TRIUMPH CRK CAFÉ RACER
Nutters finally fits and fettles before pressing the start button of his CRK Roadster 1200.
John Nutting is close to pressing the starter button!
Waiting for the CRK Roadster’s fuel tank, side-panels and front mudguard to return from the paint shop meant that I couldn’t put off the completion of the new wiring system any longer.
I’d decided early in the project to convert the 1200 Trophy into a seventiesstyle road bike that the wiring system should be one of the modern types that are popular with custom bike builders. The C-box system offered by Ian Saxcoburg at Café Racer Kits is rather like the Motogadget in that all the components such as flasher relays, circuit switching and the like are incorporated into a mini-computer, while the inputs from the handlebar controls are through simplified wiring that is also interpreted by the computer.
This means that there is less wiring overall. The C-box system differs in that that the computer doesn’t have status LEDS for the various inputs and outputs, which makes the two ‘boxes’, one mounted under the seat and the other in the headlamp, both connected by a data link, more compact.
Way back at the beginning of the project one of my first jobs after fitting the new rear sub-frame had been to install the original ignition case and connect it up to the rear C-box, along with the starter relay and ignition coils. This was quite satisfying and in a way therapeutic, but without a means of checking that it worked, apart from using a multi-meter to ensure the connections were secure, I was working in the dark. That would have to wait until later.
I’d also assembled the instruments using the innards and faces of the original parts from the Trophy’s dash, mounted into the CRK consoles. Between these were a set of LED lamp repeaters for the flashers, neutral, main beam, oil pressure and coolant temperature. I’d wired these in isolation, not really knowing how they’d physically connect to the remainder to the