Buffalo points, not that bad.

[Suzsmokeyallan]

I did a check on my points of the Buffalo before my jaunts across Alberta and British Columbia racking up the 2000 plus miles.
Then afterwards i did a recheck and was pleasantly surprised the timing marks were still in an acceptable position and the gaps good enough to be left alone.
The only thing i did was to lube the rub felt before and after the trip, which proves points can work and be acceptable for what they are in a modern world of electronics.

[Craig380]

Allen, I agree.

I've found that once a set of points has done an initial 1,000 miles or so, the gap will hardly change at all PROVIDING you keep the cam and fibre heel greased, with a spot of oil on the felt.

Every 3 months or so I 'wipe' a trace of grease onto the fibre heel of each point using the edge of a business card, and give the timing a quick check using the "AM-radio-tuned-to-static" method. Haven't needed to adjust anything for over 4,000 miles.

[tz375]

Points were invented in about 1901 and have done sterling service ever since. But is that a good enough reason to use such antiquated technology?

Points wear, timing wonders, condensors die and so it goes on.

That's not to say that people shouldn't use them, but with so many good choices available, why do it. If you don't trust electronics, take along a spare points plate "just in case".

I'm glad that the old-school electro-mechanical devices worked for the pair of you. Interestingly enough I have read a couple of posts/e,mails recenlty where people claimed to have all manner of strange things happening to their Newtronics units, and I suspect that they are voltage related.

It is quite possible that with a low battery, points might fire where electronics may drop out.

[Suzsmokeyallan]

Oh im not advocating points are perfect but theres a couple of features of points you can fix on the open road whereas you cant do that without a complete spare electronic unit.
For a stock buffalo the engine is set up so sedate that the points can wander a bit and it will still work good enough so its not like its a highly strung machine working to its design limits.
You raise a point that i had thought about Richard,,had the bike had on an electronic unit it would never have worked till the battery was totally dead on that trip.
I am of the belief that because the rpms were up above three thousand, the coils sparked off of each other in their respective magnetic flelds because they are so close together, this created the sparks necessary to keep it running.