Understanding the Ground Circuit on a Vintage Honda Motorcycle

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We often compare the electrical system on a vintage Honda motorcycle to a sandwich. It is easy to get caught up with the multicolor birds' nest of wires but those are only the sandwich toppings. Before adding your toppings, you need to understand the solid base that makes the sandwich, the bread. In this video, we give you the foundational knowledge to understand the ground circuit, the bottom bread.

The ground circuit shows itself in various ways on a vintage Honda motorcycles like the CB175, CB200, CB350, CB360, CB450, CB550, and CB750 families of motorcycles. It consists of not only the metal frame and pieces on the motorcycle but also the dedicated ground wires that run through the harness. Be sure to watch until the end of the video to get a better idea of what to expect with the ground circuit and a few idiosyncrasies in the way it is implemented.

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Contents of this video:

00:00 - Introduction
00:28 - Why understanding ground is so important
01:14 - How does the ground system work?
01:49 - On-bench demonstration of the ground system
02:59 - How to test what is grounded
04:38 - Understanding why some parts are not grounding
05:37 - How to deactivate ground
05:55 - The dark green ground circuit
08:45 - Front turn signal grounding path
11:00 - Handlebar grounding path
11:30 - Important points to takeaway
12:54 - Conclusion