Thats me....

The Vstar I bought is 2 missing chrome or polished SS phillips screws holding the stock windshield to the mounts. I pulled one out and went to the local ACE hardware store where I normally go and buy such parts. They have a very large selection! Before there was this old man that would assist me.. or he would just make himself available while I puttered about trying to come up with what I wanted. In this way I replaced the two screws on the break fluid, new screws for the rear of the seat, long screws and rubber stoppers for the front of the set... on and on( all on the savage)... I knew what I doing.

So this young blond long haired teen boy... asks what I need and I say I need a screw just like this one. He goes over to the zinc plated standard bolts and hands me one ( 1/4 ").. Mine is metric, and phillips head, and chrome. He digs through the SS .. still in standard and pulls out a phillips but it has high hard shoulders.. not "flat" like the dressy bolt I have.
Kid "Chrome is $4 each, you don't want that"
he unlocks the chrome and digs out one but it has shoulders too. Tosses it back in, never letting me look, and locks everything back up.

Me: "yall got anything else?"

Kid: "I showed you all we got" and with that he leaves .. never to return and with me just standing there.

I dig around but not in the chrome as they are now locked away. I find some metric polished stainless but they are hex head. I find a nice SS 1/4 with slightly softer sides and find a good open acorn nut. The nut is $2.46, and the bolt is $.43 .... I buy the pair.. which still leaves me one short but I wanted to see if it was "good enough".
You can tell they dont match, I could replace all 8 bolts, except they dont have 8 of them.  Plus thats nearly $24. ( though I could probably not use the expensive acorn nuts on the lower 4).

Anyway... it really made me grumpy the rest of the day.

PS: oh yeah I rode the vstar around town abit... less than 50 miles, but hey its 2 wheeeling...

I go to a dedicated Nut & Bolt store on the "Industrial side" of town. If they dont have what I want, they order it in. I got a 3 foot, 3/8ths piece of SS allthread for under $5.00.. I cant tell ya the $$ & hassle Ive saved by buying from people who deal in the product I need. That translates to other things, too. Like lighting. Electrical stuff, plumbing, etc. Yea, you CAN get what ya need from a hardware store, but, youll pay more.
For exaMPLE, I need grease, I go to a place that sells bushings & bearings or to a place that services & sells heavy equipment.

It has always been a policy of mine to complain to management if I have not been treated well, and also to complement staff to management if staff have gone the "extra mile" for me.

arteacher wrote on 01/13/14 at 16:17:33:


Which rarely works around here due to the fact the "management team" are all pimple-faced kids barely out of puberty! Their answer is "So! That's what we got!".

ZAR wrote on 01/13/14 at 17:04:04:


My answer to that one is a question... "whats your store number?" ", and "who is your regional manager, what is his number?". Works like a charm, and if it doesn't, I immediately call the number they give me to see if someone in the building answers it, if it rings within hearing distance, I start asking names, if that doesn't work, I go home and hit the internet to see what I can stir up. Usually I have my kindle with me and if there is a wireless within range I can come up with a number to call to complain. I dislike being treated like a chump......

reminds me of my last trip to Trader Horn (our local small chain hardware store):  

I was looking for brushes for an old drill my grandpa gave to my son.  I asked the kid, "do you have carbon brushes for motors?" (show him the old one in a ziploc baggie).   He says, "What's it for?" I said, "a drill motor".

He leads me to the aisle with wire brushes, welding hammers, etc: "Hmm, I don't think we have that kind of brush"

ME: "no, it's just CALLED a 'brush', it's really an electrical component" (show him the baggie with the worn out brush again)

(He leads me to the aisle with light switches, bulbs, outlets): "hmm, no, I don't think we have those"  

me: "ok, thanks anyway" ( rummaged around the store 'till i finally found the brushes in a drawer)

Actually I guess I should be happy he tried to help!

Well, since the tread got necro'd...


I went to Home Depot and bought 4 socket ( hex) pan head cap screw.  This looks like a phillips with a nice round face and  no shoulders. Instead of a phillips it is hex socket. These are all 1/4  stainless. I bought all the 1" they had ( 4) and 4 more at 1.5 inches. ( total eight).
A box of SS 1/4 lock washers.
8 1/4 SS flat washers
4 1/4 SS acorn nuts
4 1/4 SS nuts
1 tube blue lock stuff ( I forget the name by permatex)

It took a bit of work but now all the 6mm chrome phillips and their chrome acorn nuts are replaced with the SAE above. Total cost about $22. Equivilanet to the price of three chrome bolt/acorn pairs.

Does it look .. JUST AS NICE... not really. The SS have a more yellow tint, and it shows against the chrome boss. Also they are a tad smaller. However, much of the bike has hex socket screws everywhere.. and most are in contrast to the surface they are set against (for instance the chrome "valve covers" have black hex cap). So, unless someone just KNEW that the bike did not come this way, there really isn't anything standing out that makes it "off" .. instead it looks MORE stock as now all the hex screws match.

justin_o_guy2 wrote on 01/23/14 at 05:57:45:

Dang,.. I didn't know that...

...and my front pulley socket is chrome... ...
..(I kinda' wish I still didn't know that)... ...