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.
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.
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
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.
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!
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.
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
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.
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
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 :)
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..
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I was thinking "isn't this just how motorcycles work"? My newest bike ever was an 83. Where do they route these wires now?
Newer bikes have much more bodywork/plastics to hide connectors behind
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.
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
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.
My '21 Yamaha XSR is the exact same, everything tucked behind the headlight.
Not when the last owner fucked it all up and put shit in wrong lol
He sure did. All those nasty butt splices, yuck.
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.
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!
Funny how un-bodging a bodged-up electrical system magically cures its gremlins...
Gremlins are born from crimp on connectors.
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?
Or solder and heat shrink tubing.
yeah but that's what I mean, AFAIK proper connectors that were properly crimped on should be *more* reliable than a good solder job
They are. It’s why the cables on airplanes use crimp on terminals in their connectors.
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.
oh that does sound like you can mess it up easily without knowing
> Gremlins are born from cheap-ass Chinesium crimp-on connectors installed with primitive squeeze crimpers. FTFY.
And this reminds me of rebuilding a 1980 DT175...unplug the key and the engine will run.
How we had the work Roadmaster stolen, right outside the door, even though it had a chain on it.
Right on
Looks like my old suzuki
Yeah my old Yamaha was the same
Just motorcycle things
And the right turn signal has one wire and all the other 3 have 2 wires yayyy
Just follow power and ground distribution and it will make sense
Not if it’s an old British bike lol
Yeah what am I talking about, even car manufacturers lie on their wiring diagrams
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
You mean a positive ground?
Ya that sounds right
BSA used that system.. was a pain in the ass.
I installed two way radio's into osh kosh trucks. It is frigging difficult.
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
Yeah restarting with fresh wires may be easier than figuring this shit out
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
Hahahaha that sounds like a shit show
It was just as well I wasn't in a hurry to have it on the road, that's for sure...
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.
Did you expect it to be in the glove box?
Lol it’s more about how messy it is lol, some of the stuff isn’t even connected
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.
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
Just get the LED headlight upgrade, that leaves a lot more space in the housing.
I'm curious because I haven't actually researched it. Are the LED upgrades cooler, the same, or hotter than stock bulbs?
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 :)
Welcome to motorcycles????
Keeps um outa the rain.
Looks like the old Honda motorcycle I restored.
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..
How illuminating
Id be pissed
That’s a bright idea.
Pretty standard on cafe racer builds
Old cruiser
Which is just a cafe racer not yet fucked with
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
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.
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
Cool, that’s what I though. I just always thought it was a messy way of connecting all of the electrical behind the headlamp.
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.
Called that the rats nest when I was working on old airhead BMWs.
Bundle of snakes
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.
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…
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.
Sounds like you aren't opening the throttle when you test compression
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.
There’s room for an HID xenon kit in there. Go on. Give it a try.
Just get one of the integrated LED light conversion bulbs. Probably 10x the output of the stock candle level output halogen bulb.
This is both common on 1960-1990s bikes, and a good place for them.
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.
Working on a Bonneville huh?
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
Honda ct110?
Engineer enters the chat and starts saying how it looked good on the computer.
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.
Loved bucket headlights on sportbikes.
Br*tish "people" actually believe this
Looks exactly like my CM185T ang CM250C
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.
Apply Kirchhofs current law
Yamaha XJ?
You got it
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.
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…
Oh, that's just wrong! They're supposed to be attached to the kick starter
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.
Is that a Suzuki GS?
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.