I tracked down my problem to a in-operative neutral switch on the transmission. It wasn't closing it's internal contact to close the circuit and light the neutral lamp when the transmission was in neutral.
Here's why I'm writing. They've seen a couple of these fail and I believe I know why it happens. It's metal fatigue of the internal spring that pushes the plunger out to make the contact that lights the neutral lamp. If you park it in neutral all the time as I do it compresses the plunger and holds it compressed. It's just a matter of time before the spring weakens if it spends alot of time compressed like that. I always park it in neutral
and it's been parked the last month that way.
Solution?
Ride more! ;-) If it's in gear, it can't weaken and fail.
Better solution?
Make a habit of parking it in gear. It's easy enough to just pull in the clutch lever when you want to move the bike. That hydraulic clutch has very light action to it anyway.
By Rich Maund
rmaund@pinn.net
