By Mike Johnson
I'm a computer recalcitrant. To me the word processor was a breakthrough, maybe the spreadsheet too, but much of the other hype I could live without. But now we have a new breakthrough, the Internet. Let me give you just one of my experiences.
I own a rather rare motorcycle called a Honda TransAlp. There may be a dozen in Arizona. It sells well in Europe but only sold in the USA for a couple of years in the late '80s. The TransAlp has a twin cylinder engine but a few months ago mine started running intermittently on only one cylinder. I left the bike with my local Honda dealer for a week but he could find nothing wrong. Two days later it was intermittently misfiring again.
I entered a search on the Internet using just "TransAlp" as input. I was soon in contact with hundreds of owners all around the world. Some had detailed their TransAlp problems over the years.
One particular TransAlp home page described my symptoms exactly. It explained that the bike had two CDI (Capacitive Discharge Ignition) units located under the seat. If the tachometer quit too during the misfire, it was probably a defective left hand CDI, otherwise it was the RH CDI. Interchanging the units and observing the tachometer would identify the problem.
They said the CDIs were expensive and were potted in plastic but could sometimes be opened with a milling machine and repaired. It described just how deep to mill and it showed pictures of the units they had tried to repair. I milled mine but found no defects to repair. Internet gave CDI replacement prices around Europe - about $170 each - with the cheapest to be found in Switzerland. They gave an E-mail address for ordering. My local Honda dealer wanted about $170 too.
The Internet led me to another local enthusiast, Bob, who was looking for a TransAlp. I shared my enthusiasm for the bike and he soon located one (through the Internet of course) and flew off to Sacramento, bought it, and rode it home to Phoenix.
Bob generously offered to interchange CDI units between our bikes for diagnostic tests. After a few short test rides we were convinced I needed one new CDI.
I got on the Internet again and found a US mail order source for $133 including shipping. Two weeks later I had it installed and for 300 miles all seemed well. Then the problem recurred. A few tests, interchanging CDIs, confirmed that the second one was now bad too.
The thought of another two week wait prompted me to approach another local Honda dealer. Faced with my Internet price he discovered that he could supply the part for an incredibly coincidental price of $133 too, and with just a few days delivery.
I am happily smiling again with bugs in my teeth thanks to a lot of practical help from simply typing one word into the Internet.