Some of you may have seen in the post on our recent south island tour that I suffered an alternator failure and completed the trip (well, as far as KB member and old friend Freebird's place just north of Wellington) by running on 2 batteries and recharging them overnight.
Whilst we were down south, two bike dealers both recommended a guy in the north island for electrical re-winding. They reckoned his repairs were better than new! As a new alternator stator was going to cost me ~$800 ex-Japan or a reconditioned one just over $300 ex-UK, I thought I’d try local first. I rang Ken Cairns Electrical Services in Dinsdale, Hamilton and was immediately impressed with his huge knowledge of bike electrical systems covering several decades! Apparently, alternator or reg/rectifier failures are relatively common irrespective of the make of bike, particularly newer models which are "built to a price". I sent the stator to him a week before Easter and got a call from him last night saying that it was ready. Completely rewound for the sum of $209 which I was pretty darned impressed with.
So, if you are unlucky enough to run into charging problems, you could do much worse than give Ken a ring (07 847 4233). Sure beats going through a dealer for a new part!
Now all I have to do is fly down to Wellington and collect my bike in the next week or two. The tour isn’t over until she’s safely tucked up at home!
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Originally Posted by Warr
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