Motorcycle Repair: 1985 VT1100 Shadow, multimeter, major components

Question
Hi Chris, I have this "85 shadow that just quit as if the key was just turned off. The starter would no longer energise. Still like the key was turned off. I discovered that the ignition fuse had blown, I replaced the 10amp fuse, the machine ran again. Now, however, it has progressed to the point that the motor will crank, run for a second or two, blow the fuse and die. Then nothing till I replace the fuse again. This repeats every time. Where do I look?  

Answer
Hi John.
 Get the repair manual out and refer to the wiring diagram as you will be chasing down a short in the system.  The short will be after the fuse that keeps blowing out, not before it, so that part of the wiring (power to fuse) should be no concern.  The short could also be a component of bad connections as well.

Fuses only blow when too much power goes through them.  This normally only happens if there is a short in the wiring or a shorted out component.  Use a multimeter as well as visual inspection (wherever possible) to find the short.  If it is in one of the components, then there should be test proceedures in the manual for each of the major components.

Good luck.
FALCON