Learned my lesson
 

Well I have been working on a bobber project for my gz...wednesday night i finally started working on the rear fender. Well i removed the rear fender which in turn remove my mounting for my electronics. Normally this wouldnt be a problem but i was out of zip ties..no biggie i have some at work..in my infinite wisdom i decided to tape my electronics up with electrical tape(thats what thats for right?)...well i made it half way to work when the tape came loose and my tire ate my electronics. The bike dies.. i pull over and find that everything is intact minus a whole in my electronics...i walk back about half a mile and find something that seems to be a relay. I call around and find out that it is my "turn signal relay"...ok no big deal, except for why wont my bike run????...turns out that there is more than just the turn signals that is routed through this relay...long story short the bike wont run without this relay and through the dealer its a $90 part...found one on ebay for $45 haven't ordered it yet

lesson learned - Electrical tape is not an acceptable substitute for zip ties

Re: Learned my lesson
 

It is also the relay for the kick stand safety switch. :2tup: :rawk:

Re: Learned my lesson
 

yeah i found that out lol couldnt find a way to jump it so my baby is in the garage.

Re: Learned my lesson
 

Glad it didn't suck the wire harness into the spokes/axle. There are many a horror story that start with, "the ... came loose" and end with "high sided."

Re: Learned my lesson
 

It's after the fact, but FWIW - When you electric tape something and wind around it, you always want to make the last winding or two 'relaxed' - if you stretch the tape whilst applying it, it will undo itself.

Re: Learned my lesson
 

Wow, a wealth of knowlege we have here; been using the stuff for 40 years and never realized that.

I kind of wondered if zip ties really are an acceptable substitute for "real" mounting hardware......like nuts, bolts and screws. :)

Re: Learned my lesson
 

I think zip ties are awesome - but they are not designed to hold significant weight and cheap ones will get brittle and crack with exposure to the elements. They're really mostly for keeping wire bundles neat, but they are a great *temporary* mounting option for non-essentials. I used to keep my trip route on my bicycle handlebars with a binder clip attched with two zip ties. Damn near bulletproof, but every once in a while I needed to replace one or the other tie due to plastic fatigue.

Re: Learned my lesson
 

I picked that up acquiring the nearly forgotten art of installing a TV antenna. :techy:

Definitely not. As Alan said, zip ties suffer from plastic fatigue. On the other hand, they don't rust. They have their own place.

Re: Learned my lesson
 

I carry a handfull of assorted zip ties in the Vstrom's fairing. Zip tied in place of course.

Re: Learned my lesson
 

For anyone who experiences a flasher failure don't pay for a factory unit. A regular electronic flasher can be substituted by just attaching the factory flasher wires to it.