At the end of last year I bought a set of LoneRider motolights, together with the undernose mount and a Motocan. I almost had them fitted but after much pondering and mustering the desire to do it, I finally fitted them myself. I also fitted a Denali Soundbomb at the same time.
Steve Abel (A Bike Thing) has great videos of, how to take apart, and how to put it back together - both very useful. As I’d worked in earlier life as an electrical engineer, I’m quite capable at dismantling and putting things back together (so I thought - read on), but it definitely made it easier to not have to remember where each type of screw went and to know about the "secret / hidden" tabs in the bodywork. Using the videos definitely saved time.
Some of you will already know this and probably be quite expert at it, but, in a nutshell, to get to one part of the bike, other parts of the bike have to be removed in sequence. This isn’t a problem, just follow the sequence (all in Steve’s brilliant videos) and it’s all relatively easy. In order to route cables in a neat fashion, I removed the fuel tank. Again, this is very easy once you know how, but just make sure you’re braced if, like mine was, it’s brimmed with fuel
Putting it back together is also easy if you follow the sequence and take your time. Now, I did mention that my bike wouldn’t start! Well, I’d put it all back together very precisely and cleaned all parts before reassembling. It all seemed perfect! The lights worked, and were easy to program with the laptop. As I did my checks and initial setup, I ran the engine to keep the battery from draining - everything worked brilliantly. Yep, they’re definitely bright! The next day I wanted to plug the laptop back in make a minor change to the setup. Did the bike start? Did it f#@k!!! I did a lot of talking to myself and seemed to have developed tourettes. Ok, time to think…
I actually remember double checking the fuel pipe connection to the tank, during reassembly. It has a white button on the side, and as it unclips it seals the fuel off, so no spills. To refit it, it just pushes back in and makes a definite click when it’s home. I thought it’d clicked but it must’ve been something else I heard at the exact same time as I pushed the connection back to where it fits. It obviously hadn’t gone in properly! When I ran the bike the previous day, to set the lights up, it was obviously using the fuel that was still in the system from the feed pipe down and must’ve literally been about to splutter to a stop, just before I turned the bike off. Which is why it didn’t start the next day.
I was highly delighted to find that the problem was me not fitted the pipe properly… I was imagining all sorts of things?! The only other problem I had in all of this, was that I had strip the bike down again in order to slide the fuel tank back (still very full) to gain access to the pipe connector.
My tip is….. if you are going to strip your bike down to this extent, just rub a smidge of silicone lube on the fuel pipe connector O ring before pushing it back in. If the O ring is dry, it can make pushing the connector back into the collar, difficult (I thought I had, and double checked it (so I thought)). Anyway, second time around (this time sloppy was best), with a bit of appropriate lube, it slid it nicely and all is good.
I’m now an expert at stripping and reassembling 1250GSAs
Steve Abel (A Bike Thing) has great videos of, how to take apart, and how to put it back together - both very useful. As I’d worked in earlier life as an electrical engineer, I’m quite capable at dismantling and putting things back together (so I thought - read on), but it definitely made it easier to not have to remember where each type of screw went and to know about the "secret / hidden" tabs in the bodywork. Using the videos definitely saved time.
Some of you will already know this and probably be quite expert at it, but, in a nutshell, to get to one part of the bike, other parts of the bike have to be removed in sequence. This isn’t a problem, just follow the sequence (all in Steve’s brilliant videos) and it’s all relatively easy. In order to route cables in a neat fashion, I removed the fuel tank. Again, this is very easy once you know how, but just make sure you’re braced if, like mine was, it’s brimmed with fuel
Putting it back together is also easy if you follow the sequence and take your time. Now, I did mention that my bike wouldn’t start! Well, I’d put it all back together very precisely and cleaned all parts before reassembling. It all seemed perfect! The lights worked, and were easy to program with the laptop. As I did my checks and initial setup, I ran the engine to keep the battery from draining - everything worked brilliantly. Yep, they’re definitely bright! The next day I wanted to plug the laptop back in make a minor change to the setup. Did the bike start? Did it f#@k!!! I did a lot of talking to myself and seemed to have developed tourettes. Ok, time to think…
I actually remember double checking the fuel pipe connection to the tank, during reassembly. It has a white button on the side, and as it unclips it seals the fuel off, so no spills. To refit it, it just pushes back in and makes a definite click when it’s home. I thought it’d clicked but it must’ve been something else I heard at the exact same time as I pushed the connection back to where it fits. It obviously hadn’t gone in properly! When I ran the bike the previous day, to set the lights up, it was obviously using the fuel that was still in the system from the feed pipe down and must’ve literally been about to splutter to a stop, just before I turned the bike off. Which is why it didn’t start the next day.
I was highly delighted to find that the problem was me not fitted the pipe properly… I was imagining all sorts of things?! The only other problem I had in all of this, was that I had strip the bike down again in order to slide the fuel tank back (still very full) to gain access to the pipe connector.
My tip is….. if you are going to strip your bike down to this extent, just rub a smidge of silicone lube on the fuel pipe connector O ring before pushing it back in. If the O ring is dry, it can make pushing the connector back into the collar, difficult (I thought I had, and double checked it (so I thought)). Anyway, second time around (this time sloppy was best), with a bit of appropriate lube, it slid it nicely
and all is good.I’m now an expert at stripping and reassembling 1250GSAs
