Hi there, I live on Texel in the Netherlands and recently exchanged a 2005 Ducati Multistrada 1000DS (after renovating it) for a 1998 Cagiva Elefant 750 in dire need of care. After riding a KLR600 for 2 years while working in Zambia, I did not ride motorbikes for many years till my son suggested to do a project together. We were thinking Citroën 2CV, Volvo Amazon station or Saab 96, but as we lacked large space we decided on a Cagiva Gran Canyon 900ie, with plenty issues. After repairing and selling that bike followed a white '95 KLR600 (sold after refurbishing it), a blue '93 Yamaha Ténéré XT600Z (also sold), a yellow '95 Triumph Daytona 900 (sold), a purple/grey/green 2006 Ducati Multistrada 1000DS (now Ducati-yellow), a green '95 KLR600 and now the Elefant that I a swapped for the red Multistrada. Tips for getting spares would be appreciated, e.g. I found out that the dampers in the front suspension are complete different (which explained the different rebounds), the exhaust is cracked (may try and weld it first) and the cover for the fuses on the dash is missing. A very enjoyable project again!
lovely bike, you have the best overall model there imo. There are unique quirks which I'm sure you will enjoy exploring. P.S. good to see someone taking the trouble to spell its name correctly!
Thanks! The renovation is coming along nicely. Some strange modifications were made by previous owner(s); the starter motor relay was placed with tie wraps to the frame next to the battery, necessitating a long cable from the starter switch back to the relay and a very long positive cable from the relay to the starter motor. I noticed that the bracket holding the CDIs has fitting for the starter relay so I removed the relay and rewired everything: works fine. Just to be sure I also renewed the starter motor coal brushes; all works fine again. The choke lever was also moved away from its designated spot on the frame near the head of the vertical cylinder to a tie-wrap to the little frame close to the steering to which all connectors are fitted. Finally, the rear brake switch (normally triggered by pressure in the brake fluid) was disconnected and instead a hole drilled in the brake pedal and a spring loaded switch fitted on a home made kind of bracket... So, good progress so far, however it turns out that when cranking the engine over the vertical cylinder gives one spark only (and sometimes a random spark some seconds after stopping the starter motor) and the horizontal cylinder does not have a spark at all! I have been trying to find instructions on how to test the CDIs with a multimeter but none checking a CDI with 3+2 connections. When swapping the CDIs the spark "stayed with" the CDI so it seems that the CDIs are the culprit, but that does not explain the random late spark. I have measured the pickup/flywheel distances (0.7 mm) and the ground connection to the CDIs is fine. The coils are mounted on an aluminum triangle that is mounted to the frame in rubbers so I thought grounding the coil mounting triangle might help but this does not make any difference. Any suggestions out there? Thanks in advance! Cheers, JW
when you have exhausted all your checks on the Coils and "coil exciters" And wiring, Then it's time to look at the two pick ups within the engine, as your symptoms are relevant to these. sometimes it's the units failing, but sometimes it's the fairly lightweight wiring to them, which can go either open circuit or closed circuit, sometimes intermittently.
