1981 Yamaha sr250

What happened?! Just finally got to change out my bars and put on some home made turn signals I put together... And after I got everything back together, the bike won't start. All my electrics seem to work but when I hit the start button.... Nothing happens except that my headlight dims as normal. She doesn't even try to turn over. I though maybe the battery but everything else works... Any ideas?
 
Motorsports batteries (especially flooded-cell) do not last all that long (couple years maybe) nor do they get fully charged from the vehicle unless run above 1000 rpm for a fairly long time. If you have not been using the bike much, the battery just might need recharged (the starter requires a fair amount of current). If you have had the battery on a maintenance charger, maybe take it to a battery sales place to have it load tested.

Edit - download the Electrosport electrical fault diagnosis chart here: http://www.electrosport.com/technical-resources/diagnosis-center/fault-finding-guide
 
What voltage does the battery read? Is it in neutral? Is the run switch on?

Sorry for the dumb questions, but they are the baseline for problem solving.

I had a problem with the neutral relay on my SR. I made a piece of wire with two male spade ends and bypassed it. Check out that after you check the obvious.
 
Don't worry about the questions, there are no dumb ones. It is in neutral and I can hear the relay click when I turn the run switch on. It's only charging to 2A... I know that's not enough for the starter. I think it may just be the cheap motorsports battery because it tried to start at first but after a few failed attempts I shut everything down and took a break for lunch. After that I tried to start it and... Nothing. I may check the fault chart just to see today.
 
sr250 the starter switch is grounded to the handlebar. loosen up the switch assembly and see where the contact point is on the bar and file away some of the paint so it contacts the bare metal. If your bars are aluminum you may need to solder a ground wire and run it back to the frame if for some reason it is not "enough" grounding. Same thing happened to me. Good luck take more pictures of the progress!!
 
pigp3n said:
sr250 the starter switch is grounded to the handlebar. loosen up the switch assembly and see where the contact point is on the bar and file away some of the paint so it contacts the bare metal. If your bars are aluminum you may need to solder a ground wire and run it back to the frame if for some reason it is not "enough" grounding. Same thing happened to me. Good luck take more pictures of the progress!!
That's exactly what it was. I did put a new battery in it anyway, but she's actually cranking now... It is giving me troubles staying on now though. Here's ere's a few pic updates
 

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Okay she's running... Kind of. Turns out the reason it wouldn't stay running is that someone had siphoned all my gas out of my tank. Think I. Should have checked that sooner anyway I started it up and hopped on, so excited to go for a ride, slapped it in gear... Or so I thought, went to take off and it just revved. Now it won't switch gears or even recognize it's in a gear. Shifter won't change gears. I replaced the oil seal and had to remove the chain and all drive goodies to do so.... I think I put it together wrong. ugh
 
Nahh the relay is only there to stop you starting it in gear.

I would start by checking the clutch cable adjustment and making sure that there is no kinks in the cable. Also what kind of oil are you using?
Is the shifter hard to push?
Do you feel it click when you shift gears?
 
Brodie said:
Nahh the relay is only there to stop you starting it in gear.

I would start by checking the clutch cable adjustment and making sure that there is no kinks in the cable. Also what kind of oil are you using?
Is the shifter hard to push?
Do you feel it click when you shift gears?

Okay.
I will check the cable in the morning for any kinks. I'm using 4t full synthetic in it.
The shifter feels normal but it will only shift up one and down one and I can feel it when it does. It's strange bc I can put it in first, let go of the clutch and it won't jump or stall. Also it's not recognizing neutral anymore. I don't know what happened
 
Something happen to the shift shaft when you replaced the oil seal? There is an alignment mentioned on page 3-21 of the manual. Disassemble the parts you worked with to see.
 
... Clutch cable
So when I changed the bars it changed the tension in the cable... Guess I should have adjusted that first. Duh me lol
 
Well at least you sorted it. This has been on my mind trying to work out what could have happened haha.
 
True, it was bugging me for days and I didn't have much time to tinker with it. Thanks for keeping it in mind
 
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