Hi Guys, I'm new to K bikes and to motorcycle maintenance in general, unfortunately I need to replace/repair the left hand switchgear and the handlebar as my bike got damaged a little while ago. Now replacing the handlebar seems to be a pretty straightforward task and I don't think it will be much of a problem, the switchgear on the other hand worries me a little bit, especially since I have taken a look at the manual. 

I'm not completely useless with tools and do all my maintenance on the bicycle but let's be honest the motorbike is a bit more complicated and it turns out that I'm quite useless in interpreting the manuals and handbooks, even with all the pictures.. 

Without having a workshop or other good place to work on the bike I'm not sure if it is a good idea to try and start the repair myself, my fear is that I'll get to a point where I can't even drive it to a garage and hand it over to the professionals anymore.  

The switchgear is not damaged but somebody was nice enough to cut the wire leading to it so I'm not sure how to proceed, I could get the whole unit as a replacement or I guess I could try to repair the individual wires and get all connected again, either way I will have to remove it from the bike. Looking at the manual I have the impression this might not be as easy as I was hoping. Is it necessary to remove the whole fuel tank?  Can I access it by removing the radiator panel or the left hand side cover?

Better to bring it to the garage or is it not as big of a task as it seems?

Sagi

It is necessary to take the fuel tank off. But thats not a big task even on an RT or LT and once the tank is off the wiring is very accessible. I would also look at swapping the fuel lines for longer ones while you have the tank off, makes accessing underneath a lot easier. If yours are old replacement would be advisable anyway. I have some spare fuel line.
 
My advice is get the whole unit with the wiring intact, from Motorworks or Motobins or Sherlocks. I don't see much scope for splicing all those wires and it will mean taking it all off while you do it. You will also need the wire from the clutch lever as it runs separately from the switchgear wires, unless you have already found that it was not cut.

I am happy to give you a hand with it as I went through all the wiring on my LT when it had some electrical issues. Unfortunately the LT is 92 and I have no doubt there are differences but if you have the old wiring still in place adding the new switch is not difficult. I have a feeling changing the bars will be the harder task and this is something I want to do on my RT. !! I also have the Clymer manual.

It can be done outside on a good day.......if the bike is mobile my patio makes an excellent workshop on a good day......shed needs clearing out in a few weeks, until then I have to work outside.

Jim Ellis out in Wilton is also very knowledgeable about Ks, or Noel Quinn on Tramore Road but the job is well within your skills!

Hi Thanks for offering a helping hand, won't say no to that, I prefer doing it myself than giving it to a workshop, always good to know how to fix things. I'll order the parts and will let you know once I have them at home.

So I replaced the switchgear and handlebar, am a bit proud of myself as I managed to remove and reinstall the fuel tank without the bike exploding or other terrible things happening. 
Bike is running again and nearly all is good. I can drive along and indicate as much as I want (left and right no problem at all) , I can also honk from time to time to scare of unsuspecting pedestrians, I can flash the full beam light to send of morse code messages, however it is with some sadness that I have found that I can't ride with the full beam light on constantly. 

Now I don't often ride in the dark, but sooner or later it might happen and I can't just hold the switch down with my thumb all the time to have a full beam light. As I am curious I have of course opened the switchgear again and taken a look inside to see if I can find the reason for this lack of light. 

To avoid misunderstandings due to bad English and wrong terminology I have taken a picture of my old switchgear to illustrate the problem. 
" />

I understand the wire comes in where the blue circle is, and when I switch on the full beam light, contact will be made where the red circle is. Red and blue are connected through the part in the green circle, unfortunately the new switchgear comes  without the green thing. red metal part with the hole in it is there and the wire comes in at the blue part, but red and blue are not connected, hence there is no light. 

Does not look like it broke off, rather looks like there never was a connection (can't make a photo at the moment as the bike is parked up away from home)

Anyhow all a bit frustrating as I don't want to buy another new/used switchgear, maybe I can get the old one repaired and re install it, or just never ride after dark....

If you don't have connection between the white/yellow wire and and white wire
when pushing the switch to the up position, you must dismantle the switch and
examine the contacts.

White/yellow wire = input. Yellow wire = output, low beam. White wire = output, high beam.

So after all I did swing the soldering iron and fixed the old switchgear, seems to be working fine probably should have done that in the first place but well main thing is that it's working again