Electrical Clickiness

So I bought a new battery. If you didn’t already know you can buy batteries wet or dry (though for most car batteries they come wet) which just means that either the acid has been already added to the battery (wet) or you have to add it yourself (dry). There are also maintenance free batteries which are sealed wet batteries meaning you can’t (and shouldn’t need too) get into the battery and add distilled water if the levels drop. Which is all neither here nor there.

I hooked the battery up to the interceptor and nothing happend. I took out my little test light and it seemed like the juice was making it to (what I learned later was) the solenoid. I have no idea what the solenoid does (I’ll look it up later) but I know juice was getting there. After a little tinkering and the checking of fuses the lights came on and all the standard electrical stuff seemed to be working. When I tried starting it, all I got was a lot of clicking from the solenoid. I’m not sure if it’s supposed to click like that but I took it as a good sign. Since I didn’t have a voltmeter I went and bought one, at which point I was locked out of my house so I was pretty much done when with working on the bike when I got back in. That and I need to read the manual for the voltmeter and the motorcycle to do any more debugging, I’m guessing something between the starter and the solenoid or the starter it self. I dunno. I have little expereince working on electrical systems...and everything else really.

One thing I did notice while taking off the fairing and body plastics was that they are beat to crap and that the bike looks really ugly without the fairing.

Other than that I also noticed little patches of rust everywhere, especially on the bolts. I think I’m going to replace most of them as I remove them. I’m sort of surprised at the level of rust, it seems to have hit some parts really hard (bolts) and other not as hard as I would have expected (exhaust pipes)

I need to get a digital camera so i can document some of this stuff for you, my internet fans.

PS You can thank the following smart ass remark for this last update.

It's great that you created an entire blog page devoted to bikes when all you have up for the last two weeks is the original :)

J

VROOM! VROOM! 2.0

I guess you all get to be the first to know. I am the proud new owner of a 1985 Honda VF 700 Interceptor. Like the one pictured below it is red, white and blue, so if you have any Bush Cheney stickers send’em in. Unlike the image below this one looks like it's been sitting in the sun for two decades, has a pair of chewed up tires, ripped seat, a dead battery, a chain rusted as all hell, etc. Needless to say getting this thing running will be a learning experience.



I would like to take a moment out of this post to thank Dave for suggesting I take the Into to Motorcycle Mechanics (MOTO 60) class offered through SF’s City College and taught by none other than the lovely Lisa Duke (2004-2005 Motorcycle Department’s Female Teacher of the Year) as well as locating this very inexpensive new (old) project bike for me.

Incidentally, as I’ve mentioned to everyone I know, I’m running a motorcycle clinic in my back patio on Saturday mornings (9am to 2pm-ish) so if you are interested in learning to ride, tuning your bike or just hanging out, feel free to drop by. The BBQ is always hot and Nathan and I could use the company.

I better go call the owner at let him know I’ve already transferred the title.