TECH
Strategically placed zip ties not only hold wires in place, but relieve strain on the wires, helping them to stay connected more reliably.
I have five accessories that require power: HID driving lights,
a FIAMM horn (130 decibels!), my Gerbing jacket liner, a set of heated Corbin seats and a Garmin zumo 590 GPS. The Fuze- block has six sets of terminals; the sixth got the aux socket that was previously wired straight to the battery. Wiring the aux socket straight to the battery was something a lot of folks did on this generation of bikes, as otherwise you had to do a CAN bus dance to connect a battery charger; with the direct connection, there’s no process to remember. Running the socket through the fuse panel makes sense, as it can head off any possible issues that might cause the wiring to overheat. I set everything to switched power except for the GPS and the aux socket, because I want them to work when the ignition is off. After connecting all the accessory wires—some lengthened, others trimmed down—I labelled the Fuzeblock and closed it up. With the electrics sorted, it was time to do what I initially set
out to accomplish: CHANGE THE OIL! BMW specifies Cas- trol lubricants, and while I don’t always use them, this isn’t the place (or time) for a religious discussion about what oils you should use or whether to put 180 or 220 ml of gear oil in your final drive. When in doubt, and unless you have a strong opin- ion about these things, use what BMW says to use. The clutch slave cylinder got fresh fluid when it got replaced
(see Part Four), so after the engine, transmission and final drive got their oils, all that was left to do was flush and bleed the brake system. Getting the cap off the master cylinder isn’t difficult, but it
goes easier (and you’re less prone to make a mistake and break something) if you use the special BMW tool. Luckily, this one (p/n 83 30 0 402 038) is under $20, and you can order it from any BMW motorcycle dealer. It fits on both the brake fluid and the clutch fluid reservoirs. I’ll look at the brake system flush/ bleed process in a future article that looks at the linked/power brake and ABS system in general.
54 BMW OWNERS NEWS August 2016
My goal was to keep the wiring neat and only as long as it needed to be. The ground wires for the horn and the HID lights are connected to the chassis, and since they weren’t problematic, I didn’t see any reason to move them. Note how easy it is to change an accessory from switched to unswitched power—just move the fuse! This is one of the pros of the FZ-1.
Everything is labelled for quick and easy reference; since I didn’t hook up the heated seat, it’s not listed.
The only thing left to do was take the bike for a test ride! I wasn’t
sure what to expect when I got on, but after replacing all the electri- cal components, I at least knew the battery had a full charge. It fired right up and sounded good. I had never ridden a brand-new BMW, so I didn't know what
they feel like when they’re fresh out of the crate. I imagine they feel like what riding my GS felt like on that test ride—spirited and ready for anything. The engine ran smoothly, the transmission shifted nicely, I braked with confidence, and my aux lights and GPS stayed on the whole time.
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