under its Royal Enfield section (page 13). The good and helpful folks in Ft. Worth also appear stymied as to a source.

Any ideas?

[Kevin Mahoney]

Tim at Ft Worth in Texas is a RE Parts savant. It’s almost creepy to see him rattle on about part numbers, what can substitute etc. He knows more about RE Parts than anyone else in the world including anyone at the factory.

Anyway Tim is right, you will either have to buy a “common key set” or if you’re lucky you will find just a replacement petrol cap replacement. From the factory, one key works for everythingbg except the fork. Forget about the numbers on the keys.. REhas no idea what the numbers are for replacement purposes. The lock people would not divulge the numbers and key patterns to them.  I am sure that there is a key out ther that will work. Probably something obscure like a 1970 Opal, or a 1954 Nash Metropolitan. We never found one but someone on this board probably has.

[Bilgemaster]

Yeah, that's what I'm secretly hoping for if the Minda folks never step up: a Nash Metropolitan key, same as Lois Lane. I adore Mets, and have even been a welcome participant at a couple of their gatherings in upstate NY with my Amphicar. For some reason Mets are often confused with Amphicars. In fact the same Austin engine which pushes along the Mets was originally slated to power the Amphicar, as it did its prototypes, but they swapped to the Triumph Spitfire Mark I unit for production at the last moment owing to better supply commitments from Triumph.

To be honest, I could quite happily live without a locking gas cap. There's honestly no purpose to it, unless you also put a locking fuel tap on as well. I mean, if you just yanked off the hose there at the tap or simply cut the fuel hose, you could just drain the tank right there, with no need to go through the bother of siphoning from the fill hole. So, why have a lock there at all? If I cannot source a key blank, I might try to just rig it as elegantly as I can so that a screwdriver or even the ignition key can just open the damn thing.

[Arizoni]

You might be able to find a lock-smith that can remove the pins and springs from the lock.

Without the pins and springs in it, the lock can be turned with any key or screw driver you have handy.

[heloego]

   Or just get one of these conversion kits once you get it open or off.

   http://accessories.hitchcocksmotorcycles.com/18714

   CMW used to have them, but now I only see it at the big "H".

[Bilgemaster]

Actually, dogged and indefatigable (i.e., "pigheaded") researcher that I am, a holdover occupational hazard from my last gig of 27 years before I retired, I believe I may have found an equivalent substitution for that original Minda fuel tank lock key, namely the Volvo VL8 (also known as a Curtis VL-10, VL10; Dominion NE50; Ilco X140; Ilco EZ VL8; Jet VL8; JMA NE-18, NE18; Orion NN62; Silca NE51 or Taylor X1400).

It was mentioned on some Triumph forum or other, and the shape and profile seem to match up well enough. I went ahead and ordered this one off FleaBay. Once it arrives, I'll swing on by the local locksmith, have it cut, and let you all know if it does the trick.

[mattsz]

Sorry to revive this decade-old elderly thread...

That's alright, it was worth it just to see Clamp's smiling face again... 

[Bilgemaster]

Actually, dogged and indefatigable (i.e., "pigheaded") researcher that I am, a holdover occupational hazard from my last gig of 27 years before I retired, I believe I may have found an equivalent substitution for that original Minda fuel tank lock key, namely the Volvo VL8 (also known as a Curtis VL-10, VL10; Dominion NE50; Ilco X140; Ilco EZ VL8; Jet VL8; JMA NE-18, NE18; Orion NN62; Silca NE51 or Taylor X1400).

It was mentioned on some Triumph forum or other, and the shape and profile seem to match up well enough. I went ahead and ordered this one off FleaBay. Once it arrives, I'll swing on by the local locksmith, have it cut, and let you all know if it does the trick.

Well, that Volvo VL8 key blank (also known as a "Volvo Eight", Curtis VL-10, VL10; Dominion NE50; Ilco X140; Ilco EZ VL8; Jet VL8; JMA NE-18, NE18; Orion NN62; Silca NE51 or Taylor X1400) arrived in the mail. I took it off to the locksmith to be cut, and am pleased to report that it works just fine. It's longer than the original Minda key--being about the same length as the ignition key--but who really cares? So, those living on the edge in fear like I was with only a single fuel tank key fluttering precariously on the nacelle can now ride easy knowing there's always a spare.

As for me, although I'll admit I am a little disappointed it didn't turn out that the key for Lois Lane's Nash would do the trick, there's no denying that the one that does is pretty damned sexy too...

"Excuse me, Miss. Would you have an Eight Volvo?"
"Not at the moment, sir, but I get off at six-thirty."

[finbullet]

That key looks just like this one http://accessories.hitchcocksmotorcycles.com/accessory-shop/Keys-Bullet-models/12057

[Bilgemaster]

That key looks just like this one http://accessories.hitchcocksmotorcycles.com/accessory-shop/Keys-Bullet-models/12057

Yep! That looks like the one. Odd that they describe it as a toolbox key with no mention of the fuel cap. Maybe the locking fuel caps didn't make it onto the British export models. Oh well... I'm already set in any case. At least other future mono-keyed "iron-bellied" Bulleteers may benefit.

I'm just astonished there's no love as yet for the "eight Volvo" bit...You know, sounds like...Never mind. Been reading Bosworth's 18th Century journals again. I get it: bit of an oldtimey stretch linguistically. Still, we are the riders of the archaic after all.

[Bilgemaster]

April 2019 Update: Our man "Solg" and his locksmith "Goldilocks" have discovered an even better alternative--one that's aptly "just right" lengthwise--as described here, namely the Ilco X62 YH44. Here is one shown alongside an original Minda: