Emergency Roadside Repairs - Honda VT750CD ACE Electrical Repair And Modification

Honda VT750CD ACE
4.3 Emergency Roadside Repairs
Sooner or later, you are going to run into an electrical problem with your motorcycle while you are on the road.
With a little preparation and planning, you may be able to deal with the problem yourself and avoid the call
home for a ride.
First, evaluate the situation... If it's just a turn signal burnt out, then you can probably continue your day's ride
and just use hand signals till you get home. If it's your headlight, then see if the high beam still works and use
that until you can get it replaced. However, it's something causing fuses to blow, or a drain on your battery or
your starter won't crank, then you are going to have to deal with it.
If you are planning on traveling more than an hour's drive away from home, then you should carry a basic
toolkit on your bike. In addition to the normal tools you would have in your tool kit, I would recommend the
following for electrical roadside repairs...
•
Black electrical tape
•
spare headlight bulb (wrapped in foam to protect it)
•
one each - 1050 bulb and 1057 bulb
•
combination wire cutters/strippers/crimpers
•
An assorted selection of solderless crimp connectors
•
spare fuses
•
tie wraps (also known as zip ties)
•
simple 12VDC test light
•
small LED flashlight to see at night or into dark areas of your bike
•
Printed copy of your bike's wiring schematic (laminated is nice!)
With just these few items, you will most likely be able to deal with 90% of the problems you might run into with
your electrical system on the road. Everything listed above would easily fit in a waterproof ziploc bag and take
up very little space in your bags. And, because they are so cheap now, you could add a small electronic
multimeter to your kit for only $15 or so.
20 Electrical Repair and Modification