Rear tyre rubbing on tail/brake light wires under rear mudguard

[BrianS]

I fitted a Paul Goff LED tail/brake light assembly to my A10 quite a while ago and was told that the brake light was constantly flickering. I adjusted the switch pull so that it acted with the pedal quite a bit further down but was told by a following biker that it was still flickering yesterday.

I went to investigate earlier but, before I got the lens off, I noticed wires showing up under the mudguard where they had been attacked by the tyre.

I am 17 stone and quite often give my 9 year old grandson a backy coz he delights in riding with me on "Flash" and he is about 6 stone.

I am guessing that the two of us are bottoming out the suspension but am not sure what to do about it.

My shocks are set on what I think is the softest setting and am wondering if I put them on the firmest setting that might help stop the bottoming out.

Advice would be appreciated.

Brian

[bsa-bill]

been a while since I was the brake light wiring, but the wire from my switch runs outside the rear mudguard until it meets up with the tail light wire under the seat then the two of them enter a hole in the mudguard under the seat as a twin cable plus an earth and travel to the rear lights through loops on the underside of the murder

[BrianS]

Mine are the same Bill. Its just above where the wires come through the mudguard that the sheathing (and hopefully not the insulation on the individual wires) has worn though.

[Greybeard]

...a twin cable plus an earth and travel to the rear lights through loops on the underside of the murder

Yikes!

[muskrat]

G'day Brian.
  23 stone on the bike with shocks on softest setting 
Your tyres may also have a higher profile. Maybe not with that much weight on them LOL.
Cheers

[chaterlea25]

Hi Brian,
Plus the above, what is the free length of the shocks? bolt centre to centre
Maybe shocks fitted are a bit short?

John

[morris]

If the light flickers then there's something connecting/disconnecting so I'm afraid it'll either be a broken wire or a bad earth.
To be on the safe side I think you'll need to renew the wiring anyway.
Setting the shocks firmer might help in combination with some small cable loops holding the cable tight to the mudguard

[duTch]

 

23 stone on the bike with shocks on softest setting 
Your tyres may also have a higher profile. Maybe not with that much weight on them LOL.......

 Ditto the aboves...soft setting *may* be just ok for just you, but not with extra

 

Quote from: bsa-bill on Today at 06:45:02

    ...a twin cable plus an earth and travel to the rear lights through loops on the underside of the murder

Yikes!   

 Yea can get away with some things...but not here...

[bsa-bill]

the underside of the murder

whoa - is spell correction  not just wonderful

[ellis]

Hi BrianS,

I think you need to put another two notches on the rear dampers setting to cope with the extra load. You should check the wiring connections to make sure everything is making a proper connection. Let us know the outcome.   

ELLIS

[Jules]

Hmm, I'm not so sure that its been rubbing guys, surely there would be rub marks on the nut adjacent to it and the whole area would be "shiny/scored"too if that was the case??? (or am I looking at it wrong??)...
also, I remember issues with early led light conversions in the home whereby they would flicker too and that was something to do with voltage compatibility/supply.....????

[Black Sheep]

Softest rear shock setting for your weight is way too soft. Put it up to hardest. I'm a mighty 11 stone and mid setting suits me. What tyre do you have on the back? I have an Avon SM 3.50 x 19 and no problems with rubbed wiring.
LED lights are voltage sensitive and will flicker rather horribly if the voltage drops below their operating range.

[BrianS]

Some really helpful replies - thanks guys!

The distance between bolt centres on the shocks is 33cm.

The tyre is a 3.50 x 18 Avon Mk II

Looks like I will need a special C spanner to adjust the shocks - unless there is a dodge?

[Butch (cb)]

I ran the wiring on the outside all the way on my s/arm model. Kind of not too untidy - but I don't have to worry about keeping mine looking standard.

[duTch]

 

...The tyre is a 3.50 x 18 Avon Mk II.....

 3.50 is just the width, there should be some /80/90 type figure to denote the profile ratio....maybe


 

.......Looks like I will need a special C spanner to adjust the shocks - unless there is a dodge?....

 Multi grips is a bit rough, but may do the job; best get it up on the centre stand and add some lube to the rotating part....

 I agree about the potential erratic low voltage LED syndrome...