Are Boyers really that bad? (2015)

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photoguy_43420

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I have a 73 850 that has a Boyer on it for about 20 years. Never had a problem with spark. The one thing I have had happen is miss fire every now and then. The bike always a one or two kick bike. It has always been cold blooded. Are the other electronic ignitions that much better?
 
No troubles with mine for many years till pickup wire cracked ... got my moneys worth from it though ... replaced with another ...
Craig
 
No problems with Boyer's, had mine on for over 30 years without any problems till I replaced it with the Joe Hunt maggie, my old Boyer is still going and is fitted in a mates Norton, I never had any problems with the pick up wire breaking but I had a bit more rubber around it that went through the hole, they do give the occational kick back but only if to much fuel when kicking.

Ashley
 
Had a Boyer on my '74 for many years and then switched to a Tri-Spark because of all the hype.
The boyer never failed but the Tri-Spark failed after 2.5 yrs.
Matt at Colorado Norton works sent me the new updated one immediately and then I sent him the bad back.
Great guy that Matt.
Boyers are fine, Tri-Spark's are nice too. Just costs more.
I am gonna put the Boyer on my 73' when I get around to restoring it.
Either one beats points as far as simplicity goes.
 
The only problem I had was with an E-Start. The early Boyers don't like low voltage and that's tough on sprags. If kicked with a good battery they're probably just fine. Mine certainly rand good although I perceive a better idle with the Pazon I replaced it with. That could be my imagination or something else I did.
 
I have had quit a few Boyers on various britisht twins, they work well and were an improvement over point and a worn automatic advance unit, however some newer ignition kits work at lower voltages and this in my experience offers better performance, particularly when running with lights on or in other circumstances of marginal charging - which our beloved Lucas systems seem to produce with monotonous regularity.
 
I now spell it as boyah only d/t their sneaky trigger leads, voltage sensitive brain, weak contruction trigger plate and a time curve to fits all makes models so duller throttle response but other wise a reliable system decades proven if quiks avoided. About only brand that offers a rev limiter and resistance across the trigger leads sharpens the adv rate so what's not to love?
 
I ask my right leg if it liked the original Boyer (before I got my Pazon). The leg says no. The ankle isn't thrilled either.
 
I've used a Boyer for a few years on my commando engine and it has always been reliable. Because I use methanol, even though I run it very lean I don't have problems - there is a larger margin for timing errors. I suggest the true test is if your two stroke can survive the use of the unit without destroying itself. On an old four stroke the application is not so critical even with petrol.
 
I set my old Boyer till it starts to kick back then back it off till it don't, have never used a timing light and has worked for me in all those years of running it (over 30 years) I do the same with my Joe Hunt, you don't have to move the pick up much to make a diffrents, my Noron has always been a 1 kick to start cold or hot only not to start on first kick if I gave it to much throttle.

Ashley
 
I suppose it depends what you mean by 'that bad'...!

But generally, I would say no, they aren't 'that bad'. I don't see how they can be as there are so many in use, and so may people declaring their trouble free enjoyment.

Personally I have used Boyer on several bikes and they've all worked.

However, I have now used Tri Spark on 3 Brits.

One was on a 988cc tuned R3 motor where replacing Boyer for Tri Spark gave better starting, better slow speed running, and a big power increase on the Dyno (although this was clearly partly due to the Tri Spark allowing 3 separate sparks, allowing me to fit 3 high output Dyna coils).

The second was on an 850cc T160 where it replaced a RITA and gave better starting and slow speed running. I never had it on a Dyno, and couldn't detect any power increase.

The third is on the Commando. I replaced a Boyer (which was damaged and causing a missfire I discovered). I changed too many other things to be able to compare, but I can say that although the bike is 10.5:1 CR with a JS cam etc, it starts and idles way easier than I would have expected, and I think the Tri Spark is part of the reason.
 
I had a crack in the wire at the pick up under the tie, the same happened to a mate at his Commando. I have the Boyer on my Bonneville for years, no problem at all. It is a problem of isolastic, the wire is vibrating and tend to crack after some time. I have the Pazon installed since 4 years now, no problem yet.

Ralf
 
Boyer for 15 years on a bike which is not much used.

Broken wire down at the pickup about 1000 km from new. It really was frustratingly hard to find because it only failed when hot and really needed a heavy pull to show a break with the multi meter.

Occasional nasty kick back when the battery is a bit down.

Rest is fine.
 
The real question I have is it worth taking a working Boyer out and replacing it with a Tri-Spark or a Pazon? My bike runs good over all. Was not sure if the other where that much better? The other thought I had was to add a three phase alternator as you hear with the Boyer it needs more electric at ide and such. I have never really had the bike kick back, I have had a few miss fires. I would like to ride the Norton more this year and like to get it to run the best it could.
 
If it aren’t broke-don’t fix it-but check the condition of the wire with a mutimeter and the condition of the insulation
 
The Boyer in my bike has been there for about 25 years. The pick up lead broke off once. Packing the points cover with a bit of foam made it 'fit and forget'. The other time the ignition failed was because the ground wire broke at the coil. With a 3 phase alternator you can start the bike with a blown fuse. That was really confusing to sort out.

Greg
 
johnm said:
Boyer for 15 years on a bike which is not much used.

Broken wire down at the pickup about 1000 km from new. It really was frustratingly hard to find because it only failed when hot and really needed a heavy pull to show a break with the multi meter.

Occasional nasty kick back when the battery is a bit down.

Rest is fine.
Click to expand...

The broken wire is the Achilles heel of the Boyer. Soldered wires subject to vibration will fracture. In the case of the Boyer pickup leads the fracture occurs inside the insulation, making it very difficult to find. Also, the misfire usually disappears above 2500 RPM. It can be a head scratcher. A lot of people have mistakenly jumped on the carbs.
 
photoguy_43420 said:
The real question I have is it worth taking a working Boyer out and replacing it with a Tri-Spark or a Pazon? My bike runs good over all. Was not sure if the other where that much better? The other thought I had was to add a three phase alternator as you hear with the Boyer it needs more electric at ide and such. I have never really had the bike kick back, I have had a few miss fires. I would like to ride the Norton more this year and like to get it to run the best it could.
Click to expand...

I needed weeks to find the mistake. It starts with misfire at lower revs, but I never had a complete breakdown. Now that you know this issue I would change nothing as long as it works fine.

Ralf
 
Towner said:
photoguy_43420 said:
The real question I have is it worth taking a working Boyer out and replacing it with a Tri-Spark or a Pazon? My bike runs good over all. Was not sure if the other where that much better? The other thought I had was to add a three phase alternator as you hear with the Boyer it needs more electric at ide and such. I have never really had the bike kick back, I have had a few miss fires. I would like to ride the Norton more this year and like to get it to run the best it could.
Click to expand...

I needed weeks to find the mistake. It starts with misfire at lower revs, but I never had a complete breakdown. Now that you know this issue I would change nothing as long as it works fine.

Ralf
Click to expand...

Actually, the Boyer can be easily fixed with a couple of small screws, nuts and crimp-on ring lugs.
 
I ran the analog Boyer for a few years with my e-start with no problems. I then switched to the micro-digital Boyer. The wire broke once, but other than that it has functioned perfectly for many thousands of miles. The bike starts and idles perfectly. I had a, non Boyer, wire chafe on the motor cradle and it drew my battery down very low. So low that when I braked to turn in my driveway the motor quit, before that the box was still firing. I had started in Vermont that day and the last time I used the button, in Vermont, there was not enough juice to turn the motor over, but it kick-started and I rode it back to Eastern Mass. I have a stainless steel ignition box holder bolted to the front of the frame down-tubes, it gets plenty of air to keep it cool.

Mick-F
 
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