dual purpose
author photo
It was November, the air temperature was minus five, but it's dry. But I could not help but drive.
How not to drive! After “Java” and scooters in youth, three years on the Kawasaki KLE and Honda Transalp, later, it’s scary to think, for 18 years I got what I wanted - the Honda Africa Twin. I got a seven-year motorcycle with a mileage of 16 thousand km - in the prime of life!
I drove it under my own power, hit the road in the traffic police, on Smotrovaya … I would have traveled more, but after a couple of days it snowed.
Over the next season of 2004, “Africa” ran a little more than 10 thousand km. Before departure, he installed new Bridgestone tires, front safety arches, a mount for side wardrobe trunks and a high windshield. Of course, I changed the oil and filters. This is a small thing. He did something more serious. I was embarrassed by the small, with the little finger, the outlet of a huge silencer cigar. With it, the engine runs quietly, and it seems to be not bad, however, such a plug “eats” a lot of power. Spend 500-600 e. on tuning pipes? No, the "toad" did not allow. “Be simpler,” she said, and I bought for 2100 Russian rubles in the car market a straight-through muffler made of polished stainless steel, designed for tuning a car. And as the connecting element, the front part of the resonator from the classic Lada ideally suited - it took only two hours to work with the “grinder” and a drill. What happened - in the photo.
Pickup improved mainly on the "lower levels". At speed, when you add speed, I began to hear the engine. But he did not get louder until annoyance. Fuel consumption has not changed much, although one could expect that it will increase: in the city - about 6–6.5 liters per 100 km, along the highway at a speed of 120–140 km / h - 5 liters. In June, changed the sprockets and chain. Not because they are worn out. Behind was a “43” - replaced by a “46” from the “Africa” 1995 model - and the throttle response was even better. But the new IRIS chain presented a surprise: its lock, or rather its side plate, simply burst. However, the second kept the chain from breaking, moreover, on this half I got to the garage. There were no 525 chains of DID production in the motor show, I did not want to take the same IRIS once burned. But I remembered that in the store where I bought the first IRIS, the damaged links are changed (they could, by the way, exchange the whole chain, but thanks for that, by the way). By the next season, it is necessary to establish a new DID - something has lost confidence in the Spanish “butterscotch”.
Another incident is in the middle of summer. First, the connection of the three wires of the generator and the relay-regulator burned out. Soldered - charging appeared again. There are no means to control the voltage on the motorcycle, and the threat of ending up with a “dead” battery is quite large (to get to the garage, I had to turn off both lights and start “Africa” on the move - the starter was no longer spinning). Therefore, in order to avoid trouble, I installed a car voltage indicator with three LEDs.
A week later, a cheerful life began. Charging appeared after starting the engine and disappeared after 10-15 km of run. But not always. By and large, without an indicator, I would not have paid attention to this, in any case, in the afternoon, when you do not see the intensity of the light from the headlights. All contacts were cleaned many times, lubricated and twisted … It remained to suspect one thing - the relay-regulator jams.
I called all the shops and points where the "finished" motorcycles are being dismantled. I found out that a Honda relay breakdown is not such a rare case. And that the relays are neither lying under the feet nor on the shelves. And therefore the price even for used ones is from $ 100. A month went by in search (I still drove a motorcycle: if the charging was turned off, I turned it off, started it up and there was order, you can drive around the city). The consultants of all three services advised replacing the battery, the generator … Which raised doubts about their competence.
Time passed, and the thought of the technical imperfection of the unit made me decide to replace the relay. And suddenly the charge was restored and did not disappear for three months! Whatever you say, the reliability of electronics is the reliability of contacts. I relaxed, thought about something else and found advantages in Africa: the motorcycle did not bring any surprises. I will not begin to spread the thought of exemplary working units and assemblies, as well as to note that the engine practically does not consume oil. This is a Honda for decent money, and it should be in order.
