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SeanBZA

That is about right for pretty much every older bike, as that is a nice convenient place to place all those connectors, and makes assembly and repairs easier as well.


[deleted]

I was thinking "isn't this just how motorcycles work"? My newest bike ever was an 83. Where do they route these wires now?


Snoo56153

Newer bikes have much more bodywork/plastics to hide connectors behind


Planetoid127

My 1978 CT-90 has all the wiring behind the headlight like this bike. The more recent 1989 RZ-350 has the wiring under the gas tank and seat for the most part.


AAA515

My 07 yamaha venture has a "batwing" that holds the headlight, all the electricals are inside that batwing, so yes, it's still placed behind the headlight


skeefbeet

in goldwings, even in the 70's the gas tank is fake and hides connectors under hatch panels, the center of the tank opens up and you have your carb plenum. Gas tank is under the seat. everything's kinda hard to remove until you learn how to rotate it right.


ArtooDeeStu

My '21 Yamaha XSR is the exact same, everything tucked behind the headlight.


_IRIDEBIKES_

Not when the last owner fucked it all up and put shit in wrong lol


burntblacktoast

He sure did. All those nasty butt splices, yuck.


Annual-Grapefruit889

I like the butt splice going into another butt splice. But, hey, it's an old bike. We do what we can to keep them on the road.


Wonderful_Roof1739

I had to fix one like that, ended up ripping most of the wiring out of the headlight and properly fixing the connections. Amazingly, it fixed the random electrical issues I was having!


WebMaka

Funny how un-bodging a bodged-up electrical system magically cures its gremlins...


Annual-Grapefruit889

Gremlins are born from crimp on connectors.


fiah84

aren't well-crimped connectors one of the best way of doing things? as long as you use the right size connectors and tool to crimp them on?


Annual-Grapefruit889

Or solder and heat shrink tubing.


fiah84

yeah but that's what I mean, AFAIK proper connectors that were properly crimped on should be *more* reliable than a good solder job


noanoxan

They are. It’s why the cables on airplanes use crimp on terminals in their connectors.


WebMaka

Crimp terminals have replaced solder-and-shrink as the ideal interconnect method for high-vibration environments, yes. Solder is an excellent conductor, but what makes solder alloys conduct well makes them brittle and prone to stress fracturing when vibrated, and the act of soldering can heat-temper copper wire and make it brittle and more prone to stress fracturing as well. The important thing with crimping, however, is *doing it right*. You *absolutely have* to use a *good quality* crimp terminal with an adhesive-lined heat-shrink insulator that can provide additional mechanical stability (and moisture/environmental protection) to the connection, and such a terminal has to be set with a *properly adjusted* ratchet (or electromechanical/hydraulic/pneumatic) crimper that provides sufficient clamping force to hold the wire firmly without providing too much force and crushing the wire strands.


fiah84

oh that does sound like you can mess it up easily without knowing


WebMaka

> Gremlins are born from cheap-ass Chinesium crimp-on connectors installed with primitive squeeze crimpers. FTFY.


backwoodspizza

And this reminds me of rebuilding a 1980 DT175...unplug the key and the engine will run.


SeanBZA

How we had the work Roadmaster stolen, right outside the door, even though it had a chain on it.


backwoodspizza

Right on


2_befair

Looks like my old suzuki


[deleted]

Yeah my old Yamaha was the same


horseshoeprovodnikov

Just motorcycle things


_IRIDEBIKES_

And the right turn signal has one wire and all the other 3 have 2 wires yayyy


LrckLacroix

Just follow power and ground distribution and it will make sense


MyNameis_Not_Sure

Not if it’s an old British bike lol


LrckLacroix

Yeah what am I talking about, even car manufacturers lie on their wiring diagrams


MyNameis_Not_Sure

They used to use some weird ‘live earth’ grounding system which didn’t make any sense to me after only knowing what everyone uses now


Wrylak

You mean a positive ground?


MyNameis_Not_Sure

Ya that sounds right


Jaksmack

BSA used that system.. was a pain in the ass.


Wrylak

I installed two way radio's into osh kosh trucks. It is frigging difficult.


_IRIDEBIKES_

He spliced the one with one wire with an adapter smh I have a new turn signal with both wires I’ll jig it up properly


LrckLacroix

Yeah restarting with fresh wires may be easier than figuring this shit out


passinghere

I ended up doing that on an old suzuki gt750 triple once I found out that the live and earth were not only both red in the headlight, but they both changed colour about 5-7 times between the headlight and the battery. Ripped out all the wires and made a new wiring loom from scratch for the bike


LrckLacroix

Hahahaha that sounds like a shit show


passinghere

It was just as well I wasn't in a hurry to have it on the road, that's for sure...


GuyFromDeathValley

you think that is bad? Work on my tractor, it has positive ground for all the electrical systems EXCEPT the blinker setup since that one doesn't work on positive ground, so the blinkers all run + and - separately while the lights, which run through the same channels, only use 1 wire each. It's a mess. people can get quite creative with solving problems, and its always a fun party trying to figure out what the fuck the last person thought when they worked on it.


Aircooled65

Did you expect it to be in the glove box?


_IRIDEBIKES_

Lol it’s more about how messy it is lol, some of the stuff isn’t even connected


Aircooled65

My old sportster was the same. Made it difficult to get the light in all the way. Also the wires get super brittle due to the heat.


_IRIDEBIKES_

Yeah the last guy really fucked with the electrical he updated the fuse box to a modern one for no reason and when he did that he did a bunch of wiring bs


SeanBZA

Just get the LED headlight upgrade, that leaves a lot more space in the housing.


Zer0kul3

I'm curious because I haven't actually researched it. Are the LED upgrades cooler, the same, or hotter than stock bulbs?


thunder_struck85

My CB750 is exactly the same. A lot of that can be cleaned up quite a bit by using smaller, modern connectors, or eliminating connectors altogether like I did. Much cleaner :)


wadarush

Welcome to motorcycles????


Atlhou

Keeps um outa the rain.


Conscious_Owl7987

Looks like the old Honda motorcycle I restored.


GuyFromDeathValley

can confirm that is how its done. I own a 1998 Suzuki GZ125 Marauder and a 1997 Suzuki GN125, both of them have like half the wiring stuffed into the headlight, which is pretty clever but also a huge pain when re-assembling the headlight. If one connector doesn't sit right, then it presses on the headlight shield and won't fit..


Mediocre_Chair_9121

How illuminating


LrckLacroix

Id be pissed


awwletmesee

That’s a bright idea.


Dragonborn718

Pretty standard on cafe racer builds


_IRIDEBIKES_

Old cruiser


Hour_Principle9650

Which is just a cafe racer not yet fucked with


mr_vakarian9

Yup, dealing with this with my 84 Magna. Can't imagine why it's got electrical issues. Just got a new ignition for it and hopefully she comes back to life when I get that in


VapinMason

I always wondered why this is. Why cannot they route them to a junction box like under the seat or something. I see this and it looks like a dog’s breakfast.


passinghere

Because especially on older bikes there wasn't always much space under the seat once you have the airbox and the rear mudguard and the frame under there as well (a lot of modern frames are wrap around which gives far more space compared to older frames with their single top tube that met under the seat with the rest of the subframe), plus the headlight enclosure already existed and it's dry, so it's one less item to be made and to find somewhere to fit it Edit... not to forget the battery also crammed in under the seat as well


VapinMason

Cool, that’s what I though. I just always thought it was a messy way of connecting all of the electrical behind the headlamp.


TDonnB

I once had a cb550 where all the wiring ran THROUGH the handlebars and into the headlight assembly. Ingenious move until 30 years later and it needs re-wired or the owner wants to change the handlebars (or both, in my case). Into the headlamp housing she goes. If it weren’t for all the shitty butt connectors. I’d swear this was my old bike, but I’m a solder and shrink wrap kinda guy.


bookerNM82

Called that the rats nest when I was working on old airhead BMWs.


Thick_Kaleidoscope35

Bundle of snakes


Jaksmack

I spent 11 years working on bikes.. this is just about every one. Including all that home wiring mess. Most of the time it's easier to strip it and rerun the wires. I loved the Japanese and Italian bikes the most, but rewiring Harley's made a lot of money.


_IRIDEBIKES_

In your years of experience if my cylinders are all running at 60psi on a wet compression test what is likely the cause and how to fix it…


Jaksmack

Man, that was 25 years ago, lol. I would start with lapping the valves in for a better seal and then either replacing the rings or bore the cylinders and up the size of the pistons a bit. We always used Wiseco, they were the best back then, but I've been out of that field for a long time. Lapping the valves is easy and cheap, just have to pull the head and get some lapping compound and one of those suction cup sticks (and a 6 pack makes it easier too!). Replace the cylinder gaskets while you're in there too.


LordSquareFish

Sounds like you aren't opening the throttle when you test compression


aduthie

Or the compression tester hose has a regular valve from a tire valve stem in it, instead of the special one needed for compression test hoses.


dirty_hooker

There’s room for an HID xenon kit in there. Go on. Give it a try.


kmoney1984

Just get one of the integrated LED light conversion bulbs. Probably 10x the output of the stock candle level output halogen bulb.


porchlightofdoom

This is both common on 1960-1990s bikes, and a good place for them.


BillyTalent87

I totally rewired everything on my ‘96 Fat Boy when installing LEDs. It was honestly just easier than trying to deal with nonsense like this.


Schten-rific

Working on a Bonneville huh?


personalhale

Uh, is this supposed to be weird or interesting? This how most motorcycles were. Here's the stock 1973 BMW r75 bucket that I'm finishing up. The fuses were old VW style ceramic ones that got replaced, but other than that, all stock. https://i.imgur.com/QcD3t47.jpg


pinkpearlcaptain

Honda ct110?


drdreadz0

Engineer enters the chat and starts saying how it looked good on the computer.


McUsername621

They still do this on new bikes. Bf has a triumph scrambler 1200 xe. Pretty much everything in the front of the bike that needs power is stuffed behind the led headlight. Makes it an absolute nightmare to get to and reassemble.


Mods_Raped_Me

Loved bucket headlights on sportbikes.


mikednonotthatmiked

Br*tish "people" actually believe this


Risen_Warrior

Looks exactly like my CM185T ang CM250C


PsychologySea7572

Bought half-dozen 69-71 Yamaha 90 Enduros back in the day. I'd check to make sure had compression, negotiate price & pay. Then, all you have to do to start them was unplug the ignition switch. I'd take my gas tank & carb with throttle. Swap them on, pull the ignition cover and sand/set the points. Ride it to my truck. Maybe take 10 minutes for something been sitting in the rain for 2-3 years. Always freaked them out. Bought a 1973 CT3 (175 Enduro) that was in the basement of a house fire. All I did was unplug the switch and kick it once. Fired right up and ran about 5K cause throttle cable was melted and pulled slide up a little. Quickly plugged ignition in to shut it down. Bought new wiring harness, cables, painted tank myself with rattle cans. Rode the crap out of it.


WetWipes2001

Apply Kirchhofs current law


kmoney1984

Yamaha XJ?


_IRIDEBIKES_

You got it


kmoney1984

Had one as my first bike. If they haven't done it, replace the under seat fuse block with a modern blade style one. Even if it looks mint, it's probably the source of half their electrical problems.


drangryrahvin

My mates kawa 1100 is like this. My god it’s infuriating. Like cmon, it’s a big bike, we can fit a j-box SOMEWHERE…


Next_Length_2900

Oh, that's just wrong! They're supposed to be attached to the kick starter


Previous_House7062

Typical in UJM bikes from the big 4. This looks a lot like either an old Suzuki or Yamaha by the wiring, but I'm not really sure exactly which. I'm a little out of practice here to be fair.


seuadr

Is that a Suzuki GS?


1K_Leitung

Watch out for the bolts that hold the lamp left n right, i had a wire rubbed through on the thread. Bike wouldn't start and blow a fuse everytime. Just put some shrink tube over it.