Another Tri-spark Failure

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acadian said:
New avatar yes, thanks!

As for the ventilation, I have a finned aluminium points cover mounted directly to the timing cover with no intermediate gasket, my thinking is this will enable a little better heat transfer.

I'd not seen/heard of ventilating the cover, do you have a link?

Anyway, wondering instead if the trispark plate itself could be slotted? Combined with a vented points cover, maybe this would give the heat a better escape route?
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Venting - Check Bill’s comment #79 in this very thread.
 
My experience with the Altair, though limited to a few units, has been good.

But the sparks unit would go straight to the trash can, without bothering to mount it, right along with their voltage regulators.
 
I had an Altair fail after 5000 km.
Changed it out for a Surefire by the side of the road, 1000 km from home (pic.)
For some reason, I never got the warranty replacement working well:
hard starting, kickbacks...
Sent it back to Pazon, they couldn't find it faulty, but they sent me the more expensive Smartfire for FREE, without me even asking for it!
But by the time I received it, I had the Surefire back in, and left it at that.
Both my bikes have Surefire, and have worked flawlessly now for around 60 - 70 000 km combined.
( still carry a spare though..)

Another Tri-spark Failure
 
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ludwig said:
For some reason, I never got the warranty replacement working well:
hard starting, kickbacks...Sent it back to Pazon, the couldn't find it faulty,
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Which version of the Altair did you have. Mine is an early version, slotted rotor, and was a pig to set up. Super sensitive to rotor alignment. Since getting that sorted it has, to date at least, been spot on. The later style with the winged rotors are supposed to be easier to set up.
 
Does not the Altair have the handy LED for set up and the Surefire (the basic approach) have only a window and dot to align?
Neither seemed fiddly to me.
Ive had both on the bike and honestly cannot see any difference in normal road use except that there does seem to be more kickback
and difficult starting with the Altair.
Honestly for me the way to go is the cheaper Surefire with a spare .
 
rvich said:
Whoa! Wait a minute! I would most humbly request that Madnorton explain why it was decided the Altair was going to be a warranty issue. Is this a story we are supposed to already know about? I find that comment quite interesting in light of the present conversation. I've been running the Surefire and it has not failed me as my two Tri Sparks did in a short period. I've always been curious about whether the Altair was more finicky.

As for where these are run. My Tri Sparks failed running them in Alaska in temps cooler than most people think of as motorcycle weather. While I admit that getting nice and hot inside the points cavity is a potential issue, I'm pretty sure mine failed due to the coils I was running (stock). This has been argued to death and I'm not here for a debate on it today. I would see chronic heating in the points cavity as a long term problem. Short term, I think it is the rest of the system the EI is exposed to that makes a big difference in longevity.

PS - You threw your last Altair in the bin?!!! I'd of been happy to run it without warranty just to see if lasted longer than my last Tri Spark! It would actually be good data to have.
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We used to sell them, after too high a warranty rate we discontinued to list them. The last one we had had been on the shelf for years and with the recent move it was decided to junk it. The surefire we still list, along with the TS.
 
MexicoMike said:
Funny...folks carry spare ignition systems now but back in the day when we rode these Nortons as daily transportation as well as trips and amateur track use, nobody as far as I know, carried extra points/condensers/etc around... ;)
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Did you ever ride your Norton more than 3000 km away from home?
Once I got stranded near Lagos Portugal, with a broken Boyer Powerbox ( don't use them anymore..)
On the entire Iberian peninsula there was only one spare to be found.
Luckily that one was in my saddlebag..
 
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MexicoMike said:
Funny...folks carry spare ignition systems now but back in the day when we rode these Nortons as daily transportation as well as trips and amateur track use, nobody as far as I know, carried extra points/condensers/etc around... ;)
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I did.
Always points or an ignition box and a kicker pawl.
 
Did you ever need it? ;)

"Did you ever ride your Norton more than 3000 km away from home?"

No, back then I don't think I ever had the bike that far from home as far as a straight-line distance from the house. But it was certainly far enough that "being close to home" didn't exist.

We rode my original '71 Commando in a day from Memphis TN to Destin, Florida - 620 miles. That was with my wife on the back for a one week vacation in FL. Rode it in FL and then back to Memphis a week later - also in one day. I never carried any spare parts; never had a flat. Never had an issue with the bike. Replaced some drive chains, tires and did the routine maintenance/tune up (plugs/points/condenser)/oil changes but that was it. The bike was our primary means of transportation at that point of my life.

The only time that Norton ever caused me a problem was the first day I owned it when I didn't realize that "reserve" on a Roadster tank was only about 1/2 cup of gas! It felt like an awful LOOONG way pushing my Norton to the next exit/gas station on IH 55! :)
 
MexicoMike said:
Funny...folks carry spare ignition systems now but back in the day when we rode these Nortons as daily transportation as well as trips and amateur track use, nobody as far as I know, carried extra points/condensers/etc around... ;)
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If you had bought your Norton as a new vehicle with a network of service agents, you might not have seen any reason to carry spares.
 
comnoz said:
I did.
Always points or an ignition box and a kicker pawl.
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The only time I had a points fail was before I started carrying a spare. The rubbing block broke off and I rode it about 50 miles on one cylinder.
I had a Lucas Rita fail once and installed a box from an old Chrysler product to get home from Lake Tahoe
Since then I have had a Boyer rattle a pickup coil off the backing plate -but had a spare.
And a Boyer Micro-power coil die and I had a spare and then a couple days later the box died -and I had a spare.
Then I have had about 3 failures with my ignition system on my EFI bike before I started using a GM ignitor and coil. I always rigged up something to get me home out of my spare parts and NAPA.

And kicker pawls I have replaced 3 or 4 on the road, at hotels, gas stations and rest areas. I have gotten proficient at laying the bike on it's right side so I don't loose the lube and changing the pawls. Big motors don't like kicker pawls.
 
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MexicoMike said:
Funny...folks carry spare ignition systems now but back in the day when we rode these Nortons as daily transportation as well as trips and amateur track use, nobody as far as I know, carried extra points/condensers/etc around... ;)
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Back in the day I would drive cross country with a couple hits of speed and 20 bucks in my wallet. Getting stuck somewhere when I was 18 was a whole different adventure than it is now. I've changed, the world has changed. If someone stops on the highway to help you with your broken down Norton now they are probably planning to steal it!

But yes, I always had spare points, condenser and spark plugs in my kit. And no, I never needed it and I never got stranded anywhere I didn't want to be. I would however do regular maintenance on my points to check for gap and surface pitting while on the road. I may have swapped them out as part of the maintenance ritual. The burned ones would go into the kit for emergencies.
 
rvich said:
If someone stops on the highway to help you with your broken down Norton now they are probably planning to steal it!
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That just depends on what part of the country your in. If I'm in the northeast or west coast states or Colorado, I keep my gun handy.
If your down south someone will pull up and bend over to help -usually within minutes.
 
Triton Thrasher said:
If you had bought your Norton as a new vehicle with a network of service agents, you might not have seen any reason to carry spares.
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There was no "network of spares." There weren't a bunch Norton dealers all around like there were Honda dealers. I didn't carry parts simply because the bike gave me no reason to do so. I was a young guy (20's). The bike worked fine in the real world.

I admit that my first Honda 4-cylinder was a better ride in a practical sense...as they still are. ;)
 
comnoz said:
That just depends on what part of the country your in. If I'm in the northeast or west coast states or Colorado, I keep my gun handy.
If your down south someone will pull up and bend over to help -usually within minutes.
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I broke down in August just a few miles from home. (On topic - my first Tri-Spark failure.) Within the 20 minutes that I waited for a flatbed, a guy on a Harley, a guy in a station wagon, and a local cop stopped to ask if I needed help. Rural Connecticut. I and my friends will always assist a broken down biker if we see one.
 
I had a Norton with an altair and some days it would run better than others especially around idle. I naturally suspected the dual amals, then grounds or any wire connection. A couple of months went by with no improvement until I decided to check the binding posts on the pick up plate. I snugged them down and it was back to running great. Because the tiny screws thread into plastic I was/am very careful about turning those screws in and they had backed off just slightly after a thousand miles or so. This is the only weak point I have discovered with Pazon, otherwise no problems.
 
just because matt sells it it is no guaranty of the quality. he was also one that sold the anti wet sump valves but good luck finding one on his site or one of his bikes anymore.

MexicoMike said:
The fact that Matt/CNW uses the Trispark on their CNW Nortons is a pretty good indication that it's an excellent unit
;)
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maylar said:
I broke down in August just a few miles from home. (On topic - my first Tri-Spark failure.) Within the 20 minutes that I waited for a flatbed, a guy on a Harley, a guy in a station wagon, and a local cop stopped to ask if I needed help. Rural Connecticut. I and my friends will always assist a broken down biker if we see one.
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In NY, riding out to the Hamptons on my Ducati 900SS back in '92, I stopped on the side of the road to pee in the bushes (nothing wrong with the bike). When I got back to the bike a rider on a blue/white Harley was pulling up to see if I needed any help. It was Billy Joel! :)
 
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