Ricks R/R dies...2nd day into Rockies trip. Ouch.

Pulling out of a petrol station in Jasper on Wednesday morning.

Start bike.

Put in ear plugs, and go to pull off.

Hmmm...ear plugs not in properly.

Switch bike off...while i fiddle with ear plugs.

Start bike......no start. Sounds like dead battery.

I think to myself "You have got to me kidding me...not here....not now"

After about 10 minutes of freak out, I calm down, and push bike to Napa (equivalent of Schucks).

Battery charges in 1 hour, and tests good.

I buy a $70 multimeter cause nobody in Jasper rents out tools...and there is no motorcycle mechanic, and of course, its one thing I didn't pack.

While battery is charging, Ricks Motorsports Electrics on the east coast is getting close to next day delivery cut off time. Its coming down to crunch time. I knew it was a R/R but had to be sure.

Battery is now charged, and I mount to bike. Get out multimeter and test. Yep....bad R/R. How do I know for sure?

LUCKILY...i have always carried around a spare old Honda R/R that I have added a PC heat sync to. Since my very first original R/R left me stranded 11 months ago, the day after I purchased the bike, I will never ride without a spare.

Hook up the spare, and it tests good. Perfect voltage. Yeeeehaaaa.

If I had not been carrying around the spare R/R, not only would i have had to spend another night in Japser, I would have lost out on my hotel in Banff, no refund, and had to pay overnight shipping on a new one...costing me close to $400. Instead, I mounted the spare and in minutes was riding away into the Rockies. Then again, being stranded in a town like Jasper is not all that bad.

Moral of the story. NEVER ever ride a 4th gen VFR without a spare R/R under the seat.

I got 11k miles off that R/R. It must have died somewhere into my first day of riding. I covered about 600 miles that first day, and gave the bike a good workout.

 

That Icefeilds parkway,ho man!You sound like an enlighted person to ride with...knowing you had RR probs...Good job,Banff,oh!

 

Way to be prepared!! Smart man.

 

Well you can ask anyone I ride a trip with I have an R/R, Meter, Tools, Tape, Wire, and just about anything you could need to keep you from standing on the side of the road. The new tool is a length of hose for siphoning gas .... I learned that the hard way

 

OML man, nice save, hate to hear of this so soon into your adventure. still nice save, no doubt Ricks will be getting a call huh? Makes one wonder whats up No? Hmm???????

 

powderrecon,
Now I am really scared about forking over the $120 for the Rick's R/R that you convinced me to get. So far it has been working fine, but I have been keeping the bike on a trickle charger at home. Good thing you had a spare R/R!!!

 

Oh, no; not Rick's too ... !!!

Hello, All:

Well, this is bad news. This is literally the very first bit of bad press I've heard on the Rick's brand R/Rs. Not that I have used one (I'm back to the OEM Shindengen), but I was hoping Rick's was "out there" as a viable alternative, should the Shindengen fail (although I have a computer case fan mounted atop the unit).

I think this post has convinced me to carry a spare, no matter what, and thanks for that.

Gray Market

 

I thought the Ricks units were made in America....made onsite.. However my new one that arrived in the mail, is made in Japan.

For those that have not purchased a ricks unit in a while, its a little less beefy now, and comes with a backing plate, to mount to the frame. Better heat transfer maybe?

I will still vouch wonders for their customer service though. I was stuck out on the road, and they were wonderful. One of their techs called me, and was going to be patient enough to walk me through testing the R/R and stator.

In a way, I am thankful that this happened to me once before, so I was prepared, and knew how to test...otherwise who knows what would have happened. With no motorcycle mechanic in town, its all up to you to get going again.

But yeah....I don't think it matters which R/R you have. Its eventually going to die, so carry a spare always.

I am going to re-mount mine in an area which gets increased airflow, or maybe even run some tubing to it, with the other end sucking in cold air from some other part of the bike.

 

Well it looks like I better get a spare too. It sure would suck to get stuck for a known reason. Does anyone know if they make a gauge or device that would monitor the r/r output voltage so you would know when it is acting up or does it generally just stop all at once anyway? Thanks all... (I hope this made sense.)

btay67

 

You can buy voltmeter to monitor your voltage. Go here.

Voltmeters

When your R/R dies, your battery is going to not be charging, so the signs to look out for are that of a dying battery.

When you battery gets below 12v's of juice left, its going to have a tough time running the electrics of the bike, including starting the bike. I have noticed a very low idle on my bike before a battery is completely toast.

However I have heard of people riding down the road at speed, and all of a sudden the bike dies.

If you are stranded somewhere, and your battery dies, remember you can jump start the bike in second. Have somebody push you or roll down a hill, and pop the clutch fast, and it should start. If that happens, keep the revs up...way up, until you get to safety.

 

Thanks again, for the information. I think this is what I was looking for... :smile:

 

Voltmeter ..

Hello:

This is the voltmeter, which I installed:

Digital Panel Meters by Martel - Products - Digital Panel Meters, Voltmeters, Ammeters, Digital Displays

Living with it for a while, I'm now wishing it were LED as opposed to LCD. Why? Well, because it is impossible to read at night. Also, during the day - while wearing polarized sun glasses - it is hard to read.

Nonetheless, I go out of my way to keep an eye on it, and it is comforting to have that valuable charging system information available.

Gray Market

 

Hey guys, I was curious, where's the R/R placed on the 4th gen bikes? On my 6th gen, they placed it up on the frame by the steering stem. It gets a lot of air flow and never seems to get very warm. I just thought this might be an idea? But might be a pain to rewire the bike to move it there on an oler generation.