Sparks

 

and MOTs

Well, despite 64,000+ miles, Tallulah passed her MOT with no advisories but the trip wasn’t without incident. She was a little reluctant to turn over when I left home, which I put down to her sitting there for 3 weeks untouched. A ride to the MOT garage should have charged the battery enough, so I didn’t worry too much. I stopped for fuel on the way there and again, she was a little reluctant to start, but still did.

The MOT garage was a different matter, she had to be jump started twice, once during the test and once again when I went to go home. I put her on the trickle charge as soon as I got home but didn’t have time to do anything else until Saturday.

I was expecting either the stator or reg/rec had gone, something that seems to be a common theme no matter which bike you own (it happened on my last bike, a Honda Blackbird).

Out came the multi-meter and did a series of checks

• Ign. off  12.4v
• Ign. on  11.7v
• Engine idle (lights on)     13.22v
• Engine idle (light fuse pulled)      14.4v

It seemed the bike was charging ok but just to make sure I pulled the reg/rec plugs to test for resistance, no problems there. Next was to test the stator for continuity, again no problems. I did notice the electrical contacts were looking corroded. Out comes the emery cloth and brake cleaner and I cleaned up all the contacts before reconnecting everything. I started her up & checked the voltage across the battery terminals at idle – 13.7v with the lights on. It seems my issue was two separate things, dirty electrical contacts and a discharged battery.

I've since been out for a run, not too far just in case the battery dies but everything seemed to behave itself electrically anyway. there is a little issue with the front left calliper sticking again, so I think I'll have to do a complete rebuild & replace all the seals in the next few months.

As for the battery, if the Motobatt battery has had it, I’ve just bought a Yuasa one for the Trophy that’s the same size. I know it's robbing Peter to pay Paul, but I'd rather have a bike I can rely on to start when I need it.