Motorcycle Repair
I got my motorcycle out of my parents’ garage last week, and it’s had some problems this year. There was a short in the ignition switch, and the bike would sometimes die for a split second. At cruising speeds, this wasn’t a problem, but at low speeds, it would stutter and lurch. Not good.
Thanks to the labor union at work (long story) my hours have been cut back, and I had the day off today. I decided to tackle the ignition problem. There’s an active forum on Yahoo Groups for Honda Nighthawk owners, and I found some advice on disassembling and cleaning the ignition switch.
I pulled off the headlight housing, disconnected and labeled the dozen or so connections inside of it, unbolted the horns, and pulled off the fuse cover. I could then remove the lock cylinder and ignition switch. I was even able to separate the ignition switch from the lock without breaking the little plastic tabs. When I opened up the ignition switch, I saw that a solder connection had broken.
I pushed the bike closer to an electrical outlet, re-soldered the connection, put it all back together and it runs like a champ. It’s a pretty sweet bike, and the community of riders is really helpful.
Check out the pictures:
DIY Bike Rack
So for those that don’t know, I’ve moved into a new apartment. My old place was kind of a tiny hole, which was exacerbated by the pile of bikes that lived in my kitchen. We had 3 or 4 bikes leaned up against the wall, in various states of disrepair. I scribbled up some plans for a vertical rack with legs to support it, but never built anything.
A few months back, I saw this online, and figured I could build one cheaper.
Here are some pics of my version.
