Do you ever get one of those days...................?

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netsonic
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Do you ever get one of those days...................?

Post by netsonic »

Yesterday was a ride out with my brother who duly arrived just before 8am on his new this year CB500x, as he stopped just outside my bungalow he missed his footing and fell to the right with him and his bike landing on their side........... I know plonka.........after he let off a few expletives and possibly waking some of my neighbours in the process we lifted the bike but to examine the damage........my brother unscathed except his pride........but soon learned the bike suffered some scuffs to the bar ends, mirror, pegs and exhaust shield and most importantly that most of his brake lever was still on the floor.........no ride for him then.........we parked up his bike and being the caring brother I am I still went off for a ride but with an additional requirement to potentially source a new brake lever.......

Having got no more than 10 miles out from home going through the sleepy village of Alfriston in Sussex my bike..............died................no warning just stopped running so to be safe I proceeded to push it to a quite lane just off the village high street. On inspection I had no electrics, ignition nothing so started to think what could be the cause and started to strip the bike in a hope of finding the issue..........was this penance for going for a ride and leaving my brother to do his walk of shame home.

After some time of prodding and poking checking wires, battery, connectors a very nice chap let me push my bike onto his drive and into the shade to work on as he was a fellow biker. Although he had an AVO meter neither of us could identify the issue but I was convinced it was a broken wire somewhere but just couldn’t see it.........

After what seemed like an age and with the day getting hotter I conceded defeat and rang a recovery service but didn’t actually have any breakdown policy at this point, .......ah plonka i here you say........and yes lessons learnt also at this point ..........I know double plonka..............having got through to Start Rescue they duly said it would be up to a 90 minute wait time and £90 call out........ouch.............well luckily the village of Alfriston had sustenance so I went in search for a bacon butty and coffee.......and a level of reflection.........

Upon my return and with more time on my hands before the recovery service arrived I thought I may as well take another look........now hindsight is a wonderful thing and even writing this now I have no idea how I missed this..........having moved the wires and connectors from under the seat again just in the top frame back from the tank with the seat off are some large tube multi blocks for the stator I think, well under those tucked down between the frame and air box was the small green return wire from the battery into the loom..................well half of it anyway..........the other half was hanging down the frame so my theory was right just never saw it, one small green wire off the battery broken , probably due to laying under those big multi connectors that over time caused it to break killing all power to the bike. My guess is it’s the return wire to the ignition.

Having stripped the wires and with a quick twist splice and tape repair the WK fired up , now my moment of triumph soon turned to , oh crap as ive found the issue and im able to fix the issue but have just paid £90 to get a bike mechanic out/recovery.............

Now I quickly rang the recovery service to cancel their call out but alas due to them being on route (allegedly) I was duty bound to pay..........how lovely i thought..... and yes I will now be sourcing some breakdown cover.......

I arrived home at almost 1pm having spent the morning 10 miles away and almost £100 lighter if you include the bacon butty...........I did thank Simon who allowed me to use his drive and shade before I left.

I felt the need to share my fateful day as a form of therapy for myself and to help those like me who chose to live life on the edge without breakdown cover.............also to all WK400 owners to have a look for the small green wire under the seat between the tank and battery to check it’s not being abused by two large connectors and on the brink of breaking...........

I have spent most of yesterday afternoon sorting out my brothers bike to repair some of the grazed metal work as payback for going off without him that morning and to sort out a more permanent fix for my broken green wire and spent some time checking much of the rest of the wiring...........

The moral of the story is you’re never too old to be a plonka or learn new things, but remember...................... every day a good day it’s just that some are better than others
Last edited by netsonic on Sun Jul 01, 2018 4:40 pm, edited 4 times in total.
Tramp
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Re: Do you ever get one of those days...................?

Post by Tramp »

Think zimtim can top that lol....blow out, fucked rear hub, new wheel needs different spacers then off to ktm rally and battery flat and startor solonoid broke....

Ill let him fill you in on the full story... His new name is unlucky Tim.... Lol
sprintster
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Re: Do you ever get one of those days...................?

Post by sprintster »

I only took out breakdown cover after my car conked out 50 miles from home.By chance the first car to come along was a friend who towed me to a garage a mile away.The guy in the garage didn't even charge me as he had it going again in 5 minutes but I learned my lesson.I've been with Auto Aid for about 15 years now and used them half a dozen times between my bikes and cars.At just over £40 a year it's not worth the risk.
diggermanbob
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Re: Do you ever get one of those days...................?

Post by diggermanbob »

Tramp wrote: Sun Jul 01, 2018 3:25 pm Think zimtim can top that lol....blow out, fucked rear hub, new wheel needs different spacers then off to ktm rally and battery flat and startor solonoid broke....

Ill let him fill you in on the full story... His new name is unlucky Tim.... Lol
Well it is a KTM Russ !!!!!
dodursley
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Re: Do you ever get one of those days...................?

Post by dodursley »

yes last Wdnesday I took the Mrs out on the bike an Evo Harley Ultra Classic (the ones that include the kitchen sink!)
We did Avebury, Vale of Pewsey, Malborough then A419 toward Cirencester. We decided to stop in Cricklade, we used to live there 40+ years ago. Had a walk round back to the HD. Big backfire when I tried to start it and it would barely run.
Phoned the insurance rescue that turned out to be the AA who arrived in 15 minutes, fortunately as I had arranged to meet someone at home at 7 to buy a bike I had for sale & did not has his phone number with me.
AA decided he could not repair it so unloaded his car towing dolly and transformed it into a bike trailer.
What was wrong, stripped timing or?? Need to do some internet research which included backfires can dislodge the carb.
Thursday morning start checking it out the backfire had blown the carb off the inlet manifold so it was resting against the seal so the mixture was very weak and irregular, not surprising it did not run well.
Problem resolved. As the bike was parked in the sun and had just been running up the A419 it was hot and the carb sits above the manifold when on the side stand so dribbled some fuel into the manifold that probably ignited on the 'dead' spark. The plastic air filter come carb mount was more flexible due to the heat and flexed enough. Surprised as although hot for UK, 30+ is just a mild day in some parts of the US.
Andi_Archer
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Re: Do you ever get one of those days...................?

Post by Andi_Archer »

Be careful on recovery company policys I got caught out on the AA policy a few years ago after they changed the basic tow to only 25 miles so had to pay for an upgrade.
Talking of which my Harley Davidson MT350 broke down with what later turned out to be dislodged magnets on the fly wheel, and I ended up getting a two hour ride on the back of a large flat back truck. The guy that came to pick me up said he was worried when they told him it was a Harley as owners usually screamed blue murder when he had to strap it down by the chrome bars. I said no worries it wasnt that sort of Harley and to just strap it down any old way. :lol:
dodursley
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Re: Do you ever get one of those days...................?

Post by dodursley »

They recovery was via the bike insurance, I assumed it would be a local company so surprised when they said AA was on it way.
Yoyo
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Re: Do you ever get one of those days...................?

Post by Yoyo »

I fell fowl of inclusive breakdown cover with our bank, didn't read the small print and got left stranded when the clutch failed on my bike. The AA turned up and pointed out I had roadside assistance only and no recovery, he was pretty unhelpful and left me there. We no pay £30 a year to upgrade to a full AA account which we've used to good effect when needed.

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