Loose connections at ignition

[ghulst]

jumper connection for alarm?

Sorry Phil, but what do you mean?

[ghulst]

Ok, so I pulled the front off again and found that when I tapped the connector, it started right up again. And not just once. I switched it off, restarted it, rummaged with the wiring and it kept on working.

Having said that, I am now still doubtful about the connection, so I have pulled the ignition apart again and am going to recheck all the wires and the connections and resolder them where needed. It will work.

[ghulst]

Tonight I found out that you cannot reassemble a lock when it is still in the triple. When I did, the thing locked up, then fell apart. Oh well. So, the whole disassembly story started again. And now that it is back together again, I noticed that I have mistakenly put the clutch cable (well, hose really) on the wrong side of the fork legs... I am not sure wether I am going to drop the fork legs again, or whether I am just going to take the hose off, run it on the right side and replace the clutch fluid.

Oh well, at least I won't be bored any time soon...

[ghulst]

(Oh, but it starts at first try now.)

[ghulst]

Decided to just drop the fork legs this morning to sort out the hose. New personal record. 30 minutes to remove the fairing, lower the fork legs, rerun the hose, then put the whole thing back together again. Not bad. Too much practice I recon.

But it runs great again.

[ghulst]

A couple of days later, I pulled onto the highway and the throttle cable broke. Luckily it was relatively easy to find one and get it sent over to me. At first they said it might take a week or so, but luckily I found one on the other side of the country and they were willing to send it to me.
Unfortunately, you need to pull the carbs out to replace the cable again. :( Oh well, just another evening of wrenching on the Steamer.

By the way, the difference is striking. The cable had a lot more resistance on it than I thought.

[Nick Calne]

Cheer up. They say the first four years of steamer ownership are the most maintenance intensive, after that it is not so bad.

[ghulst]

Hahahahaha, well, these were all things I could hardly blame on the bike. I can blame them on the designers though.

(And I bet you will have replaced everything in those four years. )