Repairing the cut main hub cable

[Old Timer]

My bike did a 240 mile round trip yesterday without the need for charging the battery ( It was in the back of my van

Theres not much I won`t tackle and manage to do a decent job but finicky soldering is my achilles heel. So I thought it was time to put the face to the voice and took up Onmebike/Tony offer for a bit of asistance.

These are the connectors I decided on 4 Way Automotive AMP Superseal waterproof connector kit on eBay (end time 22-Feb-10 10:39:42 GMT)

I`m not saying that they are not fine for many applications but we both had our doubts about the long term reliability of them (baring in mind that 5 of the wires to be worked on require a manifying glass or young eyes)but to be fair he was joing 8 wires that were just about long enough(just) they fit together as male and female and the very nature of the pins means that there will never be a time when the flat pins can be fully in contact with the female section all the way around.( a bit like the 1" patch of rubber on a bike in contact with the road)more important with the power wires maybe. Anyway, Tony pushed on putting together and soldering the 16 connections with care and patience.(5hrs to complete, he is fussy)
Took the bike outside and I reckon I was getting maybe 1/3rd of the usual power with stalling and noise.
Back to the drawing board

A couple of cups of tea and a biscuit and we decided that the only way was to remove the pain staking assembly ( I looked away as he snipped away!)

With wires like Josephs coat of many colours he manage to match near enough all the colours and gauges of wires required and proceeded to splice in and solder the eight wires giving me an extra 12" of slack from the original set up which is more than enough to remove the rear wheel and repair a puncture (hopefully not needed much after fitting my Marathon + tyres)
It was now several hrs down the road and with trepidation the bike was wheeled out on the the tarmac once more(I felt like Donald Campbell testing BlueBird
Opened throttle and away she powered as good as new (relief)

A quick trip to the kebab shop for supper, loaded the bike back on the van and headed home.

Thanks Tony! it was a pleasure to watch an artist at work and quite surprisingly to find "a very normal human being face to face" Apart from the abuse that bloody Parrot like bird was handing out to me all the time;-)(not sure what actual breed it is but it bites like a Horned Viper and as fast)

Now! for Onmebike and Old timers next project!!!

 

[jerrysimon]

Old Timer as I said I purchased one of those connectors for my bike, but in the end decided against it and used a Switchcraft like Cytronex use. Those ones seemed too fidly but then the Switchcraft ones are pretty hard to use as well

Unlike you I only had three wires to connect (well six if you count plug and socket).

Glad you got it sorted.

Regards

Jerry

 

[eddieo]

In that case you can tell Onmebike that he can get of the naughty step and come back out and play

 

[Old Timer]

In that case you can tell Onmebike that he can get of the naughty step and come back out and play

You leave my MATE alone You never know Ed, one day he might be your friend

 

[onmebike]

Thanks

Thanks for the kind words Dave, it was a pleasure to meet you. Baby say's you taste like **** but then you are starting to decompose at your age?
I was surprised how similar our bikes are.
Job could have taken less time but you didn't stop rabbiting all day. No wonder they give anaesthetics to patients on the operating table.
You were joking about my paying half your fuel costs for the experience of working on your bike?
I had my doubts about those connectors and had they worked okay initially, I think they would have eventually failed. Either due to oxidisation in the connections or the thin wires breaking due to there being no means of relieving the stress on the cable as a whole.
Had a terrible thought as you drove away and had to check my battery was still in my bike, Phew what relief.
The nicest thing about our meeting was finding out I'm not the saddest anorak on the planet. Looking forward to the next time.