suddenly no juice..

L.T.Stone · Sep 6, 2011

Hi guys, first post here..
So ok, I rode to town parked my bike, took key out, 20 minutes later I go to turn the key and got nothing, I played with the switches, rocked the bike for abit then after a few minutes of fiddling the bike powers up, as soon as I hit the starter.. boom it goes dead again. I finally ended up trying to bump start it and it fired up but it was sputtering and spitting and the guages were not working properly. I rode it about a half a mile to my inlaws and parked it. This happened to me once before early this spring but after messing around for a bit it worked fine. Any idea's of what I should look for?

Thanks guys, this is my first road bike and my second season of riding and I have loads of other questions to ask later..

ninjaneer · Sep 6, 2011

L.T.Stone said:
Hi guys, first post here..
So ok, I rode to town parked my bike, took key out, 20 minutes later I go to turn the key and got nothing, I played with the switches, rocked the bike for abit then after a few minutes of fiddling the bike powers up, as soon as I hit the starter.. boom it goes dead again. I finally ended up trying to bump start it and it fired up but it was sputtering and spitting and the guages were not working properly. I rode it about a half a mile to my inlaws and parked it. This happened to me once before early this spring but after messing around for a bit it worked fine. Any idea's of what I should look for?

Thanks guys, this is my first road bike and my second season of riding and I have loads of other questions to ask later..

sounds like a problem i was having. dismantling the ignition switch revealed a melted contact armature that is suppose to bring into position a spring-loaded contact plate to complete the bike main circuit. if i wiggled the key, i could manage it lose (i suppose), but cruising down the road, the bike would suddenly die because the contact plate would pop off the circuit. I replaced it with the help of capnkyle and patmax, but the problem happened again. i shaved off the melted plastic on the second armature so that the contact plate would slide freely, but it happened again. my current theory is this: there there is an ignition block (#2's if i'm not mistaken) that sits right under. upon some routine maintenance and cleaning i noticed it was cracked. now i could be just full of it and not know my head from arse, but i think some of the electricity was jumping from the cracked block and into ignition switch's drain hole frying what ever it could short. i plugged up the drain hole with a ball of electrical tape and the problem seem to disappear. i've since replaced the ignition block with my keyless ignition mod and haven't had a problem (knock on wood) from that gremlin.

ninjaneer · Sep 7, 2011

Perhaps all you need to do is clean up the contacts. How To: Recondition the Ignition Switch

L.T.Stone · Sep 7, 2011

I'm gonna try to get at it today to have a look. One thing that bothers me is that it still ran when I push started it, should that be able to happen with a bad ignition?

ninjaneer · Sep 7, 2011

L.T.Stone said:
I'm gonna try to get at it today to have a look. One thing that bothers me is that it still ran when I push started it, should that be able to happen with a bad ignition?

you had originally posted that after the bump start "it fired up but it was sputtering and spitting and the guages were not working properly."

if the switch's connection in the assembly is "loose", then it isn't unimaginable for it to bump on and off as the bike surges and lurches. if the ignition switch assembly turns out ok, i'd first make sure the battery is charged (read this for some the voltages: How to: Fix your Vmax's low voltage or charging problems) if this is ok, then start hunting down the gremlin somewhere in the wiring and the associated connectors (clean them out and/or make sure they are solid) starting at the battery, then going to the ignition, then to the kill switch, then to the starting solenoid.

L.T.Stone · Sep 7, 2011

YES! found the problem, I went to put the charger on the battery and put the ground on first then the bike powered up, weird I thought I never even put the positive on yet, BINGO bad ground connection on the battery. Anywhoo, cleaned up the connections and all is well.