Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Has anyone experienced stalling in wet weather

I just purchased a speedmaster and I will take delivery on it in April 2008. I was just doing some research on the quirks the bike may have. I came across to articles about the speedmaster and america having problems running in wet conditions. Is there anyone out there that can either confirm or give more info on? I'm just wondering if it could just be an isolated insident or if it is a problem with Triumphs. Thank you guys and girls and Happy New Year.

I do a daily commute 20 miles either way and ride in the fog about 30% of the time(it's always like a fine misty rain). I have riden in the rain only 2 or three times(not fun because of the always dirty road conditions and takes too long to clean the bike).
I have never had a problem with ignition or wiring other than the start button contacts needing cleaning and not wet conditions related (IMO).
Gary

I rode for hours from north east PA to the northern border of Vermont in the driving rain. It rained so hard I couldn't see the tail light of the guy in front of me most of the time. My 04 Speedmaster never missed a beat. I have been caught in the rain a few times since and same thing, never missed a beat.Oh and the taillight in front of me was an 02 America, also never missed a beat.

Oh and welcome to the club!

Thanks for the input guys. I'm looking forward to getting my new speedmaster. My past bikes have been a 2004 RK Custom Harley and a Vulcan 2000. Im tired of the huge bikes with big motors. I figure that I can't go 130 Mph all the time so I might as well hang with the guys and do around 75Mph. I have realized that bigger isnt better. Is spring here yet????

Welcome to the forum. A popular mod on Speedy/Americas is to drill an oval hole in the bottom of the air filter and a matching hole in the bottom of the airbox. This releases massive amounts of pent-up horsepower, or maybe its just a placebo effect. On a long trip in driving rain, my air filter became saturated and the recesses of the airbox bottom were full of water. The bottom of the airbox is right above the flat top of the swingarm, right in front of rear tire. I've ridden in numerous other rainstorms, apparently never long enough to cause a problem. I've since replaced my filter with stock, untampered one. Other than that, my America has never missed a beat in the rain.

FWIW, I've been soaked miserably quite a few times this summer with no problems. Several rains were so hard I could barely see.
I think the coils on the standard Bonnie are in a more open space and they have a few more problems. Doesn't seem to be a problem for the cruisers. Even so, it's a good idea to get a tube of dielectric grease and put a dab around each:
- plug/coil connection
- Kickstand safety switch

Check the tech vault for more tips. I update the grease every winter as part of winter maintenance.

Welcome, btw!

rode home from Georgia to New Jersey one year in hard rain for the better part of two days without a problem. Also rode home from Canandaigua, NY in a torrential downpour with gale force winds also trouble free besides getting soaked.
As always, your results may vary.

Yes! many have...but it is a VERY simple fix...it has to do with the gas tank vent hose (which comes out in front of your rear tire) when that gets clogged (like with water from the road) it causes a vacume lock and the bike will cut out/ run like shite/ stall...simply snip the end (near the rear tire) of the hose at a sharp angle (increasing the hole size of the tube) or install a vented gas cap...or both...in 99% of the cases this has solved the issue! also as ssjones mentioned grease up your contacts...

surprized no one mentioned this yet...it is a VERY common problem...but perhaps because the fix is so quick and easy no one thought of it as a problem...

Hey Kenny....rain isn't 'pose to stall out that Dodge!

I had a real problem with my '03 America - mostly after washing it...the fix was to remove the kick stand switch and seal it well with silicone form-a-gasket...before reinstallation.....

I've driven in some the heavist rain you'll ever see and never had any problems. I would recommend sealing the side stand switch and getting a vented Kuryakyn gas cap.

I rode almost 400 miles in rain coming back from Arkansas this past summer. Ran poorly until it heated up (10 minutes or so), then was fine after that. Guess it was something to do with the plugs/wires maybe? It's time for me to replace the wires now anyway, so I guess I'll find out after I ride in my next rain storm if that was it...

i seem to remember someone missing an entire
GA rally due to "wet conditions." was it rain
or washing of the machine that kept this particular
03 BA from starting? hmmmmmmm...

Last year I rode to the Ga. rally from Tulsa. 1800 miles roundtrip. From Tulsa to Nashville it rained constantly, sometimes very hard. My TBA never missed a beat. But when I got to Dahlonega I rinsed off the bike at a car wash and it sputtered and did not want to start. Eventually it started and cleared up.

DON'T WASH YOUR BIKES!

after 41k miles through all kinds of rain, my O2' TBA finally sputtered, back-fired and stalled...re-fired, went another 2 miles in driving rain and finally went dead and I coasted to a stop.. made me leery of going in rain..it dried out on it's own and fired...had all connections "re?" greased with dilectric grease to stave off "wetness" and it lasted for another almost 5k miles till I washed it.. I think it's the electronic igniters under the tank getting wet.

The wet season has just started here. I hope that doesn't happen to me!!!

This sounds like the same problem the SV650s had (have?). If memory serves, there's a small drain hole in the sparkplug well to let out excess water -- it's very common for the hole to get plugged and so the sparkplug looses connection.

I had this problem with my SV for a quite a while, and lemme tell ya, loosing a cylinder at 70mph SUCKS. For my SV, even a light misting seemed to be enough to screw stuff up. Never did get the problem quite resolved (wound up getting my Speedy), and thankfully haven't had any such problems since.

Doesn't make me happy to hear the Bonnie mills are subject to the same squirrelyness. You'd think that an English bike would be designed with rain riding in mind!

--Jaeger