shift lever, wire harness, etc

i took the abate safety course for beginners this weekend and passed. i''d never ridden a motorcycle before. we used suzuki gz250's. i had a hard time shifting gears. i only have about 25% feeling in my left foot as a result of a war injury. this combined w/ the ergonomics of the shift lever gave me fits. downshifting was ok but upshifting wasn't and finding neutral wasn't either. my 1st norton, a '72 is still in the garage as i've got work to do on it yet but the ergonomics of the norton seem better. any suggestions on improving shifting? does the aftermarket make a shift lever that's more ergonomic?

on to the wire harness. my bike needs a new harness as the old one is burnt in places and the insulation and connectors are bad. ignition is the original. since i'm going to rewire the whole thing would goingt to a boyer now make sense? i'd also like to upgrade the connectors. is this possible w/ a prefab harness, is there enough length to the individual wires to accommodate removing and repkacing the connectors? i'm also having a hard time locating a supplier. any suggestions there? if i'm doing this now what electrical upgrades would make sense. i'm almost tempted to just buy a lot of different colored wire and have at it myself.

as always any and all feedback is appreciated. thanx, rick

Thankfully, your shifter will be on the right and you should be able to twiddle the angle to your liking.

www.oldbritts.com will have a nice new harness for you. If you go with electronic ignition, yo don't need any of the coil wiring harness and/or capacitors & ballast resistor.

well it never dawned on me that the shift lever is on the right! that'll help. tried old britts but they have none and don't know when they will. only place i could find one was in uk. like to buy local but maybe i'll ve to go uk. thanx, rick

I say go for it, make up your own harness. You can buy high quality terminals from McMaster-Carr (http://www.mcmaster.com/#terminals/=1napj0) look for heat-shrink insulated snap-plug terminals. They also have the other ones you will need like spade terminals and ring terminals. When you make your own harness, you know where the wire goes to and from so troubleshooting (if needed) will be easier.

Jean

Rick
You may have thought of it already but to help with your shifting you could have the lever modified by welding another section at the rear. This would allow you to change with heel and toe. Similar to some of the early continental bikes.

Greg

Rick,

If you buy a stock harness, it will most probably be a new aftermarket product. I have fitted 3 recently and the only real concern is the quality of the fuse terminals. Each was a pathetic tin cap that fell off under the slightest stress. Get a solid brass or copper cap and solder it yourself. Otherwise I have had no problem with the layout and fit of these harnesses. You shoud be able to get on retail for US$150 or less.

Mick

There's lots of suppliers around, 2 that I use regularly are -

http://www.britcycle.com/

http://www.walridge.com/section/view/

I second GavinJuice on BritishWiring. You can source an entire harness or buy the proper color code wire to do the job yourself. Great people to deal with.

I like to use weather tite connectors for the handlebar switch to main harness, but they may be overkill. They can be a bit bulky.

I highly recommend you stick with the factory color codes so you can use a stock wiring diagram to trouble shoot in the future. You can eliminate a lot of unnecessary connections and wire.

As I have said before, I recommend wiring in relays to take the amperage load off the Lucas handlebar switches and see that horn, headlights, and ignition get full voltage. Also a small 3 or 4 circuit fuse panel to use blade fuses is handy. Ever try to find a glass fuse in a convenience store when you just blew your last spare while on the road?

As for the Boyer, anytime is a good time to add an electronic ignition. You won't regret it no matter what brand. If you ride with a halogen light or use daytime lights, you might want to consider a three phase alternator and/or electronic regulator/rectifier. This is the time to plan for it with your new harness.

I'd second RonL's suggestion about using the start-from-scratch philosophy. This would be the time to do all the upgrades you KNOW you'll end up doing later. Three-phase alternator pricey? Yep, but worth it to me. Same goes for the electronic ignition, set it and forget it. The bonus is a simple, clean wiring system without the bird's nest of crap I and many others have under the tank, and a lot of reliability and peace of mind. When the big wiring meltdown inevitably comes, believe me, it will be cathartic to tear it all out and know exactly what I have going on under there is exactly what I put in it.

If you want a super easy ignition to use look at the Tri Spark. Three wires, a breeze to install.

well I bought the main harness and headlight from britwiring. Youwere right about them being really easy to deal with. Guess I might as well spring for electroni ignition too. I'll probably wait on the alternator to see what's going on with it once I get running. Problem with me is that as I dig around I find stuff that can wait but as long as I am checking out the taillight and have the fender off I might as well scrape off all the road tar off the underside and decrease and test the hot , etc. Thanks for the great suggestions! Hope to be up and running in a few weeks. Thanx, rick

I think I saw that some people who switched to LED lights and electronic ignition were able to get away with a new single phase alternator, instead of the heavy duty 3 phase.

An interesting concept. As long as your headlight didn't draw too much the LEDs draw almost nothing.

Check out these things if you're looking for connectors: http://www.posi-lock.com/
I use them constantly now. No soldering or crimping and everything stays together just as well. A plus for a Norton is that the vibration won't rattle apart any of the soldered/crimped joints and necessitate some bodge of a roadside repair. If you need to check a connection, just unscrew it. I've yet to have that happen though and 75% of my bike is wired up with them.

Check out these things if you're looking for connectors: http://www.posi-lock.com/

Click to expand...

I have been using these also with good results. My only complaint is they are a little bulky compared to a bullet connector or a male/female shielded spade.

Re: wiring harness

Some of you mentioned get color coded wire and make your own harness. I'd like to do that on my '64 BSA. Can someone provide a source for the correct color wire....mostly 18ga right?

Thanks,

David

I can't help with a source in the U.S. but Al Osborne (A.O. Services) in the UK does loom kits.

http://www.aoservices.co.uk/details.htm#loom

This is the same Al Os who edited the Commando Service Notes for the NOC all those years ago. He's a 100% reliable amiable eccentric .

The nice thing about the kits is that you get more than enough cable to do the job but aren't faced with buying 50yd rolls of each colour.

Re: wiring harness

illf8ed said:

Some of you mentioned get color coded wire and make your own harness. I'd like to do that on my '64 BSA. Can someone provide a source for the correct color wire....mostly 18ga right?

Thanks,

David

Click to expand...

There's a link to British Wiring on the previous page. Go there.

For a few of the usual sources... I just go over to Kragen and get a roll of each color I want. Some folks strip auto wiring harnesses in junkyards for a good selection of colors. Since I'm on call a lot of weekends I don't feel all that free to be in a junkyard. Frys had a good selection of 14 guage last time I was there, as well as lots of sizes of shrink wrap. a friend just scored several small rolls of colered wire for his bike on Ebay. San Mateo Electronics had some last time I looked but that was last year when I was playing with 7 volt regulators.

Cookie said:

For a few of the usual sources... I just go over to Kragen and get a roll of each color I want. Some folks strip auto wiring harnesses in junkyards for a good selection of colors. Since I'm on call a lot of weekends I don't feel all that free to be in a junkyard. Frys had a good selection of 14 guage last time I was there, as well as lots of sizes of shrink wrap. a friend just scored several small rolls of colered wire for his bike on Ebay. San Mateo Electronics had some last time I looked but that was last year when I was playing with 7 volt regulators.

Click to expand...

Is that stuff striped colors or solid?