THE SWITCH

he first switch to find its way onto a motorcycle was the ignition system’s mechanical contact breaker. Send current into a primary coil to create a magnetic field, then suddenly stop that current. The magnetic field collapses, inducing a high-voltage into a secondary coil of many turns of fine copper wire wound over the primary. Connect that secondary across a sparkplug gap, and you have a source of timed ignition for an internal combustion