GS650 died on me

[renegadmonk]

I was on my way to the weekly Vin Moto night...(this was yesterday eve). I am about a block away from the spot and the GS dies abruptly coming up a slight hill. Talk about nerves on end....i had cars behind me. I had to jump off the bike and wave people around me. I mean i would turn the key in case somehow i miraculously accidentaly turned it off...lol...and nothing...dead as can be. So i push it up the rest of the small hill and off into a parking lot.
Two other guys from the vin-moto group pull up and we are now looking over the batter compartment area. Behold...the wired that is together with the positive batt cable that leads to the fuse box is fried. It appears a bolt used for a mounting bracket had been chaffing on the wire for some time and it finally chaffed through the insulation and shorted the wire for the ignition.
So.....one of the guys lived nearby so he hopped on his bike rode home and brought the pickup back with the necessary repair items so i pretty much had to fab up a replacement cable but it worked. The fix was easy but what was nerve rattling was the fact that it could have failed 2 mins prior on the freeway and the fact that a few cars could have easily run me over ...the sun was going down and i was west bound which put the sun in my eyes as well as the cage drivers. I think the man upstairs was watching out because the sun was quite blinding to all motorist at that time of the day.
It ran fine all the way home....took it up to an indicated 85 not sure how much more was left but decided to play it safe. This was the first time i actually had out on the road for a decent distance. Had to get used to the lightness compared to my Ninja....seemed a bit squirrely in the wind but ran great. The uneven handle bars are finally getting on my nerves and will be getting the superbike bars like you guys told me to get. Thought i would stay with the factory bars but since i gotta replace them anyway i will go with some sporty SB's.

[almarconi]

So.. I guess the moral of the story is to inspect your bike often so little problems don't turn into much bigger ones.

[Skateguy50]

Alls well that ends well, glad you got it fixed and had some folks willing to help.

I keep a spool of wire and clamp style wire splices on the bike along with electrical tape, just for that sort of stuff

Of course that is after it happened to me, I had a chaffed wire short out on my from the seat pan while going to Moosehead once. It was 100ish miles in on a 300mile ride, middle lane and BAM no power, had to wave the wife and another guy we picked up for part of the ride over and coast through traffic to a stop on the side. I had some stuff with me but the bike was FULLY loaded, overloaded really... had to unpack everything to get the seat off. didnt see anything wrong other than a blown fuse. popped another one in, tested it and the bike fired right up. I turned it off repacked everything, fired it again and POP there goes another fuse.... on the second tear down I found the wire, through some tape on and was good to go.

Its all part of the fun right?

[renegadmonk]

i had that seat open looking at wires a number of times..the way that wire was routed i dont believe i would ever have seen it unless i had to take the fuse box off for some reason. That particular wired has a bullet connector where it connects to the other portion of the wire going to the battery. It was routed around and under the bracket on the left side of fuse box and the connection was under that bracket. No fuses blew or anything i believe because the short happened before the fuse box. Unless you strip a bike totally you will never see everything and if a bike is running extremely well why would you strip it anyway. That lil mount bolt had to be chaffing for sometime 2 owners ago.

[Skateguy50]

Yea, it happens.

Some things just have to go and get fixed after the fact. I think you are right on the fuse thing, mine was a wire I routed in a bad location when I did the coil relay mod so it was after the fuse and resulted in the blown fuse.

Just keep riding and fixing as you go, a good tool bag goes a LONG way when you are on the road.

[renegadmonk]

yes the funny thing was i actually had to used the tool bag that came with the bike since all my tools are kept in the back of my Honda Civic. You know you get these old bikes and see a tool bag but really think you will never used it unless you have been in these situations before. Using that 10mm open end wrench to loosen the bolts i was dreaming of having a 1/4 in ratchet and a 10mm socket...lol. Someone had already put a 1/4 in extension in the bag. I will definitely add the 1/4 ratchet and 10mil socket and anything else some of you guys would suggest.....oh yeah...some wire and wire ends along with a small crimper.

[Skateguy50]

a few sockets would be nice but lets see...

I have a small bag that I strap to my sissybar, the middle holds my rain gear and the side pockets the tools.

I keep a set of metric allens, small wrenches 10mm to 15mm, wire stripping tool, spool of wire, wire splices, plastic pill box with spare fuses, spare headlight (technically only has low but good enough for a spare), a metal clamp that can temp hold a broken cable together, a small flashlight, a few screw drivers, some fuel line clamps, and the leatherman. Oh and while I have a leaky gasket a quart of oil.

[renegadmonk]

sounds like a good list...i will definitely take note of those items.

[renegadmonk]

picked up some fuses today...i already have most of the items you listed except for the metal clamp to hold two cables together...now i gotta dig up a bag to put the stuff in.