After a cold afternoon tinkering with a classic with so much character that it didn't work... Then you sit down for a while to recover. Inside, by the stove. A shot of very strong coffee, a few spoons of brown caster sugar, a double dose of whiskey and whipped cream that has just become fluffy... Then you have a heart and soul warming Irish coffee that they don't serve in regular catering establishments for cost reasons.
Wood in the stove. Two seats to pull up. Get warm and happy again. Time to wonder why there is 6V on the coil, but no sparks come from the high-voltage thing. Because the points open, the capacitor is fresh and how difficult can a 6V battery coil system with only one set of points be?
With whipped cream moustaches you then talk about 'bad classics'. And after a few more sips you come to the conclusion that contemporary electronics are of course completely Devilish, but that old-fashioned electrickery was not always so Catholic either.
In retrospect, it was mostly British and Italian bikes that earned their unfortunate reputation for unfortunate wiring harnesses, sick voltage regulators and rhythmically dying dynamos. Oh yes, Pan Heads and the other USA V-twins often had E-problems too. And they leaked oil. As did many to most British (and some) Italian bikes.
The funny thing is the terrible reputation of Lucas, the Inventors of Darkness. Lucas could make good stuff, but not for the prices that the British motorcycle industry was willing to pay for it.
But if you let your thoughts drift a little further about the well-being of our current classics, then it suddenly occurs to someone that the BMW R65s were thermally unhealthy and rather allergic to traffic jams. A bit of internet research confirms that. On the other hand: why would you get stuck in a traffic jam with a motorcycle? An R65 is not so wide that it cannot flash or stroll between them. Right?
Then the conversation turns to the Buell S1 of an acquaintance. Those machines had the reputation of a biting pit bull in a daycare center. We knew ex-Harley/Buell mechanics who had serious traumas from repairing Buells. On the other hand: that Buell of that acquaintance turns out to be problem-free. At least, if you ride it with the sedate respect of a true classic car enthusiast.
Harley riders didn’t buy Buells. Buells were bought by bikers who thought about quality and usability in Japanese terms. “How fast does it accelerate, how many revs can it turn? How fast can it go? We’re going to try that for as many people as possible!”
Well... And then such a Buell – often extra pimped – broke down very convincingly.
Now the Buell of our acquaintance is a collector's item. It is ridden seriously, but with respect. And remains intact. With the right approach, you can live well with classics.
But why doesn't that stupid rabbit in the garage want to spark?
In the late 80s I bought a Kawasaki H1 (the “widowmaker”) for 100 guilders.
It didn't run and without a license plate. The ignition module was broken and cost Gaartman in Apeldoorn no less than 800 guilders. The aluminum container where the electronics were in was filled with synthetic resin but with a bit of patience I managed to pry it out. A "print" with 5 elements came out and that was copied for 5 guilders. It ran almost immediately.
Sold a few years later (still without a license plate) for 800 guilders.
Experienced this once during my internship.
At that time, in the mid-80s, I worked in the workshop of a motorcycle dealer in Amsterdam.
There was, at one point, a Suzuki, whose ignition suddenly stopped working. (According to the customer)
Chef's assignment: start with new contact points.
After removing the ignition cover, I found two sets of new contact points, with the eyelets that were to be connected to the coil, grounded.
This is where the DIY went wrong and the bike was left at the workshop out of poverty.
Subsequently, on the instructions of the workshop manager, two new sets were fitted and expertly adjusted.
With his comment: then they shouldn't lie and say they tried it themselves.
In such a case, even a reliable Suzuki stops working. But after my expert work, it ran like a charm again.
Mmm…that Hallies have many ignition problems is strange to me; that is about the most reliable thing about such an American, it is often the imitation junk that gives the stuff a bad name.
'Taiwan Teddy' coils are so unreliable that they often don't even make it to the corner of the street.
So either OEM or an oil-filled round Japanese unit if you want reliable mileage.
My side valve engine never misses a beat, and only leaves me with an empty tank.
Hammer and screwdriver technique…nice man
Sometimes the spark factory doesn't work. A long time ago (I'm talking about spring 1980) an acquaintance of mine asked me if I wanted to look at the spark factory of his CB750. Had done everything so carefully but since he had replaced the contact points (and there were two sets of them), the thing had absolutely no power anymore. To be more precise, the thing only ran 'on two legs'. Side cover of the block, engine on the rear wheel and... yes indeed. One of the sets kept making contact. That could just as well have cost him a spark plug! With a flashlight I saw that he had placed a plastic insulation disc on the wrong side of the leaf spring. The base plate with the points removed, the span corrected, installed, adjusted, started and went. Although a lot of smoke from unburned excise juice came out of two of the exhaust pipes, modestly mixed with oil. Smoke-free within two minutes and driving with that red tear-off. Ran like a house horse again. As a commuter horse, my repairs at the spark plug factory meant that the thing was used again for trips to the boss. One morning there was a car idiot who steered the welfare can into the wrong lane. My acquaintance could not avoid it and crashed head-on. Both were traveling at about 80 km/h. My acquaintance would be permanently deprived of the use of one of his limbs by that accident.