This happened to me a few weeks ago on a cold ride up to Dunkeld. It was one of those beautiful winter days where it was bright and sunny, but cold with frost and snow surrounding the main roads. I had just stopped by the roadside to take some snaps of an ice-covered loch but found myself stuck on a bike that wouldn’t start. Thankfully, my daughter was with me pillion and was able to bump start the bike to get us moving again.

A few miles down the road I got an engine management light on the dash and a code 46. This indicated a low battery/charging system issue. After another bump start, we continued homeward bound. Close to home, the battery went completely flat, I lost the dash and lights, but the bike kept going so we persisted. But, eventually, it died as we came to a halt at a junction, though thankfully only a couple of miles from home and not too much hassle to get family out with some jump leads, charge the bike and get me home. Then began the multi-meter fun diagnosing the faults.

The FZ6 charging system

The FZ6 charging system on a bike starts at the stator (aka generator), which turns the rotation movement of the crankshaft into an AC current via basic magnetism. This AC current is then fed into the regulator/rectifier which will turn it into a steady DC current to then charge the battery. Unfortunately, when either the stator or rectify die, they have a habit of taking out the rest in this chain. Fully discharging a lead acid battery can also cause permanent damage to it too.

Error code 46 indicated a charging system failure. The fact the battery wasn’t charging when running also indicated this. Attaching a multi-meter confirmed too little voltage when the bike was running. For the FZ6, there should be between 14.1 and 14.8V at 5k revs; I was only reading ~13.1V, not good.

Checking the FZ6 Stator

Next, I checked the stator, here you can check the resistance across the three coils within by measuring across each of the three connectors on the lead coming off it. You can do this easily by lifting up the tank and unplugging the stator lead found in the rubber boot. No need to remove the FZ6 stator from the bike for this check.

Don’t forget to touch your multi-meter probes and measure the resistance in them first, you’ll need to subtract this from any measurements to get a true reading. The FZ6 stator should measure around 3Ω on each coil, which I read (8Ω measured minus 5Ω measured across probes)

Next, switch your multimeter to measure the AC voltage, so you can check the output with the bike running by measuring each coil’s AC output compared to the ground. I couldn’t find any recommended ranges for voltage output, but 5k revs, I measured around 70V on two coils, but down on the third coil – not good. Internet hearsay reckons 70V is about the right ballpark.

Checking the FZ6 Rectifier

Next, let’s check the rectifier. As well as measuring the output voltage when the bike is running, you can remove the rectifier and perform a diode test with your multimeter. Here you confirm one-direction continuity between the input and output pins, first confirming continuity from each input to the first output pin and then confirming no continuity to the second output pin. Then you switch your leads and confirm the opposite. In my instance, this test actually passed.

Further investigation revealed some burn marks on the FZ6 rectifier connector by one pin. Not ideal, but everything was still intact and I still had good continuity on the line.

So I bit the bullet and bought a replacement FZ6 stator and rectifier to swap on. The FZ6 rectifier is an easy swap, it has a single connector plug to it and just bolts under the fuel tank hinge. Easier enough to remove with the fuel tank hinged up.

The FZ6 stator is a bit more hassle to replace. It lies bolted to the inside of the left-hand side crankcase cover, so do make sure you have a replacement gasket for later refitment. You’ll need to unplug the stator lead from the loom beneath the fuel tank and then feed the cable down to the crankcase cover so it can be removed with it. To remove the stator from the crankcase cover, you’ll need a star drive socket and a clamp or someone handy to brace the case whilst you undo the bolts, they were pretty tight with thread lock. Note how the cable is clamped down and its rubber seal where it exits the cover.

Refitting the new FZ6 stator was less straightforward as I was using a pattern part, which didn’t quite match the genuine part. It had multiple mounting bolt holes, but it would still only line up in a way that placed the output lead slightly too far away from the crankcase exit hole. I had to strip a little cable wrap off the lead and wrangle the rubber seal along the cable to give me enough slack to line the cable up well. You have to ensure the cable lays flat and behind the screw-down clamp to prevent it from fowling the rotor. All bolts need a bit of thread lock and torquing up, last thing you want is a wee bolt coming loose and sticking to the magnetic rotor. Likewise, make sure nowt has stuck to it during the disassembly… Finally, the cable requires a bit of silicone sealant to provide a waterproof seal as it exits the crankcase cover.

After plugging everything back in, it was time to retest the rectifier output voltage with the engine running again. I measured 14.1V at 5k revs, which is just on the lower bounds of acceptable. However, after a few short test rides, I was returning home with a battery still a bit low on voltage, so I stuck a new battery on too. I can only assume the whole episode had somewhat damaged the battery and it wasn’t holding as charge as it should. Cue a quick trip to local Halfords for a new Yuasa battery, which wasn’t too badly priced at £62.

I did however notice that my heated grips were still occasionally flashing up with low voltage even when riding. I have done the FZ6 headlight mod to enable the two dipped beam bulbs on this bike, which will be drawing an extra 50-60W of power. After disconnecting this mod, I had no issues. So I’ve concluded that this was pushing my charging system to the edge of what it could sustain and possibly that the pattern part stator and rectifier aren’t producing quite as much power as the genuine parts.

It can be a tough call between choosing genuine or pattern parts. But for this FZ6 charging system a genuine rectifier is £283 and a genuine stator (generator) is £414! A pattern rectifier from Tourmax cost me £54 and the stator £145, yeah a bit of a difference. It’s hard to justify £700 for genuine parts on a 15-year-old bike that’s only worth around £2k. There are companies that can recondition and rewire a stator for you, though this wasn’t a route I investigated.

Genuine FZ6 Rectifier from Fowlers

Genuine FZ6 Stator/Generator from Fowlers

Pattern ESG795 FZ6 Stator from M&P

Yuasa YT12B-BS Battery from Halfords

Chinese Honda CBF500 Replica Speedo Clocks

The replica speedo clocks casing arrived after a couple of weeks direct from China, thankfully marked accordingly to avoid being hit by VAT, customs duty and any extortionate handling fees. Nice one. I also ordered a bunch of genuine mounting bolts and grommets from Fowlers that I was missing as these were only a few quid. Call me pedantic, but I can’t stand a bike splattered with crappy random bolts, it just causes agro on future jobs. I also picked up a £2 Honda wings emblem to stick on the new clocks for the finishing touch.

First impressions of the speedometer casing were good, but with this sort of stuff it’s only when you try to fit and line everything up do you find out whether you’ve got a far Eastern lemon or a half-decent bargain.

The eBay listing was for a CB900F 2002-2007, which shares the same clock casing as the CBF500 2003-2008.

I dismantled the old clocks and slotted the speedometer and tachometer electronics and dials into the replacement motorcycle clocks. Generally the fit was good, but a spot of filing was required where the two odometer buttons mount to ensure they sat well. I also found a couple of the screw holes hadn’t been drilled. No biggie, just a 5-10 min job to tidy up these loose ends. The loom needed plugging in before the rear chrome effect half of the case can be bolted on, and thus the rear cover assembly had to be lined up and carefully fitted in situ on the bike. The trickiest past was the final slotting of the clocks into the mounts and underneath the top yoke ready to be bolted down, which needed some careful prising to line all mounts up.

Cosmetically, the mock chrome of the plastic case looks very reasonable. The lenses on the clocks are clear and offer good visibility, though I have seen some steaming up inside on cold days. Robustness wise, it’s only been on the bike 3 months, but is holding up well and seems sturdy enough.

Replica Honda Instrument Cluster Casing Verdict

For £25 delivered, you can’t really argue with the price. Quality-wise, it’s not bad at all really, well worth the money. Some minor tweaks were needed when fitting, but no big deal, however the steaming up of dials is a definite downer. So, if you’ve battered your instrument cases and are in need of some cheap replacement motorcycle clocks these are well worth checking out.

Rating: 4.5/5

Tools needed:

1. Metric socket set
2. Metric hexagon/Allan keys/socket set
3. Crosshead screwdriver
4. 12mm deep angle spanner
5. Light grease (e.g. GT85)

Firstly, we need to remove the sprocket cover on the lower left side of the bike. To do this we need to remove the gear selector. Undo the bolt, then slide it off. Note the position of the dimple on the shaft compared to the gap on the selector, you will want to replace it in this position later.

With the gear selector out of the way, the sprocket cover is held by 5 bolts (shown below). Note the one on the right nearest frame is slightly longer than the others.

The cover should then just slide off, but it often stiff and gummed up with crud. Note, the cover has two guide pins and the gear selector shaft has a Teflon spacer that often comes off at the same time. The cover is supposed to have a gasket too, but this only extends halfway around the cover and is not 100% essential.

There is usually a tonne of thick black oily greasy gritty gunk behind here, accumulated crap the chain has picked up and flung behind. Give it a good clean with WD40 or similar and brush.

Whilst in here, do also check that sprocket nut – original nuts were slimmer (9mm), often coming loose causing the front sprocket to pop off and resulting in much havoc. A trashed output shaft is pretty much an engine write off. You should have a 12mm 90179-18006 nut on there.

Next, we’re going to detach the clutch cable from the spring mechanism inside the sprocket cover. There’s a little folding tab that retains the cable in position, which just needs a gentle bend with a flat screwdriver. Then the cable simply slides out sideways, and then out from the cover.

Now we move to the lever side, where you’ll notice the adjustment nuts have a groove in them. By lining these up, you can prise the cable forward and out.

Now the cable can slide downwards and out of the lever.

Before fitting the new cable, it’s a good plan to squirt a good dose of light grease down inside it and ensure it moves freely. Now you can slide the cable out and replace it with your new one. Take note of the route the old cable takes and copy this. You may need to pop open some of the cable tidy clips to slot the new cable in. I find it easiest to slide the cable in from the top and feed it down. Then just refit the cable at each end in the reverse manner of above. To finish, you now just need to adjust your clutch free play.

Tighten sprocket cover bolts to 10Nm

Adjusting Clutch Free Play

Free play is the measure of how far the clutch lever can move before it hits resistance and starts to apply the clutch. It should move no more than 10-15mm at end of the lever. Too little and the clutch won’t fully disengage causing slip, too much and the clutch won’t engage enough causing difficult gear changes or crunching.

Start by screwing in the adjustment nuts at the lever until they’re a couple of millimetres away from fully tightened. Next, remove the rubber cover on the sprocket cover that hides the lower clutch adjustment nut.

Inside here is a locknut and adjustment screw in its centre. Loosen the locknut – it will be tight and clunk loose. Next, loosen the crosshead screw, then tighten it until you feel resistance, then loosen it a quarter turn. Finally, tighten the locknut up again whilst holding the screw still. To do this you will need a 12mm deep angle spanner, see picture below.

Now you can fine-tune free play at the lever end. Turn the smaller nut, in for more free play, out for less. Finish by locking it with the large thin locking nut.

Note, that free play may change as the bike warms up, so tweak the adjustment at the lever. The bike will spend more time hot than cold, so go with an adjustment that works hot.

Replacing Clutch Lever

I recently noticed my clutch lever had a load of excessive free play in it, which I pinpointed to the hole on the lever having worn oval causing slack and reducing leverage. With the clutch cable removed from the lever as per above, it’s simply a case of undoing the top bolt and swapping a new lever in with some grease.

If you’ve just busted the lever and your cable is fine, you should be able to do the above steps to remove the cable at the lever end alone by screwing in the adjustment nuts as much as possible to give you enough cable slack. If you need more slack, then you’ll need to loosen off at the lower adjustment nut.

There you have it. Job done!

We’ve all a dropped a bike or few, so easily done when new,
Your joy laying on it’s side, gone is all your pride,
Clutch lever broken in the fall, repeatedly you now stall,
Such a cheap repair, why did you not pack a spare?

A snapped lever is so common after an embarrassing drop of your bike. But fear not, replacing a clutch lever is a such a simply and quick job, that anyone can do it. No need to pay for garage labour, let me show you how to replace it in 5 mins with just a spanner and screwdriver. This is on a Honda CBF500, but many other bikes will be near identical.

It’s also a good plan to order a couple of replacements (these non-genuine levers were only £6.50 from M&P), so you can stow one under your seat in case you find yourself inconveniently stuck.

Note: this guide is for traditional cable clutches and not a hydraulic clutch.

In my recent crash I smashed up the headlight cluster of the Fazer. Unfortunately this item alone is £250 brand new,  however I did find a much cheaper used one from a breaker, albeit missing one mounting lug. But I had the foresight to gather up many pieces from the crash, including some of the bust off lugs from my smashed lights. So my plan was to the weld a bust lug to my newly acquired lights, to get back up and running for not too much money.

Plastic welding is nowhere near as difficult as you may think and doesn’t need any expensive materials. You just need a good soldering iron, some cable ties and staples. The technique I followed was the outlined below in this video by Delboy’s Garage, do watch his howto and subscribe to his channel, he’s got some sound advice.

I started by mounting the lights and the lug on the fairing bracket to get them in the right position. The lug needed a little cutting down to allow it to marry up well, then I started tacking it to secure it.  Next, I used some straight staple pins to help reinforce it. These bedded in easily with the heat from the soldering iron. Then using some cable ties as weld rods I built back up the missing plastic from the join and covered the staples. Once secure enough I could remove the lot from the bracket to repeat on the other side. The lug needed a further screw hole welding on, though this needed securing on more by eye with tape. However the welding and pinning process remained the same.

The result, although not pretty was perfectly functional. It’s not on show, hidden by the fairing and plenty strong enough to mount the fairing to light cluster and in turn lights to brackets. The buried staples and built up plastic provide a good deal of strength. Overall a cheap and easy way to repair expensive plastic parts.

Note: melting plastic stinks and the fumes are almost certainly bad for you. Work in a well ventilated area. I can also recommend setting up a fan to blow the fumes away from you too.

The damage, although cosmetic was extensive, the fairing plastic had disintegrated, the fairing bracket was about to snap, every mounting lug on the light cluster had snapped off, the clocks had lost a lug and the fuel gauge no longer worked. Those parts alone cost close on £1100 brand new… Even the street fighter option was less than straight forward, needing a new headlight, brackets, some different indicators, mirrors and some fabrication to mount the clocks.

In the end, I managed to source many of the parts cheap from a breaker and only needed to purchase a new fairing and some missing screws and bolts. Definitely a preferable option, a stock roadworthy bike will always have greater used value than something custom or non-runner.  The parts weren’t perfect, but workable. All in, I had the Fazer back on road for the princely sum of £360. Below are my tips for hunting down parts and getting a busted bike back in action.

Get on eBay!

1. Learn the eBay search query syntax; use braces and commas to search for this or that, and minus to exclude crap:- (this, that) -crap
2. Search for every name for an item – one person’s fairing is another’s cowling.
3. Search for items by product number too. See if they’re common to other models too and search for them too, e.g. the Fazer light cluster is common between the FZS600 2002-03 and the FZS1000.
4. Search abroad, ebay.de, ebay.fr, ebay.com. Items in the EU won’t be hit for customs, vat etc (for time being) and can usually be shipped for not too much more. Use Google translate to find names for items in foreign languages (or search foreign part supplies by product code).
5. Looks for sellers breaking a bike and contact them for the parts you need. Many only list a handful of items, so see if they have what you need and can do a deal on multiple parts.
6. Search for items that are about to end below a given price, or are buy-it-now and newly listed, to find bargains.
7. Set up a followed search to get email updates when new items suddenly appear.
8. Get clued up on current prices and availability of new parts, you’ll be surprised how much on eBay is barely any cheaper or even more expensive.
9. In addition to eBay, put a shout out on any owners forums for your bike too.

A busted bike need not be the end. With a bit of patience and the above tactics, you can find the parts you need without breaking the bank. You don’t necessarily need to write off that binned bike or have to pay top dollar on brand new genuine parts.

Whoops! Slight track day mishap. 

A post shared by Beginner Biker Adventures (@beginnerbiker) on Aug 7, 2017 at 11:46pm PDT

I went too wide powering out of a gentle left-hander, kissed the grass which spooked me a little, but kept it upright. However I was out of shape and going too fast for the upcoming chicane, combined with a chap overtaking on my inside, I bottle it and tried to safely just run off rather than just tipping it extra hard to get around. Unfortunately, I was just carrying too much speed to keep it upright on the grass and down I went. The bike came fell hard on the front fairing and I went sliding before coming to rest sat on my ass.

Being a road skills day we never taped up our mirrors, and being aware of faster riders behind me, it was too easy to feel pressured or want to move over to let them past – probably my undoing. Should have just concentrated on riding my own ride and ignored all behind.

My Alpinestars leather suit, gloves, boots and Forcefield back armour served their purpose and I walked away unharmed. The soft grass helped, no slide damage to gear. Similarly, the bike was only damaged from impact rather than the slide. The super helpful EuroTrax guys straighten up my forks again and helped re-sculpt the front end into something vaguely roadworthy using countless cable ties and much gaffer tape. It got me back to Blighty nonetheless, even if 3 hours on the Autoroute at 85mph with no fairing or screen completely killed my neck…

I’m now scouring eBay, various breakers and Fowlers for spares and hope to patch up the Fazer again. With 52K on the clock and nearly 15 years old, it’s a tough call and tricky one to keep it economically worthwhile. However the remainder of the bike is largely unscathed, so it seems a shame to scrap it.

I have toyed with the idea of turning it into a naked streetfighter, but I’m lacking fabrication skills and tools. Mounting the clocks on a naked Fazer is seemingly a tricky task and difficult to avoid it looking naff. Overall it is unlikely to be a huge saving in cash and a standard bike will likely be more resalable in the future.

Just about to overtake and despatch a slow Sunday driver, you pull out, road clear, give the throttle a good twist and leave them for dust. But no – Grrrr! Clutch slip! The rev counter flies round, the engine screams for mercy, but you’re not going anywhere – eh?! Seconds later the clutch finally grips and wham! forward you finally shoot. A worn clutch slipping has to be one of the most infuriating issues to put up with.

My FZS600 had hit 50k and mostly slow speed work in the city, so I can’t moan too much about it finally giving up. I had already replaced the clutch cable a couple of years ago and re-checked adjustment, so concluded it was probably time for new clutch plates. I picked up a set of new EBC friction clutch plates and heavy duty springs, as consensus suggested both should be changed together (and a spring set is only a tenner). And not forgetting I also grabbed a new clutch cover gasket too.

Swapping clutch plates is a fairly straight job and described well by Ashley Debell in this FZS Clutch Replacement YouTube vid. Do soak your new plates in oil for a few hours prior. Do ensure the clutch pressure plate is in the correct position before tightening up the spring bolts – it only sits flush in one position. Do use a torque wrench, as only minimal torque is required (8Nm for springs bolts, 12Nm clutch cover bolts). I gave my bike an oil change at the same time, but the clutch can be serviced with oil in-situ with no oil loss whilst the bike is on the side stand. Finally the clutch cable should be readjusted (at both ends).

Job done and all good – well not quite. The heavy EBC springs made the clutch lever action really hard going.  More crucially, when the clutch warmed up, it would stick and drag really badly, to the extent of the bike creeping forward even with clutch lever fully in! It also would be impossible to get into neutral whilst warm, unless I hit the kill switch – less than ideal. In trying to resolve this I tried a number of things and replaced more parts I suspected could be at fault:-

1. Re soaked clutch plates in oil and ensured steel plates all faced same direction with slightly round edge outwards – small improvement.
2. New clutch cable – no difference.
3. New long clutch push rod (and it’s oil seal), as old had corroded at sprocket end possibly hindering movement and worn notches in ends – no difference.

   

4. New TRW steel clutch plates, as old were quite scorched and probably should have been replaced – no difference
5. Inspected clutch basket fins for notching that may hamper plate movement and very lightly filed any smooth – no difference
6. New shot clutch push rod (and o-ring) at basket end – no difference.

7. 

   Swapped EBC springs for genuine Yamaha springs – clutch drag 100% resolved!

Fixed now? Not so fast, the genuine Yamaha clutch springs did made the gear changes super smooth and easy, neutral a doddle to engage, but it did occasionally give me a bit of clutch slip still, even with the brand new plates… Nothing like as bad as the old worn clutch, but now and again it is there.

I suspect the EBC springs were too stiff, not letting the plates release enough. The Yamaha springs looser, but maybe slightly too loose. Also the EBC springs measured 1mm longer… (3.9mm vs 3.8mm – though Haynes manual reckons they should be 3.4mm!) I briefly tried three of each, half EBC, half Yamaha springs , but this just brought back clutch drag woes.

I might experiment with other brands of springs that promise to offer a happy medium, but in the mean time, I’m sticking with genuine parts. Moral of the story, genuine parts often rule and should not be dismissed, even if considerable more expensive.

Addendum: I found the brand new replacement genuine Yamaha springs to light, often still get clutch slip. On measuring I discovered the new replacements were 1mm shorter than the original old springs – so I reverted back to these, which reduced clutch slip considerably, irradiating it except when first pulling away cold.

Of course I’ve been tweaking the clutch cable adjusters, in case it simply wasn’t engaging enough. Both at the lever and down at the sprocket cover. Next up was this new clutch cable, to eradicate any issues from stretched or sticking wire. It was a quick and simple swap and the Haynes manual was actually rather good for this job. The old cable certainly had a lot of resistance in it, plus a little kinked near the lever.

If this doesn’t resolve it, I’ll be ordering a set of new clutch plates and springs shortly, before heading down to OMC again…

Pictured is one of the last fixes to be done, putting the forks back in alignment. There’s countless methods to do this, but here I’ve opted for the two sticks approach, where their length exaggerates any ill alignment, making it easy to correct by eye alone.  The basic  approach is to slacken off all the bolts South of the top fork clamp yoke, realign the forks, then tighten it all up again.

To get the bike back on the road, I’ve swapped the handlebars (for some Renthal 758’s), put new fairing brackets, headlight, fairing, infills, mirror and crash bars. One of the rad hoses had split too, so I’ve replaced that along with a couple of others I found NOS replacements for cheap on ebay. Remaining is just some cosmetic damage; scratches and dents to the tank, levers and exhaust, plus the Givi rack is slightly bent. All in all, not a cheap job, but just about economic compared to scrapping the bike and replacing it.

Nonetheless, it definitely feels better being back on two wheels. Commuting by tube certainly focuses one’s mind on getting the bike fixed up!