TOPIC:

Went out to watch the shuttle launch today and on the way back got caught in the rain... (took these pics while I was out there... the sepia pic is for KZ_Rage)





Wasn't a really big deal except the fact that I'm running foam pods and I know that if I ride long enough I'll start sucking water... well after about ten minutes in the rain I started getting shocked throught the handle bars... like a pulsating shock... the bike still seemed to run ok even though it was starting to suck water... I've got my theories on what caused it, but I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on it.

Cheers,
Claude

That sounds strange. Is it possible your legs were in the general area of the spark plugs and it was jumping from the plug wire, through your legs and the ground would be at the handlebars? If that were the case it seems that you would have felt the initial spark in your legs though.

I've always wanted to see a shuttle liftoff in person,, maybe one of these days.

Post edited by: The Milkman, at: 2008/02/07 18:16

Never heard of that before but I guess it could be in the ignition circuit. My curiosity would be if it was leakage from the wires to the stator? The bike would run OK as the battery would make up for the loss for a while. Seems like a "wet" plug wire leak would cause the bike to miss or run poorly. If it is in the igniter then it would seem likely it would even run worse as there would be two plugs involved. I'd look for bare wire or water in the stator.

Thanks for the sepia shot! I want to come down there sometime over the next two years to see one of the last shuttle launches as I've never seen one either.

Yeah, it's a little weird to me too... I've got new coils and wires under the tank. I'm wondering if I'm chucking a ton of water up in there because of my short front fender and the water is getting into the coil leads and causing them arc out to the frame...



I think I'm going to pull the tank and run some silicone sealer around the coil leads... we'll see.

KZ_Rage wrote:

Thanks for the sepia shot! I want to come down there sometime over the next two years to see one of the last shuttle launches as I've never seen one either.

You aughta fire up that Concours and ride on down with the misses on the back Jim. That'd be a grand adventure!



You're welcome to crash at my place any time.

Thanks for the invite! Hard part of planning to see one launch is the fact they delay the dates so often it's like gambling to hit the right time to be there.

How fast were those pulses shocking you?

id say if the plug wires were biting you in the rain you would of been sitting on the side of road wondering what just happened and where did your bike land at id check around the headlight and maybe around the 12v side of coils under tank;)

PLUMMEN wrote:

id say if the plug wires were biting you in the rain you would of been sitting on the side of road wondering what just happened and where did your bike land at id check around the headlight and maybe around the 12v side of coils under tank;)

check all grounding points as well. a wet human is an excellent grounding point, if there isnt any others.

i got bit by a bad plug wire on an old plow truck once.leaning over the front with one arm on top of pump for plow covered in snow and happened to get my other hand close to a bad wire (electronic ignition)id a halfass back flip over the plow ,ended up laying on the ground wondering what the hell hit me!