Thought I would start the ride report as I am sitting at home after driving there and then back home again.
Well it started off all good got there at 8.20 and still raining then a few others rocked up and with the sky starting to clear it was looking to be a good day for a ride, we all got kitted up warmed bikes up and off we went, then lucky or unlucky for me my bike lost all power and wouldn't start, stripped bike and found no spark was present, lucky part was I was close to the cars to push it back and not stuck in death valley.
Back at the cars stripped down the bike for another look and tried a different spark plug, but still no spark so decided to call it a day for me.
Sorry for holding you guys up while I was working on my bike at least I wasn't that guy that has no tools and spare parts, so I hope you all had a great ride will look fowards to reading about it.
At least it wasn't in a gully.
Can do all the maintenance necessary to ensure a trouble free ride.
Electrical gremlins tend to give you no warning.
On our last ride. My electrical gremlin was the regulator/rectifier.
Well, you've already read about the first hour of "Neerimaniacs" so I'll take it from here! Little John, Biker Biker, Jake TR and I started of with a couple of tracks that I usually do as a bit of a warm up although I did leave one out that I knew had a rather large off camber tree across it that would have been....Hmm...interesting! All was going smoothly until at one intersection Little John failed to make an appearance for several minutes. Turns out his thermo fan decided that it wanted off, so LJ put it in his backpack to keep that cool! Conditions were steadily improving, with the sun starting to make an appearance, the abundance of slippery logs,branches and tree roots kept us on our toes though. A few more of my favourite flowing tracks and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. After navigating a well known bog hole it was time for a bite to eat and some serious bench racing and even some D&M discussions on life topics......enough of this, lets ride!
After some more fun narrow tracks, Biker Biker decided to call it a day and make his way back to the cars, thanks for making the effort to come along for the ride.
Then there were three! We headed into some tracks that I've finally organized into part of the loop. The tracks were flowing and the pace picked up...I was having a great time and by the "fist pumps" from LJ and Jake it was obvious that they were too! After completing those tracks it was time to start heading back to the cars. All good things must come to an end but not before a couple of little tracks to finish things off. Back at the cars almost on time and with 58 kms covered it was a very enjoyable day out. Thanks again guys for making the effort to come along, looking forward to the next one.
Cheers, Pete.
Big thanks to you Pete - it was a great ride as usual. Conditions were great - I've just gotta get on the bike more frequently so I can make it to the end without bombing out.
Thanks Pete, bonez, little john and Jake it was a will paced day and load of fun. Nothing like a little DM on the side of the track
After doing a lot of research on ignition coils and stators I wasn't completely convinced they where the problem after doing some testing with a multimeter, so started searching some dirt bike forums on people with the same issue as me, and found a comment from Peter Vanders about the start button kill switch could be the cause, so disconnect the one on my bike and well wham bam thank you ma'am we have spark , I wish I knew that sunday would have been a quick fix.
So could have spent money on a new stator and ignition coil valued $560.00 and be still scratching my head with not knowing what is wrong! So thank you peter I owe you a few beers
Last edited by Bonez on Mon Aug 14, 2023 9:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
That's great. I had a dodgy one of those now that I remember on my 2011 model the red button kill switch didn't kill!! I pulled it apart was full of dust and was worn out with crappy contacts etc easy fix ad it was good again. Design all changed now.
I was almost a nonstarter for this one. Big Pete has already mentioned my Thermo Fan incident, which is related. So, I installed the Thermo fan on Saturday, in preparation for this ride. As part of the installation, I had removed the right hand side radiator and drained the coolant(obviously). Once it was all back together, I filled the rad back up, warmed up the bike and rechecked the level.
All good.
On Sunday, I stopped at the Officer BP to fill the bike up, as I usually do when I’m riding out that way. Jumped up on the trailer with pump in hand and……..no radiator cap. I couldn’t figure out what had happened. I had cleaned up at home after the job and knew there was no cap laying around. My only thought was that I must have put it on top of the bin when I was warming the bike up, but then I thought, for sure I would have noticed that when loading the bike on the trailer. Then it occurred to me that I had placed the cap loosely on the radiator so I could top up if indeed once I wheeled it on the trailer. It must have blown off while I was driving out to the unloading spot. Devastation!!! I had been looking forward to this ride all week but no way I can ride without a radiator cap. I was crushed. So in I went to the shop to pay for the fuel I had already put in the car, totally dejected and rather pissed off at myself, but resigned to my fate. I don’t know what made me think of this but I was wondering if it was possible that the cap had fallen in between the radiator and the shroud/thermo fan. So before I get back in the car to drive home, I stuck my hand down the space ……low and behold, there was my radiator cap, shining like a precious emerald. The clouds parted, sun beamed down, a beautiful, heavenly light upon my bike and my Sunday was back on. What an emotional rollercoaster. All this, and the ride was yet to start.
I wont cover what has already been covered. It was a great ride with a great bunch of guys and the pace was very nice, with a little upturn of the dial in the afternoon.
As for my thermo fan, I was so careful installing it and then within 10 seconds of it switching on for the first time, it fell off the mounting bracket you attached to the radiator. It looks like the 4 screws that hold the fan on are to short. They only have a couple of mm to bite into the bracket. I’m sure I’m not missing something but has anyone else come across this ? I am going to have to search down some longer screws, but not so long as to hit the actual radiator.
All in all, another fantastic day at Neerim. Bonez, sorry we were unable to join us but glad to hear it’s a easy fix. I will be filling that away in the memory in case I need it one day. BikerBiker, was good to catch up with you and get to know you a bit more. Jake, nice to meet you. And Pig Pete, thanks heaps for putting on another great ride at Neerim.
, I wish I knew that sunday would have been a quick fix.
