Starter motor jammed and flying fork tube cap.

[talkToTheHat]

So on friday i made the mistake of my life and went to ikea with the girlfriend. M62 was its usual hell. At one point im at a sensible soeed in the outside lane, the next it's emergency stop time, and as I hit a bump in the road someting biunces around between me and the screen. It's only after i realise that I've somehow stalled and am barely rolling in now accelerating motorway traffic that i realise the bounching thing was the rubber cap off my fork tube. Off at the next junction which hallens to be the one i needed anyway so park up and inspect bike, circlip holding the cap in olace seems as secure as ever and nothing appears to be hissing or oozing if i bounce hard on the suspension. Should I worry? Have ordered new cap.

After horrors of ikea have been negotiatated i get back on bike. I start it up and wave my pillion on. She is tired and is having trouble mounting. I turn bike off, have chat, and she tries again. It is awkward but she gets on. I turn the ignition and thumb the starter. The starter relay buzzes and lights dim. I'll skip my troubleshooting routine and specifics of the rescue. Turns out starter was somehow jammed, and the bike burst into life given application of booster pack direct to a frame bolt and the positive terminal bolt on the starter. Bike has started fine since. Should i worry? Is there anything i can do in the way of preventative maintnance?
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Bandit. does. everything.

[kramdra]

Rubber cap that covers the fork top bolt? its not important... The clip is there to set the height/stop forks dropping out if the bolts were not tight.

Battery sounds like its on way out or charging issue... Give it a full charge then load test it next day, to tell you if time for replacement

[monkeybiker]

[Pol Anorl]

rubber cap isnt really important...

Sounds like flat battery or deaded battery, give it a charge see how it holds it charge, if it does it again then optimizer/new battery time.
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[P.]

Remove cables on battery terminals and clean em up, tighten them back up. Make sure battery is keeping a healthy voltage.

Forks, only problem could that the fact it's a cruiser and forks aren't their top priority. Dat chrome. However a quick look say it's not a big deal if it's the rubber cover

[sickpup]

[talkToTheHat]

Its a motobatt in there, might be as old as 2 years, probably a bit less. Bike is used regularly. Had must had an hour or so on the motorway then parked up for a few hours. Started with all enthusiasm the first time. None of the slow cranking associated with a flat battery. When the rac guy pulled the booster pack it went directly onto the starter motor bypassing the relay. I let the bike run for about 20 seconds, turned it off and on again then tried to start it and it started well. That presents to me like a loose connection or something up with the starter motor. DC brushed motors do stick some times, admittedly i have far more knowledge of 540 type racing motors and deriviatives of. Sometimes a stuck brush, sometimes a little bit of debris, a little push is usually all that is needed. But there you're looking at a three pole armature, a starter motor is considerably more, so spotting things like a short in one of the windings is considerably harder.

I've had the top of the fork taped over so it doesn't get full of water or debris whilst i wait for a new rubber cap. Sickpup is right, there's a bitch-to-remove circlip holding a steel cap in place that seals with an o-ring. I was worrying that there may have been some air/oil leakage past that, forcing the cap off, but the tape has not ballooned at all under a series of practice emergency stops.
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Bandit. does. everything.

[Vincent]

How easy is it to get your starter motor off? If easy, it may be worth having a look at the brushes just to make sure they're not worn out.
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[talkToTheHat]

It's not too difficult. I will investigate next oil change, which is likely imminent or as imminent as me getting paid.
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Bandit. does. everything.