Talk about the odds
 

Today I rode my 2005 Kawasaki Vulcan 500 to lunch. Got home and was working on the 1987 Yamaha SRX 250 which is just about ready for the road.
I accidently stick the Kawa ignition key in the Yamaha. It worked perfectly!

The two keys have the exact same cut! The Kawa works in the SRX but the SRX key won't work in the Kawa because the shoulder is not cut far enough back on the key.

regards
Mech

Wow! That's crazy!

I had a friend in highschool, I had a Honda Aero 80 and he had a Honda Elite 80. We had identical keys.

I lost my key on my 1972 suzuki 125cc years ago and was stuck! then I remembered that all you have to do is unbolt the key housing from the frame and they start.

I've been fixing old Honda Supercub keys; one had the ignition key broken off below flush with the switch, and one just had an old, old key that I wanted to get a fresh replacement for BEFORE it became another broken off flush one. No locksmiths in town with the right motorcycle blanks so it became time for Uhmerican ingenuity to kick in. Got the switch off the bike (another whole story in itself) soaked the key fragment in the switch with WD40, held it upside down, and spanked it with a hammer, making sure it was in the "Off" position first (could still be turned with a screwdriver). Ultimately I saw the fragment coming out and as soon as there was enough to grab with a pliars, it got removed. There was enough for the local hardware store to duplicate it from, after we dug through all the blanks and found a Briggs and Stratton blank that worked! It didn't work the first time but only because the "stop" that governs how far in the key goes into the switch was off (had to guess/leave a bit extra length because so much of the key was missing). Took a lil bit off to move that stop and VOILA! :thumbup:

After that success I was in my locksmithing stride... went back to the hardware store with the old worn key from the other bike and dug through blanks again, as it was completely different. It had a completely "flat" backside- no grooves- but I found a blank that was similar enough that I took a shot at modding it. They let me take the blank home and I took one ridge off the front side of it with an air grinder and 2" disc; the backside has a groove (while the original was flat) but I figured the mechanism would ignore that, and after sticking the blank in there, found I was right! :eek: Went back to the hardware store to have it cut and VOILA! again. :thumbup:

This is common for tool chests and locking gas caps too. I cut keys in a NAPA store for many years and the Briggs and Stratton blank is widely used.
All you have to do is be smarter than the metal.