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One of the first issues I knew I had to address on the 'new' GS1000 was the electrical. Dave mentioned some less-than-professional evidence, including a hidden ignition kill switch for anti-theft purposes. Various fairings had been added and dropped over the years, and each time, someone had to modify the wiring. Nasty looking results!
What concerned me right away, on the first ride, was the fact that the instrument indicators -- especially the digital gear indicator lights -- dimmed substantially every time the turn signal flashed 'on'. So the gear number would blink, almost, along with the signals.
In other words, there's a significant resistance somewhere that's dropping voltage as the bike's lights try to pull current through it.
Behind the headlight shell I found a serpent's nest of poorly done electrical modifications and cheap connections. It's probably not as bad as it looks to me; I'd estimate a full day's work getting it back to reasonable & reliable condition.
Anyway, there were a bunch of these, including two (why?) in a row connected to the first power lead from the ignition switch. Click here to see what I'm talking about:
Once I removed the connectors, the results were evident. This is worth looking at.
Two spots right in a row, on the one wire that feeds the rest of the bike, and the connector bit almost completely through! The resulting wire has the capacity of perhaps #20 or #22! There's almost no doubt that the wire is weaker than the fuse that protects it. That might explain the brown burn marks nearby. Holy chit! This is, basically, sabotage. I've seen heavier wire on Ipod headsets.
The moral of the story is: When the bike is trying to tell you that there's a problem, don't ignore it or hope for the best. Get in there and explore! This little time bomb has a number of friends hiding here, on a bike that's cosmetically gorgeous, and they're all waiting for the opportunity to pi$$ me off in a major way.
Here's a wider view of the wiring. The file is kinda big, so I'll just post a link: ... and all the tape on earth won't straighten this out! This will take most of a day, and plenty of solder & shrink tubing.
What concerned me right away, on the first ride, was the fact that the instrument indicators -- especially the digital gear indicator lights -- dimmed substantially every time the turn signal flashed 'on'. So the gear number would blink, almost, along with the signals.
In other words, there's a significant resistance somewhere that's dropping voltage as the bike's lights try to pull current through it.
Behind the headlight shell I found a serpent's nest of poorly done electrical modifications and cheap connections. It's probably not as bad as it looks to me; I'd estimate a full day's work getting it back to reasonable & reliable condition.
Anyway, there were a bunch of these, including two (why?) in a row connected to the first power lead from the ignition switch. Click here to see what I'm talking about:
Once I removed the connectors, the results were evident. This is worth looking at.
Two spots right in a row, on the one wire that feeds the rest of the bike, and the connector bit almost completely through! The resulting wire has the capacity of perhaps #20 or #22! There's almost no doubt that the wire is weaker than the fuse that protects it. That might explain the brown burn marks nearby. Holy chit! This is, basically, sabotage. I've seen heavier wire on Ipod headsets.
The moral of the story is: When the bike is trying to tell you that there's a problem, don't ignore it or hope for the best. Get in there and explore! This little time bomb has a number of friends hiding here, on a bike that's cosmetically gorgeous, and they're all waiting for the opportunity to pi$$ me off in a major way.
Here's a wider view of the wiring. The file is kinda big, so I'll just post a link: ... and all the tape on earth won't straighten this out! This will take most of a day, and plenty of solder & shrink tubing.
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