Red-Green style bike repairs

[adidasguy]

If you're Canadian or a fan of the New Red Green show, you know Red can go to unlimited lengths to do the simplest task.
Such as I found with Trey.

First, I have to say I might be in the minority in that I always pull in the clutch lever to start a bike. So it came as a surprise to find that the clutch switch on Trey was, well, fuggled up by some PO when I went to put on a black lever in place of the silver lever. Yes - I removed the switch first and had a really good laugh  

So here's how to fix your clutch switch with the most work involved. (That is, how the PO fixed it  )

First, you have to have broken the lever off of the switch because you didn't know to remove the switch before the lever, otherwise you break the switch. Now this was done on a bike with the older type switch that is a PC board in a housing with a separate wiper. From the outside it looks like this:


Now, after you have broken the stem off of the wiper, as seen here (broken stem on left, contact wiper on the right and yes, covered in grease, too):


You stuff the slot for the wiper with fiberglass insulation or felt or something so the wiper can be inserted back in and always be in the ON position (as when the clutch lever pulled in) then you put everything back together:



Now, it would have seemed much easier to just short the wires together and toss the switch parts like so many other people have done. But no - let's spend an hour fuggling up some clever way to make the switch with all the broken parts APPEAR to be correct.  

At least if you want to do some work, use a soldering iron and solder the wires together on the PC board that has the contacts  

[yamahonkawazuki]

no you do all that shaZam!, then a future gstwinner gets ahold of it. posting WTF?, look what the po did lol. i rigged the clutch switch on my 2nd 93, 2 owners later, guy seeks me out, said bike wont start can you help, im like sure, ( usual tests, put on side stand tried to start bike in gear, no go , put in neutral, try 2, no go. go into where i had joined wire. he had undone them to clean it up, i joined with 2 alligator clips, bike fires off. hes like wtf?, i said, i can join them permanently you wil have no safety switch, or locate one, and ocme back to me, most of his bikes are rigged anyways so after covering my ass, i re-rigged it) i wanna get another gs. who knows maybe by sept if all goes well

[adidasguy]

Yea, I did the WTF!
It was the PO that fuggled it up. Just showing how some people can go to a lot of work when all that was needed was to cut the wires and twist them together. But if they did that, you'd know they broke the clutch switch.

[mcgimp]

Not really Red Green unless duct tape involved. Close though.
Ken

[jserio]

I like duct tape.