Circuit breaker trips '89 Springer

[Numbutz]

I ride the heck out of this bike and never had a problem like this before.

Loaded it in the pickup to spend some time with my gal in Phoenix. Ran fine until I pulled it off the truck. (probably not associated).

Idles fine for extended period, even reving some, but once I ride it, the main circuit breaker trips and everything goes out. Wait a few moments, it will start but then trip again.

I did find some damaged wiring in the tailight assembly and suspected a bare brake light wire was shorting to ground. Rewired same and it didn't help. I'm just getting frustrated and thought maybe someone here had a clue.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Wide]

The breakers go bad, known issue.

make sure you dont have any wires that are worn off and shorting out

[Numbutz]

Thank Wide.

I changed the breaker and it runs just a little longer but does the same thing. I noticed as I increase the RPM's gradually in the garage, it seems to quit at a certain speed... I'm thinking it might be a bad coil? Didn't find any suspicious wiring issues. Ever see that problem? Going to go look up the coil resistance values in the morning and measure it... I fortunately have a multimeter with me.

[Wide]

Hmmm, if the breaker trips then you do have a short

Sounds like your on the right way

multimeters rule

[Numbutz]

Finally fixed!

Sumabich was pain in the arse to find!

What tipped me off was I removed the hboard and took it for a ride, hoping to see what might be going on. I noticed the he chrome plate was arcing against the gas tank, so I measured the voltage from gas tank to frame (it's mounted on rubber bushings, don't forget) and the tank was sitting at 12V! What happened is a wire in the harness behind the left gas tank had worn through the insulation and would occasionally short to the tank, which would occasionally short to ground through the chrome plate! Not consistent and quite dependent on vibration!!!

This had me pulling my hair out but it's fixed.