Front brake light adjustment

[kerrfunk]

Hi!

We have to have inspections in PA
and I took my bike in today
and it failed pretty quickly...

1) Guy said the brake light doesn't come on when you squeeze the front brake.

Well I went home and thought about it a while... I checked that out in the fall. It DOES come on, but you have to squeeze the front brake pretty hard.

Is there a way to adjust that?


2) Also the left turn signal doesn't like to blink unless you're actually riding. What's up with that?


and while we're at it,

3) mid 80's yesterday, I rode to the grocery store, 3 miles away. I had ridden ten miles an hour or two earlier. I got out of the store and could not start the bike. It would just turn over and turn over. I pulled into some shade and waited about ten minutes, and then was able to start it.

What's up with that?


Thanks in advance
I'm learning...

[Billy Ricks]

On question #1 you loosen the screws on the bottom of the brake switch and slide things one wa or the other to adjust it. While you're at it hit the parts with some contact cleaner.

Question #2 probably has to do with the flasher needing more voltage to work. More rpm results in more voltage.

Question #3 is probably carb related or a coil going south. You could also need a valve adjustment.

[kerrfunk]

thanks!

btw, the carbs were rebuilt (by the shop) in November... thought that might be worth mentioning.

[Odinist]

My blinkers used to act up like that... ended up having to replace my RR and my stator, d'oh.

[cp___32]

I agree with Billy about the voltage for the signals. Mine are quite slow when the bike is off, and if the battery is even a little low on juice when it's off they won't come on at all, so I'd pull the bulbs and check that the contacts are clean in the housing.

I had the same issue with my front brake triggering the light. Basically all I could do is get it to flicker a little with a really hard squeeze. Pulled that little cover with two screws on the underside of the lever, found that the contacts were super corroded. I used some fine sandpaper, cleaned them up and put it back together and it worked a lot better. My suggestion for fixing it might be to rotate the lever upside down first because there's a little spring and the contact is really small as well. Much, much easier to make sure you don't loose pieces that way, and it's way easier to put back together upside down.

[kerrfunk]

1) cp32, that did the trick. Thanks for the upside down tip. A little sandpaper and scooting the mechanism toward the inside and the brake lights up just right.

2) I pulled the bulb out, cleaned its base and tightened the screw that holds the bulb base. Works like a charm now.

3) yeah, two teeny victories to get me safe and legal is a good day. I'll ask the inspector guy about the stalling deal.

Thanks, y'all!