It is said that problems come in threes, and this rule has certainly proved true in my transportation tribulations since the start of this year.   No sooner had I posted my last piece here about the car problems that we have suffered since New Year ’s Eve, than my Suzuki decided to join in too! I paid a visit to my brother’s house on my way home from work at the end of last week, but when I returned to my bike to go home, the starter solenoid just clicked, and the engine would not turn over.   There had been absolutely no warning signs for this.   Since the lights and other electrical components still worked, the battery did appear to be charging.   The clicking starter solenoid, but inactive starter motor meant the problem had to be in this part of the bikes electrics. I found a wire in this circuit where the previous owner had used a crimped connector.   It fell apart when I touched it!   Unfortunately this very crudely crimped joint is not the ...

This story follows on from a couple of previous posts about my BMW Funduro. https://oldandireland.blogspot.com/2019/01/padock-days-part-4-tales-of-ice-and.html  and https://oldandireland.blogspot.com/2019/02/i-bought-vampire-motorcycle.html If you have read some of the previous rants hereabouts, you will already know that my own personal transport solution is a motorcycle.   It makes sense to me, but I will jot down a few justifications here for a (hopefully) wider audience.  Current transport - a 2003 Suzuki Burgman 400 I’ve used a couple of different bikes between the failure of my BMW Funduro which is documented in a few other posts on this blog.   The first short term solution was to put my old 1974 BMW R75 back into commuting service.   It is not ideal for this purpose.   Many bikers will immediately assume that this unsuitability stems from the cylinders of the horizontally opposed engine sticking out too far, making traffic filteri...