Been cleaning up a 1967 Bonnie and a 1974 Trident. Found a few repairs that I thought should be shown. I removed the Oil Release Valve on the Bonnie and noticed the screen had several holes in it!

This bike has been sitting around and most likely the screen rusted. Droplets of water can form in the oil. It's important when you start a bike up to run the bike up to operating temperature for a short period of time. This action will prohibit condensation forming in the engine. Never start a bike up and turn off the bike if it has not run up to operating temperature. This action cause condensation forming in the engine and can cause pockets of water in your engine.

The next damage was found on a 1974 Trident. The following picture is looking down the forks. The headlight has been removed from the brackets and the gauges removed. It is important to inspect the wiring harness where it bends around the steering head and where the harness enters the headlight.

Look closely at the harness in the following picture. Constant turning of the front wheel has worn a hole in the wiring harness shield and then through the rubber coating on the wire.

Abrasions on the wiring harness like these can cause intermittent shorts the are hard to find. A careful inspection of the wiring harness during cleaning of a bike can find these damages.

Any Bike can experience these failures. So, when cleaning your bike, no matter the year, make or model, pay special attention to these failure points! Look for slight abrasions on your wiring harness and adjust/secure the location as to stop the rubbing. May save you a failure in the making!

Keep it in the saddle!

Mike

---

Return to BBC Home Page Screen.

Copyright©1997JOES GARAGE No Rights Reserved