[Iyyer]

Hi all:

This is a followup to my previous post a week ago. After checking for obvious shorts and ensuring a fully charged battery, I attacked the kill switch. I spliced the wires to the switch and connected them and lo and behold, "it's alive!," as the engine light lit up and the efi fired up. The bike started on the first kick despite sitting around for a week.

So, in short, it was just a faulty kill switch. The bike is running absolutely fantastic. Straight as an arrow and I've been riding on the freeway at 65-70 mph without any stability issues or vibrations. Yes, i will replace the switch asap.

Thanks for the tips and pointers!

[FiRE Comms]

Woohoo!

[Arizoni]

I can understand having a kill switch up there on the handlebars on those old bikes with the ignition key hidden down on the side covers or hanging off of the frame under the gas tank but I've never figured out why we need one when the ignition key isn't over 14" away right there for everyone to see.

Must be some more of that safety stuff that once had a good reason for existing?

[TWinOKC]

Glad you got it sorted out.  Usually it is the simplest thing you can think of.  

I have owned many motorcycles and never had one that did not have some little hiccup at one time or another.

 

[Ducati Scotty]

but I've never figured out why we need one when the ignition key isn't over 14" away right there for everyone to see.

Must be some more of that safety stuff that once had a good reason for existing?

Yup, it's the law.  Not only do you need that switch but you need all the switches and controls in the now conventional positions.  That's why the old Enfields had the ugly linkage that moved the old school left side bake/right side shift to to opposite sides.  You gotta have the shift on the left if you want to sell bikes in the US.

Scott

[Desi Bike]

..and a headlight that can be aimed, even if it isn't capable of lighting up the road in front of the bike.  I cant believe how useless that 5 inch USA bulb is that is shipped with the bikes, just to be able to have a bulb that can be aimed.  Ludicris.  But thats your countries requirement.

[Ducati Scotty]

I agree, which it is why that's one of the first things I changed.  I was never really good with rules anyway.

Scott

[barenekd]

Must be some more of that safety stuff that once had a good reason for existing?

No, most of it is dreamed up by some government agent that thinks it sounds like a good idea, but has never been on a motorcycle, not even has much a clue about how they work. I don't know whether or not Arkansas still has it or not, but they used to require that all motorcycles have crash bars. Massachusetts tried to pass a law requiring seat belts! Now what kind of idiot does it take to required that? Look out for airbags, there coming!
I could go on and on about stupid government officials and the assinine laws they pass, but I don't have a month to compile the list!
However I have come to the conclusion that with the people who got hired after taking the Civil Service exams were picked from the bottom. I've met some of them
Bare

[indyogb]

..and a headlight that can be aimed, even if it isn't capable of lighting up the road in front of the bike.  I cant believe how useless that 5 inch USA bulb is that is shipped with the bikes, just to be able to have a bulb that can be aimed.  Ludicris.  But thats your countries requirement.

I kept reading about how poor the headlights on the Enfields are before I bought one.  However, it seems to work well for me.  It does look weird, but the headlight on my B5 seems at least as effective as the headlights on any other vehicle I've ever owned (though, I've never had a vehicle with HID or "special" headlights or anything). 

[Arizoni]

Some will disagree but if you want to add a little something to highlight your headlight you might think about doing what I did.

I painted the flat annular surface around it black to make it look more like it was designed that way instead of a DOT dictated afterthought.

There's a photo in this link:

http://www.enfieldmotorcycles.com/forum/index.php/topic,7829.msg136565.html#msg136565