Tompierce
New member
I was on my way home last night (on my 2013 C650GT) when all the lights went out.
No, I'm not being metaphorical, I really mean all the lights went out. There were no headlights, no driving lights, no turn signals. Also no horn, no tach or speedo, no dash lights, no aftermarket driving lights, and none of the handlebar switches did anything. The bike continued to run just fine, just no external lighting at all.
After about 20 seconds, everything came back on. It was like I turned the ignition off except it continued to run just fine.
This happened several times during the ride home - luckily I was in relatively heavy traffic with little danger of being rear-ended (or so I told myself).
Since it happened repeatedly, I was able to experiment a little bit - it seemed to happen after hitting a bump in the road (the road wasn't great, so that could just be coincidence). I found that turning the ignition key off and back on would make the lights reappear, so I drove home with one hand on the handlebar and the other on the ignition switch.
Of course, in the garage, I could not get it to repeat the symptoms.
The dealer says they can look at it two weeks from Thursday, and I have alternate transportation, so I'm not stuck. The handlebar switch recall has been done on this bike although I can't see how that might be related.
Has anyone had this happen to them? I suspect the ignition switch since that is the only thing that would affect all of the electrical system. But why would the bike continue to run?
No, I'm not being metaphorical, I really mean all the lights went out. There were no headlights, no driving lights, no turn signals. Also no horn, no tach or speedo, no dash lights, no aftermarket driving lights, and none of the handlebar switches did anything. The bike continued to run just fine, just no external lighting at all.
After about 20 seconds, everything came back on. It was like I turned the ignition off except it continued to run just fine.
This happened several times during the ride home - luckily I was in relatively heavy traffic with little danger of being rear-ended (or so I told myself).
Since it happened repeatedly, I was able to experiment a little bit - it seemed to happen after hitting a bump in the road (the road wasn't great, so that could just be coincidence). I found that turning the ignition key off and back on would make the lights reappear, so I drove home with one hand on the handlebar and the other on the ignition switch.
Of course, in the garage, I could not get it to repeat the symptoms.
The dealer says they can look at it two weeks from Thursday, and I have alternate transportation, so I'm not stuck. The handlebar switch recall has been done on this bike although I can't see how that might be related.
Has anyone had this happen to them? I suspect the ignition switch since that is the only thing that would affect all of the electrical system. But why would the bike continue to run?