Wiring confusion - 1972

right above the carbs there is a main harness tap that throws 3 red (gnd) wires to one ring connector that goes to the head steady, and it also throws 2 white/red wires.

I cannot even find white/red wires on the '72/'73 wiring diagram.. Any ideas what these are for?

Also, at the front of the main harness, there are quite a number of black/white and black/yellow wires, some terminating in bullet connectors and some in female spade connectors.

This bike has an early Boyer ign. installed so I suspect that these are related to the OEM points ign. ? My wiring diagram does not show wire colors past the ballast resistor. Can I presume that it is safe to ignore these wires? (I do not find them to be powered at any position of the ignition switch)

BrianG said:

right above the carbs there is a main harness tap that throws 3 red (gnd) wires to one ring connector that goes to the head steady, and it also throws 2 white/red wires.

I cannot even find white/red wires on the '72/'73 wiring diagram.. Any ideas what these are for?

Click to expand...

White/red is the unused electric start push button-to-solenoid wire (so the wire will be live/hot when the button is pressed), as the factory intended to fit a Lucas electric starter from 1971, however, it proved unreliable so the Commando didn't get an electric starter (Prestolite) until the 850 Mk3.

BrianG said:

Also, at the front of the main harness, there are quite a number of black/white and black/yellow wires, some terminating in bullet connectors and some in female spade connectors.

This bike has an early Boyer ign. installed so I suspect that these are related to the OEM points ign. ? My wiring diagram does not show wire colors past the ballast resistor. Can I presume that it is safe to ignore these wires? (I do not find them to be powered at any position of the ignition switch)

Click to expand...

Correct, the black/white and black/yellow are the unmarked original points/condenser wires on the wiring diagram.

The unmarked ballast resistor-to-coils wire was normally white/purple.

Thanks!