7moore7

I definitely agree with that feeling sometimes, but people don't usually run to internet forums to talk about how reliably and smoothly their bike is running.

I'd bet that if you look at a Harley forum or a Suzuki TL forum or a STIHL chainsaw forum or a Sony TV forum you'd conclude that in general humans can't make things worth a **** and can only communicate effectively if conversations is sprinkled with little yellow circles

Tweety

Oh, don't get me started on the wiring on the Harleys... The guy who put together the wiring on a friends brand spanking 2011 bike did pretty decent work for someone working without opposable thumbs and with only a hammer, a philips head and a pack of gum... But that's about it... The R/R on that bike is decidedly worse than the stock VTR one, and the grounding is horrible, so I expect it to start having trouble after two or three light rainshowers, or when the vaseline they had "sealed" all the non waterproof connectors they riddled the bike with... And that's supposedly 14 years "newer" tech than the VTR.... Bah humbug...

The thing is, the same guy has a small Chinese made bike, that cost about the same as a sixpack of beer... The wiring on that bike normally makes me cringe, but the scary part is that it's actually better than the Harley... They have used sealed connectors, the wiring is if not of adequate size probably oversized instead of undersized, and believe it or not, it actually came with a mosfet type R/R from the factory :shocked:... It's the size of a pack of gum, and will probably go "Poof" if you try to draw 1W over spec, but it's a mosfet R/R, on a cheap Chinese knock of bike, where they have copied the engine from an 70's Honda with slighly less finesse than the original...

No, the 10 year old bike doesn't necessarily need to be rewired... It however needs catching up on the maintainance the previous owner/owners didn't do... Ie check the wiring and contacts for corrosion, and with an ohm meter, clean and then seal with vaseline if necessary, and if it's really bad, replace part of the wiring... That's maintainance, and on a 10 year old bike, it's about time it's done... On any 10 year old vehicle, the wiring needs at least checking... It's a simple fact that electronics also needs maintainance, even if a lot of people are intimidated by trying to do that... Or seems to think it will magically work forever, and never break... What other things do you own that keeps working forever with no fixing, and no maintainence?

And as far as fixing, yeah, I see people fixing and re-fixing their R/R's a lot too... And most of them keep swapping the R/R and battery, but not fixing why they break, so what do you expect?

A large part of why the wiring is sub-par on a stock VTR, is the headlight wiring... That's a one time fix with a relay and decent gauge wires from the battery... And that takes a fairly big load off the system... Then improve the grounding around the R/R and on both ends of the harness, by the headlight, and by the rear and you have reduced the load a bit more... Then ditch the stock ignition coils that after 10 years are most likely corroded on their connection to the frame (easily seen with the naked eye), making the system work hard to start the bike... Swap in CBR stick coils, another one time fix that cheap and easy to do, and well documented...

With the better grounding in place, with the load for the headlight off the system, and the coils getting full juice, your wiring is much happier... And with fresh vaseline keeping everything protected from new corrosion, it keeps on being happy...

At this point a fresh battery and mosfet R/R will live on near indefinitely as long as you keep the system free from corrosion...

autoteach

Tweety, I think it is important to note that this is the same type of upgrades anyone would be doing to a bike of this era, and it doesn't take a 10 year old bike to have stator, r/r, battery, and other failures as well. I think some people just DONT get it.

D VTR RIDER

With the exception of blowing a coil, I've never had any issues with wiring on my 2000 VTR. I even have the original R/R. When I do have any issues, I will sort it out then. I have to admit that maybe I should change the R/R but then as many would say, if it isn't broke, don't fix it. The only except to that rule would be the CCT.
I own a FJR1300 as well and that bike has a ton of issues starting with the CCT's, electric grounding, etc. The throttle problems are acute. It is so bad that it is like an on/off switch. I had an 85 fuel injected bike that was light speed ahead of that FI. It most have some virtues since it's still in the garage. Now if a Triumph Sprint GT comes along at the right price, The FJR is gone.
From my experience, the VTR is as reliable as you are going to get from any bike, bar none. And on a scale of 1-10, a Harley Ferguson is a 0.5.
The VTR will be in my garage until I can't ride it anymore.
In the winter I will light a fire in the garage, crack open a pint, turn on some tunes and do preventative maintenance that I feel needs doing. Some are annual and others are not. Then add in bike modifications that we all know have to be done LOL and pretty soon it is time to ride again.

davidka