last year i got my hands on one and i am having problems with the electrial system. I’ll charge the battery and with the key not even in the bike i watch my meter go down. when i get the bike running the meter only shows 12 volts going into the battery.what can i do to get it to charge and to keep the battery charged. i already replaced the battery and cleaned the magneato
You might have a bad wire (short) somewhere? Happens a lot on old bikes. A bad headlamp can cause issues too even if the wiring is OK. I didn’t think the 81’s had magnetos? Don’t they have the stator/rectifier (regulator) setup? If so could be bad stator and/or rectifier they fail with age, mainly at the contacts.