Triumph Bonneville T100 Starting Issue - Infamous Clicking

It's been a few years since I have dealt with this issue but I wanted to keep this post for future reference in case the post on Triumph Rat Forums gets taken down/deleted.

This is one proposed solution to the issue with Triumph Bonneville ECUs. Apparently the ECU does not like batteries with slightly low power. Before implementing this solution I would be going through batteries almost every season. Here is a video showing the problem on my bike.

Here is a copy of the post with pics:

"Hi all,

Sorry for reviving an old thread but I came back here looking for the thread to redirect someone else to it only to find the original photos gone (thanks Photo£uckit!). Well, I happened to save all of these down for my own mods journal back when I made this mod to my own bike. Hopefully the originator does not mind me reposting his great info with edited text of his explanation of the mod. All pasted below, none of my work, but I confirm that it works 100%.

>>>>SNIP WITH TEXT EDITS<<<<

1 by Andy G, on Flickr


The*clutch*switch*grounds the BLACK/ORANGE, I tapped it to supply ground for the*Starter*Relay. Begin by exposing the BLACK/ORANGE at the ECU. It's located in the 'B' connector, right side of the ECU. Here you can see the wire exposed, it's the fourth pin on the front row:

2 by Andy G, on Flickr

Clip it, here is where you add the diode (any 1A rectifier will do), which prevents stray voltage form the*starter*relay*coil being back-fed into the ECU. Observe polarity, the band goes toward the*starter*relay.

3 by Andy G, on Flickr


You may have by now snaked your new wire run into the*ECU*harness*in preparation for your final connection at the plug. Twist it together with the other side of the BLACK/ORANGE. I used a yellow wire because I had lots of it.

4 by Andy G, on Flickr

5 by Andy G, on Flickr

Close it up, tape the boot back on as you found it. The other end of the wire goes to the*starter*relay, cutting into the YELLOW/BROWN as shown on the diagram.
The result of this mod requires you to pull the clutch in to start AND bypasses the ECU signal to the*starter relay.

>>>END<<<<

Hopefully someone finds this useful. 

WARNING: Canadians Renting Cars with Expedia & Hertz

Recently we went to Grand Cayman and had a great time. However the rental car experience was not so great.

The car we rented was clearly the cheapest car on the island but that wasn't the issue.  The issue was we reserved the car on Expedia.ca which gave us the final cost in CAD. So that was what we expected to pay.

One unexpected surprise is that Hertz (and probably most companies on the island) make you pay a $20 USD licence to be allowed to drive. They say it is a government fee but it was not on any documention that Expedia sent us.

But the bigger surprise came when upon returning the car to Hertz they charged us in USD instead of CAD. So because of the exchange rate on our credit card and the extra licence the cost of the rental car went from $270 CAD to $340 CAD.

So I called Expedia and after sitting on hold and talking to a rep for almost 2 hours they told me that they could not refund me. It would have to be Hertz since they are the ones who charged me. So he said they would talk to Hertz for me and gave me an expedia email address to send my documentation to.

So I crafted an email and included the Expedia quote and the Hertz bill. The next week I get an email saying that this email does not support Canadians and Expedia.ca and they gave me a 1-800 number to call which matched the original number that I called.

Apparently I am stuck in a vortex of corporate game of "screw the customer"

Needless to say I will never reserve a car on Expedia again. I think it is unethical that they can give you a quote and then completely change it when you show up to pay.

The Ultimate Cross Canada Motorcycle Trip

My friend Mike recently completed an incredible month-long trip from Ottawa to Vancouver on mostly TCAT trails. You can read about it here. I highly recommend it.

I put together a google map of his trip and intended to embed it here or on his blog. It turns out you can't embed Maps Engine maps which is crazy so I just did a screen shot.

If you want to see the actual map you can check it out here.

New GoPro Hero2 Advertising

If you want to see the new GoPro camera get some serious action.....

Guy jumps over a Lamborghini

I don't know who is dumber: the guy driving (who could end up with blood and dents all over his sweet car) or the guy jumping (who could obviously get pretty hurt if he is taken out at the ankles).

You decide.

Jetman Flight at Grand Canyon

You have all seen those vids of the guys in wing suits but check out this video of a guy in a wing suit jet pack.

What makes this vid even cooler is the awesome backdrop of the Grand Canyon. Gotta check it out sometime....

Night Riding

Here is a sweet vid of some guy riding a bike late at night. I know the feeling - just you and the city lights. Ah it is so good.

Lossa Engineering's short film "Solus" from Jay Lossa on Vimeo.

Also, that is a very cool looking bike.

Why I Don't Live in a Desert

This just happened yesterday. I thought these things only happened in the movies or books like Dune.

The Phoenix Haboob of July 5th, 2011 from Mike Olbinski on Vimeo.

Super Low Fly-By

Want to see what it looks like to have a jet come flying straight at you right at ground level? Yes? Well watch this video.


Now check out what the pilot's view looked like. The flyby starts at 0:55.

Arcade Fire: Scenes from the Suburbs

Check out this sweet trailer from Spike Jonze's "Scenes from the Suburbs" made in collaboration with Arcade Fire.

Yup looks pretty apocalyptic. Right up my alley.

Extreme Downhill Biking

Check out this extreme downhill biking video from Valparaiso, Chile. You are going to want to make this full screen when you watch it.

It looks like tons of fun but I think I'll stick to snowboarding for now.....

Horses Save a Milk Truck

This one is for all my farmer friends....

That is some serious horsepower eh?

Representing my Roots

I recently received an awesome little package in the mail from a close relative on Irene's side of the family in Holland.
I can now represent the Netherlands whenever I'm driving. I've always wanted these Euro-stickers even though they are not being used in Europe anymore. Of course trends always take several years to change on this side of the pond.


Thanks Ina!

Look: I'm on Google Streetview!

I knew I was going to be on Google Maps Streetview. I just noticed that they posted North Kanata so I immediately checked and there ya go!


View Larger Map

I remember this happening because I was about to put my helmet on and then I saw this car going by with a huge round thing sticking out the roof. I caught on pretty quick though I am sure it was after this picture was taken.

Here is the first picture:
Here is my reaction in the second picture....

Yeah pretty lame - I wish I struck some sort of crazy pose. This is taken outside my office by the way. Doesn't the Vespa make the office look stellar?

Dump Truck vs Sail Boat

I don't know what this best demonstrates.....

Is it the ingenuity or daring of the Haitian workers? Is it the incredible ability of the sailboat? Either way this is pretty neat.

Hyundai Canada tries it's hand at Viral Marketing

You probably have seen the completely unbelievable video where a driver of a BMW SUV drives over two cars while trying to park and then backs up and instead of sticking around just drives away.
Here it is:


Well it turned out that the driver got caught after the video was aired on the news all over the world. One of the workers at the fitness centre (who's car was ruined) recognized the vehicle and called the cops.
The lady had returned to the scene of the crime!

Anyway, Hyundai Canada decided to replace one of the victim's cars with a brand new Hyundai Elantra. Pretty cool!


They must have had to do this pretty quick to try and capitalize on the viral marketing aspect. Kudos to them.

Ambivelent or Nuanced Bumper Stickers

Someone on Zazzle (the slightly geeky yet more modern person's Etsy.......kindof) has created these awesomely ambivelent or nuanced bumper stickers. Here are some examples:

Clearly these are made for me even though they pretty much go against what they are. I think bumper stickers are kind of wierd. See a previous post and you will understand what I mean. But these catch that wierdness and send it right back at the reader. Love It!

On Driving

I have doing a lot of driving lately (due to the bus strike of course) and I am starting to get all my bad habits back again. I don't know why it is so important to get to work so fast but sometimes the guy in front of me is just driving insufferably slow. The most annoying are those guys who slow down 100 cars at a time by driving less than the speed limit. What is up with those guys? Do they ever look in their rear view mirror and notice the caravan of cars stretching into infinity? What do they think? Are they trying to be control freaks? Do they just not notice? Sheesh.

Now that the transit strike is over traffic should be getting better though. For a while there it was like living in Toronto. I'm glad we won't have that problem again until the next transit strike. I found the comic below on the city of Ottawa website which is pretty amusing in itself.On a more mellow note, I have been enjoying some good tunes on my drives. If I crank the volume usually it can mellow me out and I forget about that slow guy. There is this fantastic radio show on CBC Radio 2 called 'Drive' with Rich Terfry aka Buck 65. It is like having a bit of Radio 3 music plus some American tunes and then some wierd stuff. Basically I love 60% of it and like another 20%. This is pretty good for me and radio. With typical commercial radio I love maybe 20% and like another 30% plus you have to deal with commercials.
Recently I was in someone's car who was playing Live88.5 (probably the best commercial station in Ottawa) and I realized I had not heard commercials on the radio in a reaaaaaaaally long time. It sounded wierd. Maybe I should occaisonally listen to 88.5 just to keep my knowledge of pop music more current. I always just feel that most of the bands on that station have already been discovered and if I listen to more obscure stuff there is a good chance I will find some diamond in the rough. There are tons of obscure bands who I am more passionate about than the latest Killers song.

Sorry for the rambling - I'm off to work now.

Okay, now it is over (kind of)

The union and city decided at the last minute that they would go to binding arbitration instead of risking having the federal government enforce back to work legislation.

About an hour before the scheduled emergency meeting in the House they both called it off. It means they are, as of now, not on strike. The kinks have not been worked out and it will be a week before we see buses on the road but oh boy it's going to be good to use public transit again (or at least have that option in my case).

And it couldn't be soon enough

Hooray! History has been made! People are returning to their senses! No I am not talking about Obama. This is bigger than that. After 50 days of the idiotic transit strike here in Ottawa - It Is Over! (kind of).

Earlier today some tool at the city declared that the strikers would not be forced back to work since it was not an essential service. But in a stroke of brilliance a bunch of MPs called a emergency meeting in the House of Commons and it ended with Rona Ambrose, the Transportation Minister, forcing them back to work.

This is special because every other transit system in Canada is under provincial or municipal control. OC Transpo falls under federal control when it comes to these things apparently. I guess the MPs were getting annoyed with the traffic problems.

It'll probably take a month before its back up and running but it's better than nothing. I hope they get their act together before Winterlude. But I do wonder what will be the result of the scheduling conflict the union had better not win that fight.

Update #1
Apparently my breaking news source was wrong. The MPs have called a meeting, Rona Ambrose said she would be willing to force them back to work, and several other MPs said they would consider it.