Rode the Beemer Again

Yesterday, I rode the Beemer again for the first time since picking up the Ural. When I started the Ural in the garage, I noticed that the headlight wasn't lit and glanced at the tail light and it was out as well. Hmmm, check the fuses and one of them (third one down) was blown. Tried another one and it blew immediately so I needed to look for a short that evening. Fortunately, there is now a spare bike. I rolled the Beemer out of the garage and it started immediately so off to work I go.

A brief comparison, the Beemer has higher gearing so the clutch needs to be slipped a little going up the hill out of the driveway. Once on the main road, getting up to and slightly beyond the speed limit happens quickly and effortlessly compared to the Ural. Shifts are quieter and smoother and even though it was raining, the RC is almost completely dry after arriving at my office. This is in sharp contrast to the Ural with only a windshield and no fairing. After riding in the rain, the RC is pretty wet (but completely dry on the inside!) especially the legs. Right turns are much faster with the Beemer when hanging off the seat the same amount. I think that the extra 6" in the width of the rig makes a big difference. There is no intake noise at all with the Beemer whereas you can really hear it on the Ural. More baffling within the air cleaner housing as well as different materials. Plus the Beemer has a clock. I hadn't realized how many times I look at the clock.

Anyway, after getting home that afternoon, I focused on looking for the short and thought it was in the tail light (or presence light) circuit. I disconnected the sidecar to split the system in half, removed the seat, disconnected and removed the tail light assembly, propped up the gas tank and the pulled the headlight. And there was still a short evidenced by my ohm meter even though every light was disconnected. Hmmm, pinched wire? After looking at the wiring itself, I noticed that the wires leading to the third fuse were grey (head light) and not yellow (presence light) which meant I was looking in the wrong place. I disconnected the high/low beam switch and the short was still there. I then disconnected the right switch assembly and the short went away. I then tested the wires within the switch assembly to see if the short was within the assembly and it tested good. I'm not at all sure why the wiring even runs to the right hand switch as there is no switch installed. Maybe there either used to be a headlight switch or something in other markets.

I then tested the output wires from the non-existent headlight switch as it splits to power the dash lights and the high/low beam switch. It turns out the there was an intermittent short in one of the lights illuminating the speedometer. Simply unplugging the wiring from the light eliminated the short. It looks like the bulb socket may have gotten damaged when the tach wiring was added as there are two wires spliced in to provide power and backlight to the tach. So can't blame this on Ural. Easy fix!

I did not follow this directive in the repair manual

I did learn how to remove the seat and lift up the gas tank. There is a crossover tube that runs from the left to the right side of the tank and would need to be removed if you actually wanted to remove the tank completely. I just lifted the tank to see if I could spot a pinched wire but now need to look into some sort of valve or fitting to put on that crossover line. And the tail light bulb was burned out but, fortunately, I had a spare in the Beemer. I think I will be adding a relay to cut power to the headlight when the starter is engaged or simply a headlight switch. Not too important now but it may help with cold weather starts.

Just to add something else that needed looking at, while at work today, I noticed that the rear brake light on the bike wasn't working. The sidecar worked just fine so I knew that the switches were working. It turned out to be glue, probably from the assembly process, between the eyelet on the brake wire and the light socket. Not sure how long it wasn't working as I thought I had checked the lights right after picking the rig up. One oddity is that both the brake light and the tail light are wired backwards from "normal". I.e. ground is the center conductor of the bulb. It'll need to be re-wired if I ever want to use LED bulbs.

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