Hi from a not so new member

[fretherne]

What a super website this is!

I've got a 1985 K100 RS which I've been riding for the last four years.  An enjoyable hour has just been spent browsing through postings about the starter relay - mine has welded on at least three times but after removing the battery lead and smacking the relay  it freed up again.  So   .  .  . I invested in a new gel battery a few weeks ago which has obviously irritated the starter relay because today I can hear the relay click but the starter is not energised.  To add insult to injury the bike has scraped through its MOT test today with an advisory that I should get a new shock absorber.  I learnt an awful lot from the forum postings on the relays and the shock absorber but nothing prepared me for the shock of seeing the price of an original equipment shockabsorber.  How can it possibly cost more than the bike?
Oh well I quite enjoy the pogostick antics of my brick until I can find a less expensive (OK a dirt cheap) replacement.

I'm now going to try and post a picture of the bike but don't be surprised  if I fail.

[fretherne]

Much to my amazement the picture did post.  If I'd known that was going to work I would have cleaned the bike.  Well maybe  .  .  .

[Brad-Man]

I would think a Realm shocked woul be right up your alley...

Welcome!

[The Dude]

Welcome fretherne.They are great bikes.
The relay weld up is due to low voltage,which results in high current and arcing.Best touch up the contacts with some fine emery paper if it's still pulling them in.You may be hearing only the "load shedding" relay. :dunno2:
 The next thing to hammer tap is the back of your starter motor.You may know,from your research,that these brushes are used to earth some of the electrics making them crushial.
  I ran a shagged rear shock for similar reasons.I learnt to control the rear end using the throttle and the dive n rise from the shaft.Very bad!Puts more strain on the transmission causing the rearmost spline to "rub" and grind it's self away under full load...I got a  basic YSS shock but it's not the best.

[Martin]

Welcome to the Asylum from the land of OZ. I fitted a battery isolator switch into the earth lead after I blew out the side of the battery.
Regards Martin.

[fretherne]

Thank you your welcome, as warm as the air venting from the fan over my knees.

The Dude  shared an interesting tip " learnt to control the rear end using the throttle and the dive n rise from the shaft."

Neat but I'm  quite incapable of learning anything new so I have rung Maplins to see if they have a transducer available that I could fit to the sprung part of the rear suspension to feed a signal back to the engine management system to automatically adjust the the torque from the engine to provide the same damping effect.  It would certainly be cheaper than a new original equipment shockabsorber.

Anyway failing that second hand (is that another word for already knackered?) ones are showing up on ebay. Still at an extortionate price but far less than the price of a new one.  At least buying one of those would not involve me in the need to mortgage the house.

I did manage to prise apart the relay and  rub the points a little.  Actually considering that they have welded on at least three times they seemed in reasonable condition.  More puzzling was the fact that the starter relay now is working ie the starter engages and turns.  Of course the bike wouldn't start.  Who would have thought that the little connection to the fuel pump hidden away under the tank was so important.  Anyway I didn't but now I know it is and the bike is running sweetly again.  I don't really know if the starter motor not working was the fault of the relay or whether the tap on the back of the starter suggested by the dude did the trick.  I suspect it was the relay because I did bridge the contacts on the rear of the relay and the starter tried to turn then before the tap with a hammer.  Of course I removed earth lead from the battery while working on it (at least I did after bridging the contacts energised the starter but I can pretend that I did that deliberately)

Thanks again for your welcomes and suggestions.