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pepperami
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PostPosted: 20:06 - 31 Oct 2012    Post subject: Previous idiot bike owners! Reply with quote

What is it that makes people do such bad jobs of bodges on bikes??

I bought a couple of cheap Jawas to make one bike out of not long ago, no issue there Smile .
So I start looking into getting bits to fix the one bike that will eventully go back on the road, no problem there.
Do reseach and get workshop manual, no problem there.

Bits from thief-bay turn up and I think to myself "lets do this"

Looking at the loom thinking "hmmmm" and it comes to me, it`s home made? and all the colours of the wires are COMPLETLY DIFFERENT Shocked to what is in the manual Evil or Very Mad
Red wires have been used where both white and grey should be Shocked , a new coloured wire has been introduced, green & yellow that is both live and not?
Yellow goes I dont know where yet?

I thought my bodging was a bit shameful but this takes it to a new level and is going to take some real effort to get sorted Crying or Very sad .

Look on the bright side I suppose, it`ll keep me busy for a good few winters nights.

Rant over now Smile
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Nick 50
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PostPosted: 20:13 - 31 Oct 2012    Post subject: Reply with quote

Embarassed

Have to admit, i've bodged before in the need to get a bike back on the road quickly and then procrastinated about doing it properly.
Then ended up selling the bike with the bodge still in place.

Embarassed
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UnspeedySam
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PostPosted: 20:37 - 31 Oct 2012    Post subject: Reply with quote

My ZZR was a full of bodges like this and it is one of the reasons I got rid of it. The TRX hasn't been like it though which is nice...
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pepperami
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PostPosted: 21:05 - 31 Oct 2012    Post subject: Reply with quote

beechbone wrote:
. The TRX hasn't been like it though which is nice...


Coincidence Shocked Just got back from collecting a TRX this evening, sadly not mine but my mates Crying or Very sad


Well I reckon it`s back to Thief-bay to see if I can find a loom.
Pain in the arse as it is , I reckon that getting all the wires out and a new/old loom in it`s place will be easier than trying to sort this mess out Confused .
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Last edited by pepperami on 21:09 - 31 Oct 2012; edited 1 time in total
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J.M.
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PostPosted: 21:07 - 31 Oct 2012    Post subject: Reply with quote

The person to own my bike after me will hunt me down and murder me with a rusty spanner. Laughing
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Vracktal
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PostPosted: 21:07 - 31 Oct 2012    Post subject: Reply with quote

My bike was full of bodges when I bought it, some i'm still sorting out.

> The sidestand was from a different bike and had had bits of pipe welded on to make it longer. It snapped after like, a week of ownership.

> One of the exhaust bolts had sheared at some point, he'd fixed it by drilling out the bolt except he'd drilled too deep into the cylinder head and pierced the water jacket, then hammered (literally) a new bolt in and sealed it with what apparently was plumbing caulk.

> The rear swingarm had a series of rust holes about the size of 1p pieces all down the outer edge of the arms. He'd cut out two pieces of cardboard to match the side profile of the arm, glued one to each side of the arm then sprayed it silver to match the rest of the arm. I only found this when the cardboard on one side started smouldering from the hot exhaust on the way home.

> He'd cracked the front fairing almost in two then covered it with fake carbon fibre adhesive wrap.

And that's why you shouldn't buy 21 yr old bikes on Autotrader without inspecting first. If I ever see the guy who sold me it again i'ma twat him round the head for all the grief it gave me. But I suppose it did teach me a lesson in actually scrutinising stuff instead of going on the word of people you've never met.
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nowhere.elysium
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PostPosted: 21:11 - 31 Oct 2012    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pff. That's how my Chinese bike came from the factory Laughing

My Bandit was pretty badly hammered back together, too. Not to mention the abundance of Scotchlok connectors that haunted the loom, either...

Provided you can trace every wire out (and they don't change colour halfway through the loom) that shouldn't be too big of a deal. Anyway, it's a Jawa - it's not like it's the most electrically complex bike in the world now, is it?
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pepperami
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PostPosted: 21:13 - 31 Oct 2012    Post subject: Reply with quote

These two bikes were heaps when I got them and I was under no ilusions there.
But this a hurdle that does`nt need to be there.


Hey Ho! I think I`ll just go and shout at the cat for now Laughing

On the shopping list for tomorrow : red wire, green wire, grey wire, black wire, blue wire, white wire, and so on and so on!
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waffles
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PostPosted: 21:18 - 31 Oct 2012    Post subject: Reply with quote

When checking over my xr before taking it apart for a rebuild I found one of the bolts holding part of the engine together had sheared off and was stuck back in place with sealant. That was funny for a short while until it was clear that that was the least troublesome thing on the bike....
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BigDan1190
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PostPosted: 22:27 - 31 Oct 2012    Post subject: Reply with quote

May I refer you to the "bobber project thread"...
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MarJay
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PostPosted: 22:33 - 31 Oct 2012    Post subject: Reply with quote

I heard that the man who used to do the wiring at Lotus in the 1980's turned out to be red/green colourblind and no one noticed for a loooong time...

Not sure if its an urban legend or not, but it is a funny idea nonetheless!
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UnspeedySam
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PostPosted: 07:46 - 01 Nov 2012    Post subject: Reply with quote

pepperami wrote:
beechbone wrote:
. The TRX hasn't been like it though which is nice...


Coincidence Shocked Just got back from collecting a TRX this evening, sadly not mine but my mates Crying or Very sad


Off Topic: They are fun to ride but are prone to using a fair bit of oil. So make sure he checks the level regularly. Because of the weird dry sump design you have to check the oil when hot (after a ride) or you will over fill it!

Also check it's not running really rich, this is usually because the carb emulsion tubes have worn oval and will slowly but surely murder the piston rings.

Aside from the engine issues they can have, they are great bikes!

HTH Thumbs Up
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Riding: BMW R1150RT `02 bought mildly crashed
Fixing: Also the BMW as I get less broken bits
Gone: ZZR600 '00, TRX850 '97, RXS100 '93, JS125-6B '07, BMW R1100RS '93, Kawasaki ZX-6R-J2 '01, Honda Bros NT400 NC25 '88
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Efes123
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PostPosted: 07:54 - 01 Nov 2012    Post subject: Reply with quote

I pretty much rewired the loom on the gs 125. These were useful;

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/170711512131?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

And this guy sells all the wire you'll need

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150916400060?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
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stinkwheel
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PostPosted: 08:25 - 01 Nov 2012    Post subject: Reply with quote

Because Jawas are worthless, people don't spend money on them. Most of them also land up being a hybrid of several different models over the years because as you've seen, they tend to multiply. You land up with one good one and one or more scrap ones. People give you ones they want rid of once they know you've got one.

They sometimes get an aftermarket ignition fitted, these then get swapped about too. Quite common to take the expensive aftermarket alternator/ignition off a dead one, fit it to your slightly less dead one and give away/sell the former.

People also sometimes convert the 6v dynamo to a 12v alternator (which takes a bit of doing)

So, a plethora of different wiring colours does not surprise me in the least.
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pepperami
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PostPosted: 08:33 - 01 Nov 2012    Post subject: Reply with quote

beechbone wrote:

Off Topic: They are fun to ride but are prone to using a fair bit of oil. So make sure he checks the level regularly. Because of the weird dry sump design you have to check the oil when hot (after a ride) or you will over fill it!

Also check it's not running really rich, this is usually because the carb emulsion tubes have worn oval and will slowly but surely murder the piston rings.

Aside from the engine issues they can have, they are great bikes!

HTH Thumbs Up

Will pass that on to him Thumbs Up
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Zen Dog
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PostPosted: 08:36 - 01 Nov 2012    Post subject: Reply with quote

When I first looked at the wiring for the MZ, I thought it had been bodged by some incompetent idiot. Then I looked at the pics in the Haynes manual, and realised it looked exactly the same. Confused

To be fair, it looks exactly as you would expect for wiring done by a malnourished 10 year old.

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pepperami
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PostPosted: 08:40 - 01 Nov 2012    Post subject: Reply with quote

stinkwheel wrote:
Jawas are worthless.
people also sometimes convert the 6v dynamo to a 12v alternator (which takes a bit of doing)

So, a plethora of different wiring colours does not surprise me in the least.


Jawas are worthless Shocked , what are you saying Sad ? .

This little beastie is still 6v and dynamo.
I`ll do my best to get it going as standard first, but I did spy on the net a Vape 12v conversion kit?.
However thats a long way off, sparks first Thumbs Up
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map
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PostPosted: 10:06 - 01 Nov 2012    Post subject: Re: Previous idiot bike owners! Reply with quote

pepperami wrote:
What is it that makes people do such bad jobs of bodges on bikes??...Bits from thief-bay turn up and I think to myself "lets do this"...and all the colours of the wires are COMPLETLY DIFFERENT Shocked to what is in the manual Evil or Very Mad ...

Sounds like your gripe is not about bike bodges but the fact that an eBay listing wasn't described correctly/honestly.

IMO bike bodges are a fact of life and add to the story of the bike, show it's history.
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stinkwheel
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PostPosted: 11:02 - 01 Nov 2012    Post subject: Reply with quote

You should also consider yourself lucky it isn't a russian bike. My first 125 was a soviet made RT125 derivative.

The wiring diagram and all the terminals were labelled with cyrillic characters and the wire insulation had faded over time until they were all white (must have been kept in storage as a brand new bike for decades).
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gorillaonabik...
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PostPosted: 12:37 - 01 Nov 2012    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bought an fzr400 back in the day - sometime in the 90s. On closer inspection, the EXUP valve was a combination of a bit of cardboard, what seemed to be a piece of broken vase and a wire which might once have been a coathanger in a previous life.

Then I discovered that was the best bit of the bike.

For those on this forum who have never encountered a broken EXUP valve, this allowed the bike to move at low revs. So the result was I had to ride everywhere at 13,000 revs.

I'm not entirely sure how I got through that winter alive...

At one point I left my bike for a week in the worst housing estate in London anticipating a nice insurance payout. To be absolutely sure of a result, I left it the worst place I could find near a couple of burnt out cars, both of which had been stripped out. When I returned, it hadn't moved an inch... It just sort of sat there, looking at me accusingly until I bump started it and screamed off in a cloud of smoke.
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