A bad day riding in rain

Ridin in heavy rain today in the middle of nowhere when bike stopped dead . Found blowen fuse and did not have a spare so I direct wired the fuse holder wires. A big mistake I got started again and traveled about 5 miles before it cut out again. Luckily some guy with a trailer pulled up we loaded bike on trailer he dropped me off at nearest pub good place to be when you got plenty of time to kill. After a closer inspection I found there was moisture in the ignition switch causing a short and burning out the positive wire, I hope I havn't caused any major damage.

Nothing that a fistfull of $$$ won't fix !!! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
That could cover anything from the alternator to diodes to wiring to switch to zenor.

Good Luck.

P.S. Isn't NZ having a drought ?
Or is that only some parts.

Yes sir lucked out as I've had the lesion of why fuses are meant to burn up instead of the wires on fire. Last time for me was car tail lights out, so just put in a bigger fuse I had, lights came on then smoke then fire under the dash! The Ign. switch gets beat up by key fobs in the wind too. I think we are past the age of needing ign switches as most wouldn't know how to start em to steal anyway, just pick up and haul off. Wes ran a spring on his key to prevent this but finally eliminated his key switch this year for two toggles, one ignition one lights.

Did you hear about the guy that put some .22 bullets in his old auto fuses when they burned out?

Dave
69S

hobot said:

Yes sir lucked out as I've had the lesion of why fuses are meant to burn up instead of the wires on fire. Last time for me was car tail lights out, so just put in a bigger fuse I had, lights came on then smoke then fire under the dash! The Ign. switch gets beat up by key fobs in the wind too. I think we are past the age of needing ign switches as most wouldn't know how to start em to steal anyway, just pick up and haul off. Wes ran a spring on his key to prevent this but finally eliminated his key switch this year for two toggles, one ignition one lights.

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THAT! is my next upgrade. I have a simple 2 position system so just one toggle needed. I may tuck it away or maybe stick it out and paint it bright orange.

That is why it is good to know how to hot wire just the ignition on your old Norton. Being simple to do, everyone should set it up and know how to do it. I ran a new hot lead from my ignition switch to the Boyer bypassing everything else. On a ride one day my Zener failed in the grounded mode and blew the fuse. I remembered the white wire I had attached to the ignition switch terminal and could just see it. I managed to pull it off and connect it directly to the battery. Away I went with no worries. Set this up and you can ride secure in the fact that if there is a failure in any of the other circuits, you can always fall back to ignition only to keep going.

Did you hear about the guy that put some .22 bullets in his old auto fuses when they burned out?

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It'd take a big draw circuit like starter level to heat .22 to go off and then would mostly just explode with low bullet velocity. Most risk is .22 conducts so well the wires catch on fire.

Btw rain riding in flying grime is just part of this cycler's life so Peel had 4 mud flaps, front and very rear of course but another off front of rear fender that protected back side of gb and battery tray area and another over the gap between chain gard and the primary cast shield. Alloy skid plate would also count as biggest fifth one.

An article from the Arkansas Democrat Gazette saying why bullets don't always make good fuses and introducing a worthy candidate of the Darwin Award for improving the human gene pool:

"Two local men were injured when their pickup truck left the road and struck a tree near Cotton Patch on State Highway 38 early one Monday. Thurston Poole, 33, of Des Arc, and Billy Ray Wallis, 38, of Little Rock, were returning to Des Arc after a frog-gigging trip. On an overcast Sunday night, Poole's pickup truck headlights malfunctioned. The two men concluded that the headlight fuse on the older-model truck had burned out. A replacement fuse was not available, but Wallis noticed that the 22 caliber bullet from his pistol fitted perfectly into the fuse box next to the steering-wheel column. Upon inserting the bullet the headlights again began to operate properly, and the two men proceeded eastbound toward the White River Bridge. After traveling approximately 20 miles, and just before crossing the river, the bullet apparently overheated, discharged, and struck Poole in the testicles. The vehicle swerved sharply right, exiting the pavement and striking a tree. Poole suffered only minor cuts and abrasions from the accident, but will require extensive surgery to repair the damage to his testicles, which will never operate as intended. Wallis sustained a broken clavicle and was treated and released. 'Thank God we weren't on that bridge when Thurston shot his balls off, or we might both be dead,' stated Wallis. 'I've been a trooper for 10 years in this part of the world, but this is a first for me. I can't believe that those two would admit how this accident happened,' said the investigating officer. On being notified of the wreck, Lavinia Poole (Poole's wife - the other half of any offspring's genome) asked how many frogs the boys had caught and whether anyone had gotten them from the truck!

(Note: Though Poole and Wallis did not die as a result of their misadventure as normally required by Darwin Award Official Rules, it can be argued that Poole did nonetheless effectively remove himself from the gene pool.)"

Yeah right, don't ya know by now folks from Ark will tell ya anything and expect ya to believe it right off but does make for a hell of a tale, take Billy Clinton for instance. I did not have ....

Do note another aspect that story is suspect, them are Coon'ass names from far below Interstate-Ten not Arkansasan's above i-20, so transplants like me, though all us being pure bred Dixieland red necks.

Most hill folk are practical smart, [like the mother's realistic concerns], just rather lazy but know enough to stuff cig foil or pop tops in not loaded bullets. Guns and bullets are like fork, spoon and sugar cubes, to put something good, cheap and gamey on table for daily fair.

We do lose some bad DNA that check gas level by bic lighters or to light shop to check if dangerous level of leaks ... yet.

We've a radio station that has a flash back flavor, Billy's soft deep dumb ass drawl with a light tapering off chuckle, "LIke a Dream Come True huh..."

Rain riding here, often under tree canopy with wind-rain knocking leaves and stuff down feels like a motorized Huckleberry Finn in a novel setting.

hobot said:

Yeah right, don't ya know by now folks from Ark will tell ya anything and expect ya to believe it right off but does make for a hell of a tale, take Billy Clinton for instance. I did not have ....

Do note another aspect that story is suspect, them are Coon'ass names from far below Interstate-Ten not Arkansasan's above i-20, so transplants like me, though all us being pure bred Dixieland red necks.

Most hill folk are practical smart, [like the mother's realistic concerns], just rather lazy but know enough to stuff cig foil or pop tops in not loaded bullets. Guns and bullets are like fork, spoon and sugar cubes, to put something good, cheap and gamey on table for daily fair.

We do lose some bad DNA that check gas level by bic lighters or to light shop to check if dangerous level of leaks ... yet.

We've a radio station that has a flash back flavor, Billy's soft deep dumb ass drawl with a light tapering off chuckle, "LIke a Dream Come True huh..."

Rain riding here, often under tree canopy with wind-rain knocking leaves and stuff down feels like a motorized Huckleberry Finn in a novel setting.

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Leave it to Hobot to smell out bullshit:

http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/fuse.asp

Usually if it sounds too funny to be true, it is. Plus... how the hell could that 22 round find it's way from the fuse box to Ole Thurston's balls? Would have had to take the same path as the magic bullet in the Kennedy assassination. I had a friend... was a fireman of all things... used a match to look down into the gas tank of his boat. Luckily the explosion blew him right out of the boat into the water, which put out the flames on his entire body. He still had a bunch of scarring and needed some skin grafts. Funny thing is, the guy really isn't stupid... just drank a lot of liquid stupid that day.

Robb2014 said:

hobot said:

Yeah right, don't ya know by now folks from Ark will tell ya anything and expect ya to believe it right off but does make for a hell of a tale, take Billy Clinton for instance. I did not have ....

Do note another aspect that story is suspect, them are Coon'ass names from far below Interstate-Ten not Arkansasan's above i-20, so transplants like me, though all us being pure bred Dixieland red necks.

Most hill folk are practical smart, [like the mother's realistic concerns], just rather lazy but know enough to stuff cig foil or pop tops in not loaded bullets. Guns and bullets are like fork, spoon and sugar cubes, to put something good, cheap and gamey on table for daily fair.

We do lose some bad DNA that check gas level by bic lighters or to light shop to check if dangerous level of leaks ... yet.

We've a radio station that has a flash back flavor, Billy's soft deep dumb ass drawl with a light tapering off chuckle, "LIke a Dream Come True huh..."

Rain riding here, often under tree canopy with wind-rain knocking leaves and stuff down feels like a motorized Huckleberry Finn in a novel setting.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Leave it to Hobot to smell out the bullshit:

http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/fuse.asp

Usually if it sounds too funny to be true, it is. Plus... how the hell could that 22 round find it's way from the fuse box to Ole Thurston's balls? Would have had to take a similar path as the magic bullet in the Kennedy assassination. I had a friend... was a fireman of all things... used a match to look down into the gas tank of his boat. Luckily the explosion blew him right out of the boat into the water, which put out the flames on his entire body. He still had a bunch of scarring and needed some skin grafts. Funny thing is, the guy really isn't stupid... just drank a lot of liquid stupid that day.

Looks like Huck is pushing for a Darwin award himself the way he's standing there with his shot gun pointed at his own head.

Austin Healey owners always say all those wires are in there to protect those two Lucas fuses...

Hehe Rob you got some of the obvious magic physics even w/o scopes.
Huck's in no danger as its a single shot just emptied into the bunny and the muzzle held well out from his face. Some times just plodding along in a warm drizzle in back woods I feel like this...

hobot said:

Hehe Rob you got some of the obvious magic physics even w/o scopes.
Huck's in no danger as its a single shot just emptied into the bunny and the muzzle held well out from his face. Some times just plodding along in a warm drizzle in back woods I feel like this...

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Just don't fall down the well. Lassie's not around anymore to go get help.

Ugh Big Dogs and motorcycles don't mix. The road stupid goats are loose again. My guru said it is not bad karma to eliminate things that cause death and destruction of innocents. Mark Twain's fairly tale had some mean events and characters in it, Injun Joe for instance... who got away with murder.

My latest nemesis are buzzards/vultures. They won't abandon their precious roadkill for anything. Almost nailed one on my Sportster the other day just as it decided to take off from other lane right into my path. Dang things look big enough to knock you off the bike up close.

Was hobot in the area, could have been some of his road kill.

I don't think it was a goat.

Ugh, I've had to compress yo'all lifetime of cycling events into just last decade or so. Vultures are like people some scare easy others stand their ground, then take wing too late to miss ya. I've some close encounters of the 4th kind with 20-40 lb bird surprised as I curise around a blind. Birds eject hot shit when surprised, one to lighten the load and two to splatter their attacker. Wild turkeys are a hazard and would be like having a medicine ball thrown at ya. One poor fellas riding slow around a lake path caught vultures around a blind with one carrying the stinking rotten decayed meal that smacked bike and rider to leave maggot and guts all over, ugh.

My funnest funest vulture event was seeing them a ways off so coasting down just in case they all scattered but one, who placed himself between me and road kill standing ground till I'm almost on him ~40 mph by then, he launched right in front of me so I vered hard as I could away and he did same thing with both of us looking back over our shoulders, ~ within each others wing reach - each other with exactly the same expressions flashing out our eyes *DAM YOU*
Kind of felt like Tom Criuse Right Stuff going head to head eye-eye with a enemy MIG pilot.

If ya do run up under surprised birds best to hold off to one side till they eject.
Bald Eagles get in my way in drive way taking flight yet restricted to the tree tunnel for good ways.

With adequate gear, wet days aren't too bad. My worst-ever trip was while working at N-V. We were looking into getting some test instrumentation, and I was invited to visit the Road Research Laboratory near Southampton, about 125 miles from Wolverhampton. I combined a couple of other visits on the way down, stayed overnight before visiting the RRL then set out for home about 17:00. I was riding the 650SS I used for commuting.

This was mid-February during a run of cold clear weather. It was around 2 degrees C when I started off home and it got progressively colder. I got to a point where I was stopping at roadside diners for a cup of coffee just to put my hands round a warm cup! I thought I was well-enough equipped, but that trip put me off cold winter nights!