Cloth vs Vinyl Wire Harness?

Vintage Vinny said:
Replacing wire harness on 74 Commando. Any advantage to cloth, or is it just looks?
Keeping stock points ignition system. Also, any recommendations on a supplier?
I am in North Carolina, USA
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The original harness will have been wrapped with non-adhesive PVC tape. I dislike the cloth covered harness as the covering attracts all the oil and shite these engines express. After having to deal with a bike that had had a cloth covered harness fitted i disliked them even more, far too stiff to get around the frame, the ends of the cloth tape were super glued so when having to modifiy the harness to get it to fit properly i had to do some surgery with a scalpel to get the cloth tape off. re-wrapped with non adhesive tape.
 
MichaelD said:
I did some wiring on an Audi and the official workshop manual recommends crimps and heat-shrink, and explicitly states never use solder to connect wires. Apparently soldered connections are likely to break when subjected to vibrations. Don't know how Norton vibration compares with Jumbo jets, but if I sat in a plane that vibrated as much as my bike, I'd be very worried.
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Lol
 
MichaelD said:
I did some wiring on an Audi and the official workshop manual recommends crimps and heat-shrink, and explicitly states never use solder to connect wires. Apparently soldered connections are likely to break when subjected to vibrations. Don't know how Norton vibration compares with Jumbo jets, but if I sat in a plane that vibrated as much as my bike, I'd be very worried.
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"but if I sat in a plane that vibrated as much as my bike, I'd be very worried "

Then never fly in a Chinook. Feels like one end of the aircraft is constantly trying to detach from the other.
 
johnm said:
"but if I sat in a plane that vibrated as much as my bike, I'd be very worried "

Then never fly in a Chinook. Feels like one end of the aircraft is constantly trying to detach from the other.
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- and any aircraft powered by a Jacobs radial.
There is a reason they called them “ shaky Jakes “
 
Seems we're off track anyway so I'll ask this question, Where can I purchase cloth weave wire cover black with read thread woven in it ?
 
mean gene said:
Seems we're off track anyway so I'll ask this question, Where can I purchase cloth weave wire cover black with read thread woven in it ?
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Nowhere! That is done by a machine in the process of making the harness. It is like making rope or braiding hair just with LOTS of strands. There are cloth-looking expandable tube wraps but it's nothing like actual cloth wrapping.
 
Hmmm. Maybe someone would have a 2/3 foot length of old wiring harness that I could use for the finishing touch on my bitza. The wiring harness did not include the break light wiring. Plastic wire cover works be just doesn't look right.
 
Agree with previous comments on cloth wrap. Anyone using PET mesh sleeving like this:

kable-kontrol-pet-expandable-cable-sleeving-1.jpg
 
Tornado said:
Agree with previous comments on cloth wrap. Anyone using PET mesh sleeving like this:

View attachment 107370
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I use it. I like it a lot. I melt the ends after cutting and use heat shrink as Baz says. It’s very neat, durable and flexible. And easy to use.

Gregs point about it becoming an oily messy could well be correct if you have that kinda bike.
 
Tornado said:
Agree with previous comments on cloth wrap. Anyone using PET mesh sleeving like this:

View attachment 107370
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I used that sort of stuff. Once.
It burns well and very quickly - it gave me a hell of a fright when a short circuit produced a lot of smoke shortly followed by the aforementioned flame.
I then bought a roll of harness tape.
 
This one seems ok
 

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Fast Eddie said:
I use it. I like it a lot. I melt the ends after cutting and use heat shrink as Baz says. It’s very neat, durable and flexible. And easy to use.

Gregs point about it becoming an oily messy could well be correct if you have that kinda bike.
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I have that "kinda bike"/bikes that I use in just about any weather one thing that has never crossed my mind until now is how dirty or oily it could get !
 
SteveBorland said:
I used that sort of stuff. Once.
It burns well and very quickly - it gave me a hell of a fright when a short circuit produced a lot of smoke shortly followed by the aforementioned flame.
I then bought a roll of harness tape.
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Not had that experience as yet
I'll bear it mind
 
This is a timely discussion, as I'm just about to "wrap up" the installation of a Motogadget M.Unit on the red '72.

I have used the Tesa adhesive cloth tape with success on my bikes over the years. It doesn't go sticky and offers good insulation. For the main part of the harness under the main frame tube, I'll probably go with marine grade shrink tubing. It's thick and holds the wires together well.

The new wiring harness replaces a stock harness that used the non adhesive vinyl tape. The bike had started to back fire and upon removal of that harness, I found a ignition wire had worn through its insulating covering as well as the vinyl tape and was shorting to the frame. That harness was less than 10 years old.
 

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