TOPIC:

well. an out of control 12 year old skateboarder decided to tackle me as i was going through and intersection of which he had the stop. He was actually coming downhill on the sidewalk and into the intersection. Hitting the brakes, I was almost at a full stop by time he hit me broadside. No injuries but needless to say he knocked me off the bike and it hit the pavement. Bent the left turn signal and clutch pull. small scratch on the left side crank cover.

Anyway here is the reason for posting in the electrical. Ever since, it seems like the turn signals are blinking slower on the left side than the right. just ever so slightly especially when the headlight is on too. Since i like to drive with my headlight on this presents a small problem. I dont know whether this was happening already or i am just noticing it now because of the accident. Any body have the same issue?

Also i noticed a wee bit of leakage around the battery on one of the fill caps. Do i need to check the battery out. The bike starts fine.

Is there anything else i need to worry about mechanically or electrically now that i have dumped it for the first time. Arggh!
thanks everybody.

First of all, glad noone got hurt - hopefully the 12-year old learned the lesson of a lifetime and realize how lucky he was.

Sounds like you didn´t go down too hard, but just for peace of mind I´d go over the front end (including brakes) and check that everything is true and tight. Also check that the alternator cover didn´t shift or come loose, it´s pretty exposed sticking out on the left like that - you don´t want the stator or field coil dragging on the rotor. Lastly I´d check the battery fluid level, that´s about it.

I would make sure your signal grounds are firmly connected. I would swap light bulbs from one side to the other and see if the problem switches sides. if it isn't the bulbs, it is the wiring.

You've got to be the first biker that was t-boned by a skateboarder! Glad no serious injuries/damage.

Your turnsignal flasher is probably stock, and it's "load dependent". If the bulbs (or wiring) on one side require more current, then the speed of the blinking is affected.
If that's it, then the best way to fix it (IMHO), is to replace the flasher. The new flashers will run the blinkers at a constants speed, regardless of load. Mine takes a Tridon TL-12, I think. It's a direct replacement...just unplug the old one, and plug in the new one. $13.00 at Autozone.

The load changes, because over the years, the turnsignal bulbs have been replaced, and although they fit in the socket and work OK, the load rating on the bulb may be different than the original.

C'mon tell us what happened next in the story. Did he run? Did he apologize?

I hope he at least got a little singe from the exhaust...

Thanks to all who posted. everything seems ok. the back left blinker has been working part time. Today i stuck some dielectric grease on the connection and it seems to be fixed. im still not sure if the slight slowdown in the blinker is a result of the accident. Changing the flasher out seems like my next step. Makes sense! Thanks.

As for the rest of the story. I looked over at him. he was limping around all over the place and i thought "oh no he is injured". Then i looked at his feet. he had shoes with the soles ripped almost completely off. his bare feet were on the pavement and the soles were flopping on the sides. this explains the limping around. Then i realized that the reason he could not stop himself was because he had no soles on his shoes. Duhh! Anyway he said he was fine and was very apologetic. He knew he screwed up. I thought that if he couldn't afford to get some new shoes then he probably wouldn't be able to pay for any damage done. Plus his redneck mother or sister or both was yelling at him from up the street. "what did you do". I figured he was in for a wooping if i decided to go to his folks. He seemed like a nice kid who screwed up. We have all done it. Anyway he extended his hand as a gesture of thanks for not unleashing the beating myself and we parted ways. Took a few moments to get my stalled bike started but i was on my way. trembling the whole way home.

You should hope that you do not meet this kid twelve years from now when he is in a hot rod and not on a skate board.