"Mercedes Streeter" (smart)
09/18/2018 at 13:16 • Filed to: Two Wheels Good
2
14|
"Mercedes Streeter" (smart)
09/18/2018 at 13:16 • Filed to: Two Wheels Good | 2
| 14 |
The bloody thing blew a fuse.
I was going to take it on a nice and very long ride last night. While departing my condo I noticed my “dash lights” weren’t on. No biggie, the ambient light outside is good enough for me to read dark gauges. But then as I was stopping to get petrol I thought “wait, I better make sure my taillight works” and sure enough, the brake light worked but the tail did not. I dropped in a couple gallons of petrol then raced back home before a police officer could notice that I was flying dark.
Consulting Goldwing forums, looks like one of the two taillight fuses ( which also controls “dashboard” lights and front parking lights) took itself out. Oops.
As for the aforementioned turn indicator and headlight brightness issues, looks like my turn indicator relay is fried and I’ll also probably need to repair or replace the button bank. Can’t complain, the thing’s nearly 40 years old and still using its original switchgear.
Meanwhile, I absolutely hate the handlebars on it. I want to replace the handlebars with lower ones like the ones that are on the GS. I also want to replace the dim bulbs in the “dash” with some colourful LEDs. I’ve named the bike “Poseidon”, so blue LEDs would be fitting. ;)
Original post:
I’m still absolutely loving my new to me GL1100. It’s a giggle getting sportbike performance out of what’s essentially a couch with a couple wheels. I’ve also finally figured out how to get it to not stall. I vaguely remembered my neighbour saying some big Hondas need a bit of thrust to not stall and that seems to be doing the trick. It seems to work more like a manual car than it does a manual bike. lol
However, I must admit that I haven’t been completely legal in my ‘Wing’s operation. When the PO did his restomod thing, he deleted the turn signals, presumably doing hand signals instead (which apparently is legal in IL). It didn’t take long for me to figure out why..
Aside from the horn, all the switches on that left switch bank seem a little broken? The headlights have three “settings”: high, low, and “candlestick”. And the brightness of the lamp largely depends on how much you jiggle the switch.
I installed new turn indicators and while I admit I got cheap 12w units from Amazon, they did have some strange behaviour. At first just the two front turn indicators glowed. That was weird as I only hooked up the orange and blue wires, and their respective grounds (no third). Then when you hit the switch left, the indicator light went out entirely. If you hit the switch right, same result. Nothing happened in the rear.
Alright, so I just assumed that I got lights that didn’t have a big enough draw. A couple miles down the road the front indicators just stopped glowing. Hitting the switch did nothing on the left side and hitting the right side only illuminated (not flashing) the turn indicator on the right rear.
I’m thinking that I’m going to need to replace that switch bank? It appears power is getting to all four indicators, but they won’t work. Thankfully the headlight is a little more easy to convince to work correctly, but ideally that should work well, too.
Also stay tuned, this week is “crunch week” for my Ruckus clone. My starting issue will either be carb or petrol tank. Since buying and getting both shipped to my apartment next day is a grand total of $40 (freaking China, man) I have no fear I’ll have it running before the week is out. The even cooler part is that in taking the panels off to swap out the tank I’ll be doing a very popular Ruckus mod (leaving the tank area naked) anyway. lol
(not my picture)
Once I have it running I want to mildly “cafe racer” it. The end result will be some weird cafe racer/dual sport...thing for the Gambler 500. I’ll probably then get a tiny windscreen for winter riding.
DipodomysDeserti
> Mercedes Streeter
09/17/2018 at 13:04 |
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Check to make sure the rectifier is properly grounded to the frame. Those bad boys can cause all sorts of wonky stuff to happen.
Pickup_man
> Mercedes Streeter
09/17/2018 at 14:09 |
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I’d start by just pulling the switch gear apart and cleaning it, they’re pretty simple mechanisms with not a lot to go wrong, but it’s amazing how much junk and grime builds up in them over the years. Beyond that I’d go over the electrical system with a fine tooth comb before you start buying parts, check for bad grounds, shorted wires etc. The worst part about old bikes is the wiring, especially wiring that’s been messed with by previous owners.
Decay buys too many beaters
> Mercedes Streeter
09/17/2018 at 17:23 |
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I need that overflow reservoir
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Mercedes Streeter
> Decay buys too many beaters
09/17/2018 at 21:20 |
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What does it do? (Not my picture lol)
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Decay buys too many beaters
> Mercedes Streeter
09/17/2018 at 22:36 |
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Just looks dope and steam punkesque. Functionally identical to the stock one
Nibby
> Mercedes Streeter
09/18/2018 at 09:29 |
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unrelated but any update on that dual xeon dell dimension?
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Mercedes Streeter
> Nibby
09/18/2018 at 12:18 |
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I very nearly finished it (I just needed to complete the case). Sold it to fund motorcycles and motorcycle accessories. I thinned my custom computer and smartphone herd down to the bare bones. Shoot, my gaming computer is a “supercharged” Optiplex 790 now. My future projects will only be silly things. Like, I want to build a computer in one of these things:
It’s a 1:6 scale PT Cruiser. The floorboard is give or take large enough to support an ITX motherboard.
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Nibby
> Mercedes Streeter
09/18/2018 at 12:55 |
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... that would be the craziest idea and DO IT!
only thing is cooling might be an issue as well as fitting a heatsink
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Mercedes Streeter
> Nibby
09/18/2018 at 13:02 |
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Very true! Thankfully I can go one form factor smaller with the STX form factor, but then I’d be locking myself out of being able to use a graphics card.
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Mercedes Streeter
> Decay buys too many beaters
09/18/2018 at 13:03 |
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Overflow of what, exactly? lol I thought these things were air cooled?
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Decay buys too many beaters
> Mercedes Streeter
09/18/2018 at 13:50 |
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Ruckuses are water cooled. That’s a coolant overflow tank.
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Mercedes Streeter
> Decay buys too many beaters
09/18/2018 at 13:57 |
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OH! So that’s why I see these little containers on legit Rucks
I (falsely) assumed that the GY6 Ruckus was more of a direct clone than it actually is.
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Decay buys too many beaters
> Mercedes Streeter
09/18/2018 at 14:04 |
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Yep!
Currently using a H ello Kitty Sigg bottle on mine as an overflow
So Shiney. So Chrome! So Frunky
> Mercedes Streeter
09/18/2018 at 14:34 |
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These guys are great for LED retrofits. They even have the mechanical blinker relays (so your blinkers blink at the correct rate regardless of resistance)
https://www.superbrightleds.com/
It’s how I was able to get my old Ninja all gussied up with new lights and blinking at the DOT mandated rate.