Confessions of a first time MB builder

D

Dooly

New Member
Today I took my bike for a ride and it ran great !! Parked it in garage. Came out a few hours later and I just about wore myself out trying to start it. Would not fire. Hmmm scratching head, it's as though the kill button is pressed. Maybe it's stuck. No that's not it. Light bulb goes off in head. Checked wiring connections and sure enough they were touching. I know I need to tape everything up good but I am planning on soldering extension wires and connecting everything neatly higher up on my frame.

The reason I am posting this is that I have learned so much from reading others posts about their experiences and I want to encourage other newcomers that when something doesn't work right don't get frustrated. Go back and check the basics. Probably more than 90% of the time you are going to find it is something simple/stupid.
 
Soldering the connections is a good idea. I recommend using some good heat shrink on them. Get the good stuff from a electrical supply store that has built in sealer. Don't forget to put the heat shrink on the wires before soldering.
 
Yep good advice! Was definitely going to use heat shrink on them but did not know about the sealer. Thanks for that!
 
BobbyT said:
Soldering the connections is a good idea. I recommend using some good heat shrink on them. Get the good stuff from a electrical supply store that has built in sealer. Don't forget to put the heat shrink on the wires before soldering.
Click to expand...

They beat me to it. This is what I did on mine. I slid on some heat shrink tubing over one wire, stripped the ends I needed to connect, twist 'em together, solder 'em up, slide the tube over 'em and shrink 'er down. You'll have grandkids before you'll need to worry about that connection.
 
It doesn't look as though I need to add anything to wiring advice. It's about covered here.

But I will mention that the mistake you made is one that most, maybe all, of us have made.

When you first put your bike together and you're dying to test her out, it's very easy to just 'tack' the wiring together with the intent of fastening it down more properly a bit later. Then, before you know it, you've got short or open circuits. And you feel like a bit of a fool.

Yup! Been there, done that.
 
Oh, and day-1 of me trying to start my bike, this is back in 2010, I realized I was having trouble with the kit-supplied kill switch. I tried to get it to work, took it apart a few times, never could fix the doggone thing. If you start having trouble with that, I know only one way to fix it. I went to Radio Shack and bought a metal toggle switch and made a mounting bracket out of sheet brass for it. No problems after that.
 
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