Easy fixes

[Willow]

While we were at InZane, actually during the last couple of days at InZane, the clutch switch on my bike stopped working.  Tedious as it was I adopted the practice of putting the transmission into neutral to start the engine.  I have chromed levers on the bike and chromed levers have been said to either wear or cause wear at the insert that activates the clutch switch.

For the couple of days and 750 miles home I endured moving the gearing to neutral to start the bike.  Once, well twice, I killed the machine at an intersection and had to go through the extended starting procedure.  Fortunately neither were busy intersections and my riding companion, life partner, did not run off without me.

Some days after arriving home I visited the Suzuki dealer nearby and inquired about the insert for the clutch lever.  "No," he said, "we have none of those.  Haven't for years now.  They're included with the lever."

That's odd, I thought.  Surely the demand is still there.  I do specifically remember a thread on the board indicating that the Suzuki part was the same as the Valkyrie part, more than likely the part for all hydraulic clutch levers.  I went home and searched the board.

Within the thread was the Suzuki part number.  I called the dealer and asked if it would help for me to give him a specific part number.  He said, rather unenthusiastically, that it might help.

I recited the number to him.  He went to look.  He came back to the phone with a surprised expression that they had two such parts in stock.  I told him I'd be right there.

We had pleasant conversation when I arrived and I bought one of the inserts.  I considered buying both for when another wore out but he had only two and obviously wasn't selling them quickly.

I got back home removed the clutch lever so I could replace the insert.  I had to search for just the right tool (10mm) to remove the locking nut.  I replaced the insert and put the lever back on the bike.  I left off the locking nut.  Upon testing there was no improvement.  Hmm.  Maybe the lever?

I searched for my collection of levers and picked out another chromed one.  I have a number of levers, both chromed and OEM.  Wouldn't it be ironic if the wear was in the lever and I really didn't need the three dollar part?  I swapped to another chromed lever.  No joy.

I took off the lever.  I compared the fit of the insert with the fit to an OEM lever.  There was indeed a little more play in the chromed lever.  It was the new insert so the wear must be in the lever.  I started mulling over possible solutions.  There was an option of cutting a small, tiny, piece of aluminum to fit into the well of the insert so it would require less movement to activate the switch.  That's gong to be a tough task to get it cut it just small enough to fit but to stay at the bottom of the well.  Maybe I could cut a sleeve to go around part of the insert but honestly the extra size didn't look wide enough to handle the thickness of a soda pop can.  Besides that the insert was round and greased as if it needed to rotate, but then it couldn't rotate much as the welled side had to match up with the stationary switch stem.  I mulled over for quite some time, two days, what I might do.  I was simply unwilling to buy another chromed clutch lever.

Finally, I decided I needed to move forward.  First, I thought, I should confirm that the slack in the hole for the insert really was the problem.  Easily done.  The insert was tighter in the OEM lever.  I took off the chromed lever, removed the insert, placed it in the OEM lever, and installed the OEM lever on the bar.  No joy.  What!?  Now I've got to figure out what's going on but I'm not going to be riding around with an OEM lever on one side while I still have to manipulate the gear setting to start the bike.  I'll at least take off the OEM and put the chromed lever back on.  One more time I began the procedure of swapping levers.  I took off the OEM.  I swapped the insert to my original chromed replacement and started to insert the screw that acts as the fulcrum.  For some reason this time I was having a little trouble lining it up so just as a normal response I bent down to look at the lower end of the opening.  Hey!  What's this?  The two wires to the clutch lever are disconnected!  I plugged them in and reassembled the clutch lever stuff.  I turned on the switch; pulled in the clutch; bumped up the side stand; and pressed the start button.  She fired right up.

So now Daisy Mae is once more being started in gear as needed.  Are there lessons learned?  Likely not so much.  Assumption can make a fool of me more than I'd like to talk about.  It's not what I know that gets me in trouble.  It's what I apply and sometimes it's just not looking for the simplest things first.      

[Serk]

The other day I went to start the spousal unit's Silverwing.... Hit the starter button, the engine turned over then I heard a loud CLICK from somewhere behind me in the bike and nothing, No lights, no engine no instrument panel, nothing at all.

Checked the fuses, all good.

Put a jump starter on the battery, still nothing at all from the bike other than a faint clicking from somewhere under the side panel.

Googled on the issue, there are a series of relays under that panel that are used to power the starter and other parts of the bike. Google how to remove the tupperware to get to said parts, that was fun.

Get in there, find the three relays, try swapping their positions around (All identical parts) but no change, turn the key and get a faint buzzing from the front relay of the pack.

Hmmm..... Maybe one of the relays are bad and it requires all 3 or something, so I order 3 new ones, $40 later and they should get here this weekend.

Decided to put the battery on a battery tender to make sure I had a fully charged battery when the relays arrived, and the battery tender had an ominous red light come on "Leads reversed or battery fault."

Hmmm...

Took a spare battery off the shelf, hooked it up, and the bike fired right up.

So it wasn't the relays, it was just a dead battery. But dead in a way I hadn't encountered before, it didn't slowly fade away, it just went out in a binary fashion; fine one moment than zero output the next.

I'm guessing there's an internal short in the battery or something.

This was a cheap battery off Amazon, and as I recall now thinking back the first one form this manufacturer arrived in the same failed state, the seller sent me a 2nd one and said to just keep the first don't bother sending it back.

I spent the extra $100 in price and have a Yuasa coming now.

Anyway, the point of my long winded rant is a reminder to, even if the failure isn't in a manner you're expecting, check the easy to replace/fix simple things first. Always.....

[Ramie]

Unfortunately or fortunately that's how I seem to learn but they're usually lessons not forgotten soon.

K.I.S.S.

[John Schmidt]

Carl, I'm not touching that one but thankful for the emojis available. 

My experience is also recent. With the trike, I only had two keys for the ignition and one for the internal body trunk. Not a good idea, so went looking for a place to cut new additional keys but with lousy weather I wasn't on the trike so couldn't try them out before leaving. The new ignition keys only worked in one direction, turn it over and they barely worked and only if you wiggled it in the locks. Neither worked on the I/S trunk. Likewise, the new keys for the body trunk were useless so I returned to the source and had new keys cut, explaining my problem. Trouble is, the problem didn't go away. A few days ago I was holding the OEM keys against the new, comparing the cuts, length, etc., followed by a head slap. The length from the tip to the shoulder at the rear was noticeably shorter although the cuts matched perfectly. A couple minutes on the bench grinder and I now have more keys than needed(and less money), the new keys simply didn't go in far enough. Forehead slap again! 

[Pete]

Folks be careful with those forehead slaps, they can help, hurt or both.   

[Oss]

I found corrosion on the leads to the battery and after a good long charge at 2 amps all is fine again on my 01  Also brushed all leads on both bikes with good wire brush till nice and shiny

The 99 did indeed as you noticed on yours Serk have a bad cell

Carl, it is what it is in your case

[Rams]

Not really a technical issue but one to slap yer forehead over.

Several years ago, I got a set of Tourer hard bags and installed them on my 02 Standard.   One lid was damaged in that crash.   Replaced the lid and then put them on my 98 Standard.   I knew I had a set of keys once but, no idea where they might be.   Wasn't worried about it, I never lock the bags anyway.  All that I keep in that bag is my registration and insurance card unless I'm traveling.   But, ya never know when you might need that paperwork (if you get my drift).   

Then came Mississippi Madness.   Now, don't take this as an accusation cause I really don't know but, all of a sudden, one of my bags was locked shut.   What to do?????
Checked every key in the key box, nothing even close.  It's a rather large box of keys to things (no idea on any of them but, we've kept filling that box for the last 40 years, no idea why).

Decided to wait for InZane and ask folks to try to open my saddle bag.   Surely, someone would have a key that worked, I could borrow it and have a copy made.   Made sense to me.  I must have asked at least a hundred different folks to give it a shot.   Everyone I asked was happy to try.  Not one key would work.      

Now, I visit my local Honda shop and they don't have any (at least in stock) and advise me to go to the local lock smith.   Well, ya gotta do what ya gotta do.    Something to do tomorrow.

Later that evening, I asked my spouse of 40 years where the extra key was for my Valkyrie.   She knew right where it was.   Guess what was attached to that key ring............   

Rams

[cookiedough]

The other day I went to start the spousal unit's Silverwing.... Hit the starter button, the engine turned over then I heard a loud CLICK from somewhere behind me in the bike and nothing, No lights, no engine no instrument panel, nothing at all.

Checked the fuses, all good.

Put a jump starter on the battery, still nothing at all from the bike other than a faint clicking from somewhere under the side panel.

Googled on the issue, there are a series of relays under that panel that are used to power the starter and other parts of the bike. Google how to remove the tupperware to get to said parts, that was fun.

Get in there, find the three relays, try swapping their positions around (All identical parts) but no change, turn the key and get a faint buzzing from the front relay of the pack.

Hmmm..... Maybe one of the relays are bad and it requires all 3 or something, so I order 3 new ones, $40 later and they should get here this weekend.

Decided to put the battery on a battery tender to make sure I had a fully charged battery when the relays arrived, and the battery tender had an ominous red light come on "Leads reversed or battery fault."

Hmmm...

Took a spare battery off the shelf, hooked it up, and the bike fired right up.

So it wasn't the relays, it was just a dead battery. But dead in a way I hadn't encountered before, it didn't slowly fade away, it just went out in a binary fashion; fine one moment than zero output the next.

I'm guessing there's an internal short in the battery or something.

This was a cheap battery off Amazon, and as I recall now thinking back the first one form this manufacturer arrived in the same failed state, the seller sent me a 2nd one and said to just keep the first don't bother sending it back.

I spent the extra $100 in price and have a Yuasa coming now.

Anyway, the point of my long winded rant is a reminder to, even if the failure isn't in a manner you're expecting, check the easy to replace/fix simple things first. Always.....

you have a voltmeter correct?  I had same issue on my small 250cc scooter with battery in all this year last ran 2 months ago once and battery is connected.  DEAD NO RRRR nothing but did have underseat light bright very odd.  I hooked up voltmeter and 1 year old carquest battery was 9.9 volts is all.  Very odd so I put on 1 amp battery charger for 6 hours and is 12.5 volts but have not tried firing up scooter yet.  Somehow on that scooter and have no idea why if you do not run it every few weeks the battery goes dead.  I wonder if there is a draw on that battery all the time whether normal or not?