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Have found the pictures thanks, and the Piaggio parts diagrams. Workshop manual has no detail on assembly at all.  Looks pretty similar to X10, although shorter overall length. I think I will need to remove whole assembly and see if there's anything obviously loose or broken. Watch this space!

If its like the X9 there are 3 sections to the assembly. The key barrel which engages with the lock pawl which engages with the actual ignition switch.
The pawl sits loose in the shaft and the key barrel locates then is held by a 'hidden' circlip and the switch plugs in the front end again held with a more visible circlip.
Too much end play and the barrel or the pawl may lose engagement with the switch and not quite turn it enough then a road bump jolts it off again.
There is a photo of the assembly in the gallery somewhere.

Had a recent problem once when after making an uneventful journey I got on scoot to come home but although key turned to right ignition and instruments did not come on. It was as if there was too much free play and the barrel was turning ok but not enough for switch to make contact. After 5 minutes of retrying and locking/unlocking steering it came on OK and started and ran normally.

Next day as I was leaving work (After starting normally first time) the bike cut out and instruments and lights went off and flashing red immobiliser light came on (so just like turning the ignition off)

I stopped, turned ignition off and on and it restarted normally. I was able to ride home fine (54 miles of mainly motorway in increasing darkness) so needless to say I was terrified it might cut out again when I was in a dangerous position and speed.

I have tried the switch dozens of times today but works normally. There does seem to be quite a bit of free play in switch/barrel but as several parts join together I don't think its excessive. Looking in from the front under the instruments I can see the wire circlip is present and seated. I have not yet tried to remove whole barrel assembly as I am not sure how much more dash panelling I will have to remove. Has anyone else experienced this or have any ideas? I want to be sure it's secure as I don't fancy it cutting out again at motorway speeds!

The balance valve looks similar to the X9 in which case the rear brake bypasses the actual valve passing through a pair of siamesed banjo couplings, only the front brake goes via the valve itself. As such the sprung ball inside should effectively seal off the fluid between the input banjo and the calliper so only the rear needs bleeding if all you disturbed is at the rear.
If you disturb the front linked brake the whole lot needs doing and it can be a pain to get a firm lever.

Finally got round to filling/bleeding rear brake. I intended to try the reverse bleeding method where you take a syringe full of fresh fluid to bleed nipple and inject until reservoir is filled and air and old fluid is forced out. (A few videos on YouTube show different methods)

However in practice there's always a bit of air in tube from syringe. I tried it anyway after syringing old fluid out of reservoir (front left for rear brake) Took 2 or 3 small syringes, but as I reopened nipple to inject next syringe I could see there was a small amount of bubbles, so some air in system. After filling reservoir I closed the nipple and left last syringe attached (still with small amount of fresh fluid). I then resorted to 'standard' bleeding. As I was on my own, there's no physical way you can reach front left brake lever and rear caliper at the same time! I used a cable tie to apply left brake lever, but left just enough slack to be able to slip it off and on lever again. With brake on I then released the nipple to let air out and closed again.(When opened the still attached syringe would push the plunger out a fraction, which seemed to maintain pressure in system)  Back to the lever and slip cable tie off lever for a few seconds then back on to apply brake. After 3 or 4 of these cycles there was no air coming out so I closed off the nipple firmly and put the reservoir lid back on. Lever was firm and brakes working well. Haven't road tested yet but hopefully OK.

As previously mentioned there is a brake balance valve for the linked brakes. I didn't touch this at all so hopefully don't need to. The valve is situated beside the ABS control box and can be accessed by removing windscreen and the dash panel under windscreen. Another problem to look at now, but that's for a new post!

https://www.x9gallery.co.uk/home/displayimage.php?pid=19360&message_id=031af01d5471ff8e65027b8f15610153&message_icon=info#cpgMessageBlock

Hopefully link shows photo of area under clocks and windscreen/windscreen base panel. Brake balance valve is at right upper side with bleed nipple and yellow paint on bolts

Try Aprillia delaers for the Atlantic, these are still available in the US but the water pump cover would need changing and maybe the hoses forward to the rad. The Evo has a steel one the SL is all rubber. It will be a drop the engine out to do it easily without taking your knuckles off so probably best done next time the water pump seals go.

A friend of Solo's needs a stat for a 500sl and it would appear that they are no longer available. Not sure how easy a conversion to take the Evo one will be, I may have to find out one day.
Also, it would appear that AJ Suttons have ceased trading!

Bob

I haven't used the X9 since before Christmas so started it up at the weekend and although the battery was a little low it fired up OK. The only thing was it had a weird misfire so every 10 seconds or so it missed a beat. It didn't stall and it revved fine then I barely touched the kill switch and the immobiliser LED came on and the misfire got worse. I flicked the switch off, then back on and it wouldn't start. Several flicks of the switch and it came back on and started with no misfire. Time to buy a new switch as this is already my spare having a similar fault with the original a few years ago.
One thing I noticed going onto the usual spares places, Easyparts, Fowlers. Suttons etc is the lack of parts still available for the X9. Ebay seems to have a loads of Italian and Greek dealers selling all new parts off at reasonable prices as if clearing out their stores. Maybe the X9 is reaching end of life as anything much more than renewable service items are becoming harder to find. Luckily somone not far from me is braking a low mileage accident damaged 500 Evo so I have snapped up a few bits.

Go to the forum help section, there is a guide to uploading to our gallery then another post tells you how to link the pics into a post.

I've got a couple of pics, but I'm not sure how to post them on here. Any tips?