electrical issue on gn250

[spooky]

I was out on one of the gn`s this morning and it decided to cut out,  a quick check at  side of road  told me that

1)   battery ok
2) engine wouldn`t spin starter
3) bridging solenoid spun motor but not firing
4) put different CDI unit on  still no go                               so i took it home on a trailer... checked all wires to kill switch and starter button..ok
 cdi unit (replacement) cleaned and it worked after cleaning all terminals, great,  is it possible to test a CDI other than by substitution ?

[spooky]

Turns out it is the kill switch, it`s fine as long as i don`t use it...

[CrazyFrog]

Hahahahaha, excellent.

That reminds me of the time I was due to go away camping and just couldn't get the damn bike to start and run properly. I checked all the obvious things and even got as far as stripping and cleaning the carb. At the end of several very frustrating hours, I found that it must have been just on the point of running onto reserve when I put it away a few days previously. There was just enough fuel getting through to fool me into thinking the flow was OK, and to fill the float bowl enough for the bike to start, but not for it to run properly. My, how I laughed....

[iansoady]

Laugh?

I let my brother out for a run on my (new to me) Triumph Tiger 955i. He brought it back eventually, with the exhausts ticking and the tyres looking suspiciously scrubbed. Anyway, I put it away and the next day went to take it for a run. Would it start?

After dismantling half the front fairings to get at fuses etc and about half an hour of deep thought I finally noticed the kill switch. I never use them - he was in the habit of stopping bikes with them. It had never crossed my mind.

That was him written out of my will.

[spooky]

It`s an intermittent fault (don`t you love them) so as long as not used is ok mostly, i think i will remove it when i figure out how to bypass it, two wires go to it, if i join them together will it be live all the time and then i can just use ignition switch to turn on and off ? i don`t usually use the kill switch either but occasionally it gets on by accident..