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so i smelled some kind of awful smell a few times on a ride i took today. i stopped in a parking lot and couldnt find the source of the smell. as im walking around the bike with it running, the taillight is blinking on and off on and off without me touching a thing. it keeps doin it until i walk over and push the brake. now the brake light is stuck on. and yes the pedal is disengaged. also, at the exact same time, the bike will slowly idle slower and slower and then shut off, which didnt happen until today, it used to sit there and purr at idle all day. any ideas?

Sounds ike an electrical short somewhere. Maybe at that switch which the brake pedal activates... look for a spring attached to the brake pedal and follow it to the little unit. Could also be a short at the bulb end.

The smell could be burning rubber or plastic. Have you checked fuses.

I'm guessing... Hopefully others will have better guesses.

alright i did some digging and found the problem. On the rear brake, the mechanism that activates the stop lamp wont retract. When i push the pedal, the the spring pulls it down, and the device wont retract the pin, so the light is staying on. i assume i need a new rear control switch?

Yeah they are still available. You can try cleaning the bad one too. Sounds like something sticking inside.