Strobe Lights!

[RubyRider]

A couple of my riding buddies has been tellin me lately that my brake lights have been putting on a strobe light show when we get on some uneven pavement. After some investigation into the matter, it seemed like the likely suspect is my front brake lever.

The front master cylinder apears to be releasing all the way, but there is no spring inside the housing to push the lever all the way back out. Sometimes when I was trying to diagnose the cause of this, if I pulled in the brake lever hard, then super slow released the pressure on the brake lever, the switch wouldnt click open and the brake lights would remain on. So I removed the lever to try to adjust the switch.



This is what I saw inside. No aparent adjustment option.

So after some measuring and checking for clearance I decided the only option was to put a shim on the lever. There is plenty of room inside the housing to do so.

I went to my stash of odd size hardware goodies that I have collected over the years. (Everyone needs a stash of goodies!)
I carefully selected the best tiny screw, complete with lock washer and nut, with the smoothest head so as not to snag on the tiny rubber cover of the brake switch. Then after some careful measuring, drilled a small hole at the optimum spot so the new screw shim would center up on the switch.

The first hole was too small for the screw to pass thru........But Hey, thats ok, because you can always drill it out larger, but if its too big the first time, Then YOU ARE SCREWED, because you cant drill it smaller!

So after the next size bit was used, I was able to install and tighten the new shim screw.



After reinstallation and several rides with flawless brake light function, the "Strobe Light" problem no longer exists.

I realize this is "Red Neck Engineering," But Hey,  Maybe More Engineers Should Be Rednecks!