I was riding and came to a red light, I downshifted and heard a spark/pop come from underneath the handlebars. It sounded like a shorted wire, I'm not too sure. Then a little while later I was riding on the throttle and heard the same thing except this time when it sparked, the throttle stopped giving the bike power and the whole bike seemed to just turn off for a split second.

I took a multimeter and checked the wiring from the starter switch down to the relay to the solenoid to make sure nothing is wrong with the starter or the run/kill switch. Everything checked out from the multimeter.

Anyone have any ideas what this could be?

 

make, model, year, mods & miles would help

 

I am trying to figure that out as I type this into my profile, forgive me for I just got this bike a month or two ago and am new to this forum.

It's a 1999 Fatboy. I don't believe there are any mechanical or electrical mods t it, just pipes, air filter cover, primary cover. Nothing too special. It has 28,900 miles on it.

Also, I was riding it one time and the bike made a bad grinding noise when I went to start it. Apparently the starter engaged as the bike was running and chewed up the ring gear and the pinion gear. I replaced everything. The entire clutch assembly, and a new pinion gear. 70 miles later, it happened again. I replaced those same parts and this time threw a new starter clutch in there. The grinding noise hasn't returned..yet meaning the starter isnt engaging on its own, but I've had the bike for two months and that's the only history of it that I personally have

 

I just moved the bike into the garage and when the handlebars were all the way to the left, I heard the pop/spark again except there was no loss of power this time

 

Short in the right side of the handlebars? Internally run wires? Prolly not as you say it is fairly stockish. I think you're already on the right path.
Good luck!

 

So I should just check the headlight, highway lights, turn indicators, highbeam, turn signal wires and trace them all? Looking for a bare or pinched wire? Is there an easier way to do this since not all of these wires are easy to access?

Is there anything else I should do?

 

Don't ride the bike until you find it and fix it.
It ain't gonna fix itself and you don't want to get stranded.
It could be inside a wire loom where it can't be seen easily.
That means you may have to cut the loom to see inside or pull individual wires.
I'd expect it to be a break or a short in a main feed to something since you are losing your ignition. The pop you hear would indicate to me something that is carrying a pretty good amp load.

 

I will keep off of the bike for now, but when I check the wires what should I be looking for? A bare wire? The guy who owned the bike before me soldered a bunch of wires because he constantly switched the handlebars out. One of the connections was bare so I wrapped it in tape and pushed it back into where it came from. Is there something I should be looking for, I'm honestly not too sure what a wire loom is

Also, since the ignition cut out, should I be checking any wires in particular?

 

Also, since the ignition cut out, should I be checking any wires in particular?

 

Your pop is most likely caused by a bare wire shorting to ground.

I would start with what you did last. Your wrapping job on PO's connections.

Look for bare or blackened wires.

I think the wire loom is the black plastic sleeve that covers a specific bundle of wires.