I've had my '81 G/S for nearly 10 years and it's never let me down, but always idled like a bag of shit. Rough a guts on the idle, but OK everywhere else. Rebuilt the carbs, overhauled the heads, new rings etc, airfilter etc. Still idled like crap. It stopped the other day about 5km from home-no spark. Had to ring up and get Neri to come down and pick me up with the trailer. Read up in the forums about the dodgy hall effect triggers and how they die from time to time. Chased up the necessary bits and pieces etc etc. Today I pulled it apart and..............it got points !!! Shock horror ! Never touched them in 10 years ! Black and burnt looking- no wonder it stopped. Whats more, they look identical to the points in my '74 VW Kombi Bus, so tomorrow I'm off to the VW shop for new points for the G/S ! Beautiful !! Cheers, Nitram.
I love those points. I'm at over 20k on some points right now. The insulator on the bean can melted one time and dropped plastic all over the points. I replaced the points & condenser but the contact on the new points fell off. I scraped the melted plastic off the old ones and stuck them back in. They're still working. I'm not a fan of points but this points-in-a-can set-up has to be one of the last set of points ever put in a bike. It's the best points design you're going to find. Here's a list of part numbers for the points & condenser: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8621756&postcount=167
congrats! looks like someone replaced stock electronic beancan already. recently did the same for my 81 G/S. Beancans with points are getting hard to come by and are selling for stupid $$$ on fleabay. there seems to be two camps on change out. see link in sig Bosch points quality has gone downhill. best quality points I've been able to find are genuine Bosch points part # 01 030 preferably from new old stock. look carefully for where points are made. pkg below was made in Spain. For BMW Beancan with points ask for points for a 72 VW bug or most desirable a genuine tiger stripe set of points for high performance 009 Distributor. # 01 030 points with tiger stripe have stronger spring tension for higher RPM without bouncing. about $15 retail condenser tests out fine at .197 micro farad
excellent quality .. but those were new old stock 15+ years old .. yanked from the shelf from my old parts store. complete with a layer of dust ... good luck finding more of em. got two sets tucked away :d
Testament to points? I see this thread as a perfect example of just the opposite. Like I always advise, points will lead you on a wild goose chase unless you look at the points first. Whenever you have a running problem and your bike has points, check them first. Why? Because it is most often the points. New rings? Valve job? Carb overhaul? Points, points, points. And good luck finding good points and figuring out which ones are good and which ones are not. Rough idle and easy starting seems to be fixed going both directions with point/electronic and Bings/other carbs. There is not an inherent starting problem with any of the above. Points, electronic, Bing's, Mikuni's, Dellorto's, they should ALL start right up and idle perfectly (when warmed up in the case of carbs). If they don't something needs to be fixed, not replaced. Well, except for points. Good luck nursing them. The best fix for iffy points is new points. If you can find them and they aren't iffy brand new. I know, fixing electronic most often involves replacing parts too but at least most people aren't tempted to nurse an electronic part.
Condensers are like coils in that testing good does not mean they are good. Bad is bad but good means nothing if you are smart about diagnosing a running problem.
So, with nice shiny Brazillian-made points (that was all I could get my hands on on short notice- but I'm on the lookout for some German ones) I come to the ignition timing and................... can't find any timing marks..... See separate thread on that subject. ....... Still looking... Nitram
The "clutch carrier" type of flywheel has some pretty easy-to-miss marks.... get a good flashlight and roll the motor over, ever so slowly (pull the plugs so you don't have to compress). when you find them, clean the area with some acetone or strong solvent, then "paint" with a Q-tip and wipe away excess.... so that only the mark and the letters remain.
I have 3 "points in a can" sitting on the shelf that I replaced with the later electronic can. I also use Rick's fully electronic version for the dual plugged engines. The later model will USUALLY give you a few warnings before it fails..engine stopping for a second or two at speed before catching again. If that happens, watch the tach and if it zeros out, that's a sign the can is dying. They usually last about 100K miles or so. Easy swap out for points or electronic...they both work but the electronic is more set and forget.