Argh - electrical

So the headlight saga still isn't over. On Monday I rode about 300 miles to the southwest part of Colorado for my vacation. I stopped in Montrose on the way in for dinner just before dark. When I came back out after dark, it quickly became apparent that I had no low beam once again. I rode the next 35 miles to Ouray on the high beam. The consensus was that perhaps the bulb in the new headlight had been banged around too much before installation. I had planned to get a new bulb the following day. I figured we'd give that a try and see how long it lasted.

I didn't get the bulb the next day. I went on a nice long ride with my high beam instead. The day after I bought a new bulb. I didn't ride too much that day because of the weather, but I ended up going into town and hanging out at the hot springs. As I was leaving in the rain at dusk, I noticed I lost the low beam again. :gah: I went to high. At some point while I was getting the bike turned around and parked, I lost the high beam. :witsend:

The next morning I called the dealership in Montrose to see if someone could pull the tank and check the wiring. They couldn't fit me in and suggested I go to Durango rather than their parent dealership in Grand Junction. Seems they've heard stories about how the dealership in GJ treats people, and they aren't good. Wow. I called Durango and they said to come by after lunch. It's an incredible ride from Ouray to Durango, so it wasn't a bad thing to have to do that.

$95 and 4 hours later, there was no diagnosis. They had suspected the regulator, but the meter wasn't showing anything. They checked the wiring under the tank and couldn't find anything. They stuck in a new bulb and sent me on my way. I got back over the mountains with minimal rain and the bulb intact.

Friday was my ride home. I rode the 35 miles to Montrose and stopped to wash the bike. At that time I noticed there was no low beam :cussing: Called Durango H-D and asked for their opinion. They weren't crazy about the wiring job for the heated hand grips and suggested I pull the in-line fuses for the hand grips and see what happened. I called Thunder Mountain to get their opinion. They didn't like the idea and said to bring it in as soon as I got back. I have to give them credit. I was upset over the thought of constantly paying someone large sums of money and it never getting fixed. I was swearing. They were still nice. I switched to high and headed out.

There's this little spot I can look at while I'm riding, where the fender bolts to the front end, where I can tell if the light is on or not during day time riding. After a few miles I looked down and there was no yellow spot. I switched from high to low a couple of times to make sure. Then I noticed that my high beam indicator stopped working. I pulled over to see what other lights I had lost at that point. I had no running lights (front or rear), no taillight, and no headlights.

I called Thunder Mountain again to ask if I needed to be worried about the ignition. There is way too much BFE between Montrose and Denver to chance getting stuck on the side of the road. They thought it would be OK, and even admitted it might have something to do with all the work they'd done. I blasted back, through the rain and cold, using hand signals everywhere in case I'd lost more lights along the way, and managed to make it to the dealership by 5:00. What a miserable ride.

Wouldn't ya know, one of the bolts holding my saddlebag frame on had sheared (again) while riding back. They're going through it all today. They asked when I needed it back. I told them the riding season had just plain sucked, I'm writing it off, and they can have it for as long as they need it to make sure it's fixed.

So there it is. The novel about a stupid headlight.

Headlight

Abby

It sounds like if you didn't have bad luck that you would have no luck at all!

Sounds like the regulator is throwing a voltage spike every once and awhile.

What a cluster that turned out to be. Remember my $4 headlight? It ended up being $204 + or -. :gah: Turned out it that the doohickey that holds the bulb in place was defective and the bulb was shaking around and would eventually blow. The last time it shorted other stuff out and blew a fuse. They split the cost on the labor and gave me the parts, which was decent considering it wasn't their fault after all. However, I'm not too happy with the custom shop that probably was blowing them out because they knew they were defective.

$100 in Durango and another $100 in Loveland.

You get what you pay for.

Glad to hear that your problem was a simple fix. Sorry about the cost and down time.
Abby, I've been thinking about your past tread "Hit from behind". I just finished installing a Kuryakyn brake, turn signal modification kit in my bike. It changes the rear turn signals from just turn signals to running lights, brakes lights and turn signals. It also has a brake light flash option. It's just a plug-in unit which takes fifteen minutes to install. You also need to change the turn signal lenses from amber to red. Sure keeps the cagers off your butt!
I also believe that HD sells a similar unit but I'm not sure if they have the brake light flash feature.

I had that feature installed when they rebuilt the light, but thanks! I do notice that most cagers stop quite a ways back now. Could help that I'm flashing the lights too, and looking in the rear view mirror. I probably have that "back the f&*( off" look. :roflmao:

I like the way it all looks with the new paint too. I had them put an LED taillight on instead of the stock.

That's great Abby. But don't forget to wear the teeshirt. We need all the help we can get!

Yea the old lady got rear ended last Friday just a bump didn't even knock her over bent the back fender below the taillight and didn't break the taillight, (Miracle) the shop said no problem to fix already got the check from Progressive today. The bee-atch that hit her backed up and took off one of our buddies saw the whole thing and took off after her to no avail but he did get her LP # I got a call today the cops found the car and the driver was charged with hit and run failure to stop and render aid expired DL no insurance and two warrants for un paid tickets and is OUT on bond today,thats BULL SH$T. Anyway, I went and got he one of the shirts you have CAN YOU SEE ME NOW A$$HOLE in Florescent Orange with glow in the dark letters she puts it on over what she is wearing every time she gets on her bike this week she is still a little punchy too.Sorry Kinda off Track

Tiny

P.S. My deal didn't work out he turned out to be a scammer talked a good story but all BS. I like your Idea of the B&B