By now, most of you are familiar with our project Yamaha TW200 and our attempt to bring more aftermarket support to this wonderful little machine. As part of these efforts, we have been continually working with our suppliers to test and develop new parts and bring them to market. One of these items, which we worked on with Rick's Motorsports, is a larger stator for the TW200, so that our customers can power up more electronic gizmos. Like with all freshly installed items, particularly a new product, we needed to take our rig out on a test ride. So, that’s what Mike & Tom recently did.
On a recent Spring day, these two set out for the Shotgun OHV trail system in Marcola, OR. Along with the new stator, they also took the opportunity to test some new jetting changes and gather some video footage for our YouTube channel. The day got off to a good start, with only a few little getting-out-the-door hiccups. The TW200 started and rode exceptionally well the entire time. Even while the bike was screaming at Tom for trying to keep it at highway speeds, it never stumbled or faltered.
A few hours into the ride, Tom noticed the voltmeter display was bouncing from 13.5V to as low as 6.5V. The bike seemed to run fine despite the voltmeter display acting funky. Tom checked a couple of things and even turned the bike off and on again to check that it would fire back up, and it did without hesitation. So the two continued on, assuming that perhaps the voltmeter was simply acting up.
When Mike and Tom reached a clearing at the North end of the main loop, they decided to change their camera setup. At this point, Tom saw the voltmeter display bouncing around more than the first time he noticed it. This was also when the TW suddenly lost all ignition power. After some brief diagnosis, Tom & Mike quickly concluded that the insulator sheath had slipped back on the spade connector for the positive lead coming from the Voltmeter, causing it to ground out against the bottom of the ignition switch housing and blow a main fuse. (We have remedied this for all production TW200 dash kits). After searching for a moment, the two were able to located the blown fuse and replace it with a spare. Once the bike was put back together, they were able to ride off into the sunset with everything as good as new, gaining a wealth of knowledge in the process.
These two finished the ride back into town for a couple burgers chased down by some root beer floats from a local favorite, Fins Drive-In! As a parting thought, we do recommend every rider figure out what fuses are needed on their bike, and purchase a few extras to keep handy on the bike at all times.