Hey folks.
I've come across an issue that actually made me decide to lay up the bike over winter, which I never do.
Last October I took my 04 500 KS on a holiday from northern England down to the south, across to London and back home. Bike was amazing through the whole trip, I made sure to go over the potential problem areas contstantly and all was well. Except on the way back north, about 150 miles from home at about 9pm. My tail light had blown and I didn't feel like getting taken out by a semi, so I stopped into a services to see what could be done. The shop didn't stock the right light, and I had a box of 10 of them...that I'd left at home
So I used a bit of folded cardboard to jam the brake light switch open, figuring I'd rather have a solidly on brake light than no light at all. It worked, but the bike only ran for about 20 seconds before dying, then 10, then 5, then it wouldn't start at all. I figured it was draining the battery too much at idle, so I removed the bodge and it started no problem, but I obviously still couldn't ride it and expect to arrive home unscathed. A biker eventually rolled in who happened to have a spare, (big shoutout to biker camaraderie!) and I got ready to leave. Same thing though, the bike ran for about 20 seconds, then less, then not at all. I eventually had to call my breakdown company and arrange a pickup, which was a whole other nightmare that I won't bore you with. About an hour later I tried the bike again, lo and behold it started and stayed at idle, so I jumped and rode home while I could. It's worth noting that the tail light filament had gone again by the time I got home, but not the brake light filament.
So about a week later I replaced the bulb again and went for a ride. I got maybe 10 miles up the road, and the bike just cut out on me. I was cruising at about 40mph, I think I'd just rolled off the throttle to stop for an intersection, or was just about to, and yeah, engine just cut out. I pushed the bike to a safe spot and tried to kick it over, nothing. I decided to give it half an hour and try again, a nice person stopped to check on me (shoutout again to biker camaraderie) and we had a wee chat about old bikes. So the bike started again right away, I rode it home and it's been in the garage since. I don't have room in my tiny garage to actually work on it and it was getting to cold, wet and miserable to be outside trying to chase this issue down.
Congratulations if you've made it this far. I know I've banged on a bit but I wanted to paint a thorough picture of what's going on. So, what's going on? Where do I start? The weather is getting better and I'm real ancy to get out on two wheels again, but I don't fancy being stranded.
Any help and advice would be great!