Well, this motorcycle only came with one. I'm fairly sure it was the original that came with the bike off the line in 1981. It is absolutely beat up. It sill works, but if I were to lose it, I'd be Shit Out of Luck.
I've seen the people at Home Depot/Walmart make automotive keys before. They can even do the fancy ones with computer chips and such. I figured a simple key from 1981 would be a piece of cake.
Turns out that's not the case. I had to contact several locksmiths in town before I found someone who could give me same-day service on a key like this.
A bit about locksmiths: They are all mobile now. Operating out of vans, their primary service is to unlock cars when people manage to lock their keys in their car. Because they live work out of a van, they also seem to have a bit of a rockstar attitude. At least, that's what I'm going to attribute the non-committal "Yeah, I should have a tech in that area early this afternoon... [four hours later]... I should have someone downtown at 6pm."
Anyway. I did eventually meet a real live locksmith, who it turns out is a righteous badass. The CM400 is not listed in the motorcycle key guide, so he spent 20 minutes searching for the right key template and pattern. Once he found that, he jumped in his van and spun me up a key in about 60 seconds.
I ended up getting 3 keys made. I figure it can't hurt and they only ran me about $1 each. These guys are charging $49 to unlock cars, but spare keys are nothing, despite the effort it took to locate the information necessary to make the key. I love that.
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