GojuRyu5

An ornament has two definitions: 1. a thing used or serving to make something look more attractive but usually having no practical purpose, especially a small object such as a figurine. 2. the accessories of worship, such as the altar, chalice, and sacred vessels. Your bike clearly has a practical purpose, and supports wellbeing. So it’s not an ornament on that definition. However, your wife may have a point on the basis on definition 2. Is your bike an accessory of worship / a sacred vessel? I might argue yes . My read on this is that your wife is not complaining about the bike, but merely reaffirming what you already know. Riding your bike is akin to a religious experience and a vehicle of worship that deserves your attention and faith. If that doesn’t win this particular, it’s time for a new one… Wife, not bike… . Stay safe out there.

This is infuriating! On the bench, everything worked on the loom apart from the indicators - they had power, the bulbs worked and they had ground, so it must be another issue in the circuit. Replaced the flasher unit, but still nothing, so assuming that I could puzzle this out later, I re-fitted the loom to the bike. Spent hours with my fingers in spots tighter than a proctological examination to feed the various cable runs into the headlight. Reconnected everything exactly as it had been in the bench, turned on the ignition and now the only thing that works are the lights in the Speedo and Tacho. Not even the headlight which was fully functioning yesterday (low / high / park)… I know I have a ground as continuity confirmed, so I guess I’m back to taking bits off and working through it all again. OK, partly in celebration, and partly because it may never look like this again, here is what is currently sitting in the garage… l

Further testing on the loom and was really pleased with the results. Got a little bit to fix still, but now only small issues so it’s promising. The horn now works, the rear light, the headlight / high beam and parking light, and the lights that illuminate the clocks also come on. The switch gear seems to function as expected which is also good news. The indicators still don’t but this is one of the fixes I mentioned before as I think there is a break in the circuit near the flasher unit - which I’m tackling tomorrow night. Once install, I’ll upload more pictures.

Another drama was the steering lock. I have been waiting patiently (for nearly a year) for the original eBay seller to find the keys, and he contacted me recently to say he had them. Unfortunately, they weren’t the correct ones, and I was nervous that the lock might be engaged and I wouldn’t be able to unlock it. So I found a new lock on David Silvers, and have had to drill out the old one. This was going well until I broke a drill bit as I gradually increased the drill size - I also just caught the corner of the frame at one point, so that wasn’t entirely as intended... (schoolboy errors). But, one drift and a firm bashing later, I managed to remove it (phew), but then realised that you need the key to be able to engage the steering lock so I may not have needed to remove it (grrr!). But I have reinstalled the new lock and at least Rusty now has a working steering lock. I do need to touch up the frame in a few places after ‘interacting’ with parts like this, but it will look fine at the end.

OK, so CSMNL.com sold the mounts and sleeves, and they arrived today. Perfect size, so I test fitted the rear mudguard. Still have to install the loom, which I’m still testing, so I haven’t adjusted the bolt lengths to complete the installation. Also the tail that holds the rear lights and rear indicators doesn’t seem to be as eBay advertised (1980 CB100N) - it’s possibly from a different year so that also needs an adjustment before final fix (I need to drill a couple of holes in the newly rechromed mudguard… aarrgh). I’ve not seen another similar tail piece advertised on eBay over the last 12 months so I’m going to have to work with what I have. Once in position it’ll be fine.

Thanks very much @Mississippi Bullfrog.

OK, I think I found these, which look about right given what I can see - has anyone seen these before?

OK, more advice needed please if anyone has any thoughts. I’m planning ahead and thinking about how the rear mudguard is mounted (this wasn’t attached when I picked Rusty up, and there’s nothing in the manual about this). I’m assuming it’s a bush of some sort, perhaps with a shoulder either side. The hole is 16mm x 6mm deep and I need to insert a 6mm bolt through to attach the mudguard. Can anyone describe the right bushing / rubber grommet that I might need? I’m a bit stuck. It is the bottom of two fixings on the below picture. Thoughts? Is anyone familiar with the way these are mounted? Thanks in advance all.

New battery and a shiny new battery strap!

Further progress today, labelling the wiring loom to identify all the various components and actually digging them out of the parts box. I have tried to clean connectors and have re-made the battery / fuse connections. Still work to do, but I flicked the ignition on and both the headlight and taillight sparked into life which has to be a good sign. The indicators didn’t flash, but I think there is a break in the circuit near the flasher unit and I’m not confident that the ground / earth is set up correctly around the indicators, but it’s still early days. I still have to check end-to-end continuity on the various wires which I need to approach methodically, but the fact that there are some signs of life is better than I thought at this stage. I found a new headlight that was a perfect match, so have added the housing to the frame - whilst the lens remains on the bench.

Good luck and welcome back to the best club in the world. Bikers rock!

Best of luck Andrea and welcome.

Welcome to the group!

When I was reading your post, I immediately thought that an advanced course would help you, so was glad to see that on your subsequent post. I completed the IAM Roadsmart ‘course’ through BWAM (Bournemouth and Wessex Advanced Motorcyclists) and it was the best experience in terms of giving confidence in my ability to rides progressively and safely based on the conditions - not ignoring the obvious risks of blind cagers, that is. Good luck with your return and ride safely.

I’m a great believer in a nod, a foot or and wave (sometimes even a salute if I’m feeling particularly feisty), but all of that takes a backseat to safety. Riding with appropriate stopping distances and awareness of what’s going on around you should give you time to acknowledge another biker, but never at the expense of increasing the level of risk at any particular point. I always think another rider mildly rude if there’s no friendly nod, but we all know the risks well enough. Also, sometimes, people just aren’t in the mood…. All I can say is that if you happen to pass me, when you venture out to the south coast from Surrey, be assured of a warm and friendly greeting!