So, it has now been confirmed that we don’t have one of the “Russian Grenades” for an alternator! Unless something drastic happens, that alternator should last us quite awhile, apparently. This is good, because apparently they’re a bitch and a half to replace.
The other bit of good news is more like…potential good news. As I wrote earlier today, something has been mysteriously draining our battery. Thanks to a very helpful BMW & Ural mechanic on Soviet Steeds (who, indeed, has told us to call him in the future – for free – if there are any problems, since he has the same model and year we do), we may have found the problem without ever having to touch a wire: there’s a hidden kill switch underneath the seat that you’re supposed to turn off each time you turn off the engine for more than an hour or two. The mechanic we bought the bike from didn’t know about it, and so neither did we, and it has been on this entire time! The general consensus seems to be that this is our problem, rather than a parasitic short on one of the wires. I really hope that’s the case, because then it’s just user error rather than a mechanical problem. Thankfully, it’s a pretty simple thing to check for, apparently, so we’ll be installing a newly-charged battery tomorrow (our spare) and we’ll go from there.
I hope that when we install the new (charged) battery and do the recommended tests, that the problem is indeed the switch, because if we wait much longer in the year to start riding, most of our riding is going to look like this:
