Problems looming
Rick wrestles with the current situation on an ’80s Yamaha and tries not to blow a fuse...
HORRIBLE ISN’T IT… No, not Judy’s Yamaha XT225, I mean the state it’s in - wiring disgorged, switches and winkers dangling, it looks like some sickening roadkill.
I’ve been rewiring bikes since I was in my teens, but trying to work out why the neutral light wasn’t working quickly revealed why rewire specialist Ferret is always busy. Many people say they don’t like electrics because you can’t ‘see’ electricity. I disagree; after my first electrical breakdown, my recovery driver (and father) presented me with a bulb socket with two leads attached to it and crocodile clips on either end – and told me to use it instead of wasting his time in future. You can see where electricity is by lighting a bulb with it – a surer method even than a meter, which, as well as being a complicated instrument itself, can register a test voltage from a current that’s actually too feeble to light a bulb.
No, I can see electricity alright – the thing I can’t see is whether the brown wire that goes into one end of this taped-up harness is the same one that comes out of the other end... There’s no electricity in it at this end, so is it broken inside or is it the wrong wire? There’s too many – and why does it need a bloody neutral light anyway! The Yamaha’s harness is simple for 1989, but it would be even simpler without idiot lights, starter inhibitor switches and indicators.
Maybe that’s why people steer clear; simple British bike electrics taught me how to ‘see’ electricity, giving me a basic knowledge I could apply to more complex systems. After all, education begins with Janet and John not Shakespeare. If I had started out on Japanese bikes, I’d probably be booking Ferret right now...
‘SIMPLE BRITISH BIKE ELECTRICS TAUGHT ME HOW TO ‘SEE’ ELECTRICITY’