Dropped items unretrievable

[Dailyridersg]

How many of you have tried installing accessories (like phone mount) on the handlebars, dropped a nut for example and never managed to retrieve it. This is the first bike I've had so little success in retrieving dropped items. The only saving grace is below the handlebars area, its not hot (or even warm) after riding unlike my other bikes. Found this out after I accidentally dropped my remote control and managed to retrieve it.

But last 2 days was the worst, I dropped a nut when trying to install a phone mount and could not even locate where it landed. Not blaming on my fat fingers, it was a really stupid design of the handle mount portion that caused it, I threw away the phone mount portion in anger. The phone holding portion was unique and I hope to find something less stupid and remount it later.

Any idea if the dropped items (especially metal items) will cause any issues when riding if I don't retrieve them, or will they rattle lose and drop off onto the road later?

 

[INTHEWIND]

Hondas have black holes things fall into.
My 2018 Goldwing I had was the worst.
Those dropped items will stay put until the next millennium.

 

[dduelin]

A towel or rag draped or stuffed beforehand into openings that errant fasteners can fall into help keep the peace.

 

[GIGreene]

Hondas have black holes things fall into.
My 2018 Goldwing I had was the worst.
Those dropped items will stay put until the next millennium.

I dropped a full set of keys into the black hole of a GL1200....I actually thought the keys had fallen from the top of a tank bag probably onto the ground. A couple of years later, when I had a friendly mechanic taking the bike apart, he asked if I'd ever lost a set of keys. Whatever landing place the keys had found was secure enough for them to not vibrate off. I was pleased to then have a full set of spare keys.

 

[MZ5]

Hondas have black holes things fall into.

This is true. My best riding pal's VTX1800 ate his ignition key one evening as we were stopped for him to top off with fuel. I don't recall why the key got removed, but he dropped it and it was utterly gone. We were a solid hour and a half from home at highway speed, and he didn't have a spare even at home (back then). He also was highly resistant to leaving the bike there, or to riding on the back of Wiley to get home. Happily, our small group that day included a magician who was able to get a brief look at it after about 15 minutes of us all looking, and I had tools enough to get a couple things out of the way and then reach in and pull or push it out.

Use catch towels like Dave suggested. If you don't, you'll either have to find a magician or totally disassemble the bike to find anything you drop. It generally won't hurt anything but your pride to leave it there, though.

 

[nc750x32436546452]

to find a lost nut or whatever, just drop another nut down the same path. see where it ends up. i dropped two nuts down a hole and one went to the ground and the other nut went to the same place as the initial missing nut, there was a half circle cup type of shape from the fairing to the frame and that is where i found the dropped nut and the initial missing nut. perfect hiding place for nuts and maybe three bolts.

 

[jknight611]

In another life I was a A&P helicopter mechanic, I remember one night in a mosquito deep hangar a newly hired mechanic dropped a nut on the engine deck of the helicopter he was working on. The aircraft was grounded until the errant hardware was found. Unfortunately I haven’t always carried that discipline forward on my NC! How in the heck can a piece of hardware hide so effectively on a motorcycle!

 

[750dct]

I just grab my bike by the frame, turn it upside down and shake it. Seriously, when I was a mechanic, I always had swiveling magnets on an extendable rod, l and those 3 finger grabbers that were controlled by a long flexible metal tube with a plunger type end, a little flashlight, and different sized mirrors. Some things can be blown out with an air compressor also.