Oh poo, I need some bits

[Jayneflakes]

I will add that everything else is going well. The new brake lever has been polished up and I have used some shiny new stainless bolts to hold it all together.

I am thinking about trying to colour match the silver and spraying the small scratches with my air brush. However, I don't want to make it look worse than it currently does and who cares about paint scratches anyway?

[Jayneflakes]

Originally Posted by garynortheast

What will you do about the missing plastic from the fairing?

Yeah, about that... Apparently that is a gap for the radiator filler cap. Thank the maker that I checked it before digging out my plastic welding iron!

[DarrenSV650S]

Originally Posted by Jayneflakes

I have been pulling my hair out with repairs... Namely electrical. I smashed the front right hand side LED indicator, in the fairing, when I came off. This was a lovely little flush mount unit and it has until this incident worked very well.

So I bought new set of the same and set about fitting them in, with the old ballast resistors. Having a brand new matched pair, I wired in both and yet only the left hand side worked. I stripped everything down and checked every connection. The lighting plug in the nose cone is a little corroded, but I have cleaned that up with electrical contact cleaner and a brush. I checked the continuity of every plug and join and everything worked fine. Finally, with nothing left to check, I tested the new indicators. One of them is faulty and guess which side I fitted that too?


So I have been chasing my tail all day, getting more and more annoyed... I have now replaced a perfectly working unit with another perfectly working, but newer unit and have now taken out a brand new failed unit and refitted the older working unit.

Now my brain hurts.

To add the joy, my now all grown up daughter came home from work (she is an engineer, to add context) and suggested fitting an adjustable flasher can so I can do away with the ballast resistors. So I pulled out the wiring manual for my precious K3 only to find that it does not use a standard flasher relay... It is a funny box of tricks that also does the side stand switch.

WHY DOES IT ALL HAVE TO BE SO (apply your own and offensively rude swearing here, because mine would embarrass a Sailor who dropped an anchor on his foot!) DIFFICULT?

On my K3 I fitted Honda relay which was a very simple install from what I remember. Available from Halfords (or was about 15 years ago!) and means you don't need resistors.

Guide here: https://forums.sv650.org/showthread.php?t=84870

[Jayneflakes]

I have finally got her all back together, having checked everything worked. I went to start the engine and everything was dead. The battery is (very rude words, said with furious venom!) flat.

Some of the electrical problems I have been experiencing are because the battery is dead, because until this ride, I had not moved the bike since last September. With an unpowered garage, we have the bikes linked to a solar charger that is mounted on the roof. This works very well... when the rider remembers to connect their bike to the system. The battery is now on charge in the flat and I am sulking.

My foot is still too painful to pull on my bike boots and I am struggling to drive, even with an automatic. On the plus side, my new blue badge arrived yesterday, so I look forwards to the conversation with the Church warden at one of the medical facilities (they rent space from the church!) I have to visit, when I put my bike in the disabled parking. He reported me to the police in 2019 for doing this and a very nice young Police woman told him that he was being unreasonable. I did enjoy a nice burnout in the carpark before I left...

[R1ffR4ff]

A couple of years ago I bought one of the newer ,"Fast Chargers " to complement my Step/Trickle charger in my garage just-in-case


https://tinyurl.com/2y8hdex2

Pretty cheap and powers up flat batteries fast

[garynortheast]

Jayne, did you get the bike started in the end, and can you now get your bike boots on?

[Jayneflakes]

Update time, I have now fixed the bike, sorted the indicator issues and I can get my riding boots on again. Riding however is problematic for a couple of reasons. I'm finding that I am really nervous on roundabouts and in corners, but it will just take time to over come this.

A bigger problem is my pain control. I have had this problem for the whole of my riding career and I think that I need to be realistic about my ability to ride and my responsibility as a road user. So although I am not ready to hang my gloves up just yet, I just had a difficult discussion with my wife this this evening, about when I do stop.

This means that I have also had to have that conversation about to do with the bike and for the first time since owning her, I have talked about selling my precious Sylvie. Obviously this is not what I want to do, plus my kids will be devastated, because my daughter in law was hoping that I would kick the bucket soon, so she could have my bike!

Anyway, I'm just being grumpy because I have a horrible back and neck ache after riding out to the auto parts store and then having to help Wifey to replace the anti-roll bar linkage on my car.

I have tried to add a photo of my last proper ride out, which was last week, when I managed to ride almost twenty miles. So if there is no photo here, I will add the link below. In the mean time...

Let's hear a huge cheer for the venerable old Suzuki SV650S K3. What a bike.



https://forums.sv650.org/picture.php...pictureid=8378

[R1ffR4ff]

I hope you can keep going. Riding keeps us young and the mind and body active I've found

[Craig380]

Sorry to hear about your pain issues, Jayne, and that you're having to think about hanging up your helmet.

For what it's worth, I'm in a similar situation: I have a terminal illness and need a daily regime of painkillers (which being honest with myself, do not affect my concentration or ability for riding / driving). But I too have been thinking that there will come a point soon when I'll have to stop riding. Each time the weather's good and I think a ride would be nice, I'm now having to ask myself, "how are you reallyfeeling? Are you up to this?" Sometimes, I've not been up to it and stayed home.

It's a horrible thought: biking is my sole hobby, it's literally one of the things I live for. But all we can do is be honest with ourselves, and choose to ride only when we know we're in the right frame of mind.

Wishing you all the best, and I do hope you can keep on riding for a good while yet.

[Bibio]

Awe Jayne. Thats poop, hope you keep getting out on the sunny days.