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1973 R75/5 - stupid headlight question

Spaulding

Horizontally opposed
A question that is probably very stupid, but here it is anyway.

I took my R75/5 on a quick errand the other day. After about 10 minutes I came back and there was a guy standing by it who wanted to chat. Not unusual. But then he said that the headlight was on, so he had turned it off for me. Well, that's weird, but I said "thank you," etc.

Thinking that this probably wasn't possible as I had taken the key out, I took a closer look when I got back. Fiddling with the "flasher" switch on the left, I discovered that indeed, the very tiny spring and circlip were gone and that the flasher could now stay in the down position without springing back!

Annoying, but I happened to have an extra switch so I swapped them out to return the spring to the flasher.

Getting back to the question here - Is the flasher supposed to work even with the ignition key removed?? It most certainly does as it is now, just wondering if maybe there is something askew in the ignition switch assembly...

Appreciate your help, patience and understanding.
 
After reading above I walked out to the shed and tried the flasher on a 1972 R75/5
which has been parked for a month without key in it - flasher worked !
I believe this bike is all original never restored or modified other than seat
 
Flasher

In the original wiring configuration, the flasher option works without the key in the on position. I'm not near my bike right now, but if you pull the headlight off, you'll see, on the left side, as you look at the insides, a terminal with a heavy red wire. There is also another wire in this terminal. So if you choose to disable the high beam flasher, then remove the other wire (not the red wire) from the terminal.
 
Thanks much, gents.

Yes, the flasher worked without the key before and after the switch was swapped out - having the spring back keeps the light from staying on. I haven't noticed any battery drain over a couple weeks (being the longest it's ever sat), so I'll just leave it as-is.

Anybody have a spare spring/micro-circlip so I can rescue my old switch? Ha ha, that's a long shot! I don't think I've ever seen a circlip that small. It reminds me of the /7 "bb" in the kill switch that I sent flying across the shop. A lot of cursing ensued.
 
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