1975 850T electric mistery

[Woodrow]

So I have a 850 , great bike , starts great , stops great , does everything.   BUT the other week i turn the key,, nothing,.(no lights on dash)   So ok , roll out another bike and go to work,       Come back from town , check the battery , 12.5  volts .  WOW OK .  turn the key , push the button ,  fires right up.

     So I blamed myself ,  i thought I had turned the key too far and not turned it enouf to start .  so great ,  I rode it the rest of the week.   And it did it agan..    no matter what it wont crank ,  battery is 12v . .  Turn the key on and off and have a spark at plug.    so I start looking it over a day or so later .AND,, lights  oil light , netural light.  and cranks and starts.   

 This bike has a 3 year old wire harnes from G Bender,  all the wires look great .    Today I wiggled and unpluged and repluged all the wires i could .
I put the tank on and ran it up and down my road ,  not as far as I would like to push this thing.   

   Would be nice to have someone follow me around with a trailer.     Good running bike (when it runs )       Woodrow .

[Chuck in Indiana]

Sounds like a good time to disassemble the ignition switch, clean, wire brush the contacts, apply fresh vaseline. Even if that isn't it, most likely it's due.

[guzzisteve]

I second that motion. Good idea unless replaced with harness.

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Have you checked the charging voltage? Battery resting voltage should be a bit higher than 12.5.

[cliffrod]

I’ll jump in and ask if the fuse box was replaced along with the new wiring harness. Hidden corrosion in my V7 Sport’s original fuse box confounded us for quite a while after I replaced everything wiring harness-related except that because it looked fine.   Once fixed, all was good.

[Stretch]

Good advice on the ignition switch and fuze block; don't forget the kill switch, too.

                                                           -Stretch