1994 Kawasaki GPZ500S - Non OEM Ignition Switch?

[zzpza]

I just bought a shed of a bike to use over winter, it was only £400. I only passed my test in October. I have it insured from 1st Dec, and it has 6 months MoT.

It's been parking in the garage since I bought it on Monday last week. I pulled the bike out of the garage today to clean it and run the engine to keep the batter topped up, and accidentally put the steering lock on. I couldn't get it off again.

I ended up stripping the front of the bike down before I remembered there was a 2nd key with all the paper work. On the 2nd try (after I had squirted some WD40 between the head tube and lock) I managed to get it to release. Both keys are pretty loose in the lock, but this one wasn't as bad as the other one.

This happening a couple of meters from my garage wasn't too troubling, but if this was to happen when I was out on the road, or in a rural area with no phone signal, it would be a massive PITA. I'd really like to change the ignition barrel for piece of mind.

I can get a replacement barrel off eBay (new, but non OEM) for about £40. I would have to drill out the security bolts holding the old one on, so may just get a 2nd hand top yoke at the same time too (the seller would have already done this to remove the barrel).

Are the non OEM switches any good? I can get an OEM switch from a same year bike someone is breaking for about £30, but I get the feeling that that barrel is going to be just as worn as the one I currently have.

Thoughts / suggestions? Any idea how much a new one from Kawasaki would cost?

[Kawasaki Jimbo]

Sometimes you need to move the bars a bit before the key will turn.

[yen_powell]

I bought a pattern ignition switch for my Africa Twin and it was as good if not better than the original which I had worn out. I think the shop was called something like patternparts.co etc

That cost me about 40 quid back in 2003. It had the right wires but the wrong plug (they didn't make an exact pattern at that time so I took a gamble) it was actually listed for a CBR600 which oddly shares quite a few bits with ATs. I just used a small screwdriver to swap the plug over from the original took a few seconds.

This does mean that I had an extra key on my keyring because the petrol tank and seat were still on the original key. The steering lock still worked.

I used a small hammer and a centre punch to remove the security bolts by tapping them in an undoing direction, they weren't actually very tight, replaced them with ordinary capped allen screws.
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XT1200Z and a DR350 in bits

[stinkwheel]

The "security" bolts on motorcycle locksaren't usually all that secure in my experience.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
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[yen_powell]

[zzpza]

Much appreciated for the info guys, I think I'll give the non OEM one a go. I think I've found the place you got yours from Yen.

Ta