Will swapping icu’s damage anything??

mavis cruet

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Hello folks. A while back i fitted a new swanky aftermarket bean can and icu from motorworks (alpha or motoelectric i think is the make) to my r100gs and all is ticketyboo. But can i get the old girl to start on the kickstarter? No! Before fitting said gubbins, i had A ‘kickstart’ version of the icu fitted and she always started without fail. Now she doesn’t even try. So, can i swap the new icu back to my old ‘kickstart’ icu to see if it makes any difference? And if it does, can i leave that one on instead? I just don’t want to bugger things up by faffing around.
Cheers in advance,
Karl.
 
Hello folks. A while back i fitted a new swanky aftermarket bean can and icu from motorworks (alpha or motoelectric i think is the make) to my r100gs and all is ticketyboo. But can i get the old girl to start on the kickstarter? No! Before fitting said gubbins, i had A ‘kickstart’ version of the icu fitted and she always started without fail. Now she doesn’t even try. So, can i swap the new icu back to my old ‘kickstart’ icu to see if it makes any difference? And if it does, can i leave that one on instead? I just don’t want to bugger things up by faffing around.
Cheers in advance,
Karl.
Mebbs give motorworks a bell,but I wouldn’t mix and match without having more info from manufacturers.:rob
 
Must be a good reason as to why they supply a specific ICU to go with the new bean can. I'm thinking that these electronic parts are just talking to each other about when to fire the spark, as such perhaps the old ICU might give you kicksstarting back but that the timing will potentially be off when running somewhere up the rev range. All of this is just me guessing stuff, so as Mike says best to check with the supplier.
 
I believe if you fit the old ICU it may well run, but you will have no ignition advance curve as this is contained in the new ICU - the advance being dealt with by way of the bob weights in the old bean can.

So, no it "probably" wont damage anything, but it would be pointless.
 
If it’s the type without the mechnical advance unit then I believe the trigger is set a max. advance and relies on the electronics to retard retard the spark based on engine revs.. This may also explain why it won’t start on the kickstarter.
 
All of the ignition modules power down the coil if they don’t see a trigger from the pickup, they generally power down within a second protect the coil. When you crank the engine the first pulse from the triggers wakes the module up, the second pulse fires the coil. The problem with the non kickstart module is you can’t turn the engine fast enough with the kickstart to prevent it powering down the coil, all you are ever doing is waking the module up.
The kickstart module keeps the coil powered up for longer to give you a chance to get a second kick in.

If you put a multimeter across the coil you’ll see what I mean.

I guess the fancy after market one lowers down quickly
 
Sounds a bit remiss of the designers of the new beanbag to not factor in the kickstarters when reworking the ICU, a large number of the Gs and GSPD bikes Ive seen from Germany have the kickstarters fitted as standard.
 
Sounds a bit remiss of the designers of the new beanbag to not factor in the kickstarters when reworking the ICU, a large number of the Gs and GSPD bikes Ive seen from Germany have the kickstarters fitted as standard.

I think bmw only fitted the airheads with kickers to prove that Germans do have a sense of humour
 
I believe if you fit the old ICU it may well run, but you will have no ignition advance curve as this is contained in the new ICU - the advance being dealt with by way of the bob weights in the old bean can.

So, no it "probably" wont damage anything, but it would be pointless.


Electronic ignition is a pointless exercise.
 
The electronics need 200 rpm to fire up. You arnt going to get from a kickstarter. That was the problem witb my r100/7 anyway. Not kickstart but knackerd battery which would start with points but not electronic. How did I find that out? Well it was after I binned the “faulty” bits. JJH
 
No you can’t interchange the ecu on the aftermarket kit with original as mentioned before, because it has in-built electronic advance curve. I also believe that that system is designed to cope with kick-starters but I think everything has to be bang on for that to work csrbs sorted, battery good. I timed mine (same system but for open points bikes) using the proper static timing tool that plugs into the pick-up can. It checked out on the strobe at full advance after. Maybe that may help it?
 
So, i spoke to motorworks and they said that trying the old icu wont damage anything, but not to run the bike with it. So I’ve just tried it and the bike started first kick. Swopped back to the new icu and not a huff. So ill give mw a bell tomorrow and take things from there... cheers for all you help so far. K.
 
So, i spoke to motorworks and they said that trying the old icu wont damage anything, but not to run the bike with it. So I’ve just tried it and the bike started first kick. Swopped back to the new icu and not a huff. So ill give mw a bell tomorrow and take things from there... cheers for all you help so far. K.

I gave up with mine and sent it back. It would not run above 4000rpm.
 
You expend far less energy by push starting an airhead than by trying to kick start the fecker.
 


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