In the context of the ongoing upgrade of the Rising Star, another thing that seemed simple enough was to go over switches (the headlight dip switch and the three toggles on the avionics box) and check all light bulbs: the one above the license plate didn't work properly so I chased down the gremlins with a multimeter until I found an oxidized connection at the actual bulb. Cleaning contacts and grounds, making sure connections were tight and well insulated took care of most things. In the end though, the real culprit is the battery: it's fine while the bike is running (the alternator is up to snuff and the Boyer-Bransden Powerbox🗲 certainly helps) but it just doesn't hold much of a charge anymore, poor thing. Eventually I will replace it, but I can live with it for now.
I also checked the horn, which works just fine: beep!
All this dealing with the devil's spaghetti seemed like the perfect time to go for something I've secretly liked since I was a rebellious youth, so I've decided to finally go for it and fit the coolest of accessories... a blue marker light. Heck yeah.
This running light is something that may seem tacky at first (and I have to concede, it is a bit!) but this is pure nostalgia materialized: in the early '90s, some people were fitting these to their rides, be they motorcycles, choppers or scooters. Once in a while you'd catch a glimpse of a cool blue light in the stifling hot nights of a Roman summer... it always looked amazing going down a quiet street late at night, and it conjured up thoughts of freedom and the open road.
Time passes, and things fade out of fashion and away from memory (and because there was no internet and no digital photography back then, there really isn't much in the way of records of this cool trend left behind for us to look at).
But I always thought those little blue lights were cool, and so now, finally, I can have one too.
Uncle Fester cut a very simple bracket out of mild steel, then mounted it to the rear brake stay bracket. Sandro (no, the other Sandro. No
not this Sandro either, the
other Sandro!) then ran the wiring along the hardtail and over to the "avionics" box, plugged it into a switch (it can be switched on independently of the other lights) and tidied everything up. I am so stoked with this.
Another thing I did, that can still be filed under "electrics" is that I flipped the ignition coil over so the leads are now pointing up. I think it looks better this way and it's a good thing I did it, as I was able to spot a problem: one of the HT leads had obviously been rubbing against the cylinder head and the insulation was almost completely gone in one spot; you could just see the core wire strands starting to come through, which probably explains why the bike had been hard to start
when I got it out of storage. Add to that that both leads were stiff and prone to cracking, it was time to make some new ones.
These are much better quality leads with a copper core, and the way I routed them makes them be much shorter than they were before, I like how they look.
Lots of small improvements add up to a more noticeable "quality feel" overall; it's important to do this stuff!
There is more coming, just a matter of finding some time to do it...
