Hi guys.
Went for a nice long ride on the vf Friday, got miles away from anywhere and it stopped!
I could see from looking at the filter that nothing was pumping when turning it over. I had no sodding tools with me and more importantly no little bit of wire or paper clip or anything that would have got me back,(of course I could have tried ripping at the relay wire with my finger nails to bare the copper and join the black and white) but I didnt want to do that cause im with Nash insurance and they will have me home in a flash!
Nooo they told me twice its on the way but it took nearly sukkkkking 4 hours.
My advice is for vf riders to carry either a spare relay or a little bit of copper wire just incase the inevitable happens.
Mine is now on a permanent copper wire jump and relay is nowhere to be seen, it even runs better as I think the relay was intermittent for a while.
I wire in a parallel toggle switch on all my bikes. It allows me to prime the system after winter storage (so I don’t have to crank and crank and crank), and allows to get home with a flick of a switch (WHEN the relay fails). If I don’t get it replaced in a timely manner, no biggie, it’s not just a jumper wire that might come loose. Last time it happened was in the middle of a floating bridge on the way to my friend’s cabin.
“Shit, what are you going to do?”
“I’m gonna flip this switch and then we’re gonna go drink beer.”
“oh.”
BUT, all of my tank bags have jumper wires in them too so I don’t have to hang out on the side of the road for ever or go get a truck and trailer WHEN one of my buddy’s bike relay fails (has happened). Jumper wire also saved the day when somebody on a club ride had their ignition switch fail. Hot wired and he finished the ride all day.