hmmmm ....I had a similar problem, especially the 2nd gear hesitation stuff and conking out when one of the battery terminals was slightly loose. Just an idea...

Larry

oops i turned the choke off after the bike died.  by then the engine was warmed up.  

at first i was only able to start it while turning the throttle a lil.

happened this afternoon again.

the bike started fine this morning, and this time I pullled out the choke all the way and let it warm up for like a minute then turned the choke off.  on my way to work....no hesistation bike ran perfect.  after work, i turned on the choke for like 10 seconds to start the bike and warm it up.  then i turned it off and rode out....at the stop light my revs started to go back down and it stalled out.   i managed to start it again while turning the throttle.  i had to maintain a lil pressure on the throttle to keep it from stalling and i could feel hesistation during 2nd gear for only a little bit....after about 5 minutes i could let go of the throttle and it would idle fine.  

oh yah!  while I was trying to start it at the stop light(it was red....thank goodness)  turning the choke on did not help at all.....

am i running too lean or rich?  upon shutting off the bike i got a lil backfire.....not too loud just a nice pop.

Thought so....

Since you found the issue with the choke (leaving it on too long) now you may need to put the other adjustments back the way they were in the beginning of all this.  Adjust the air screw to the highest idle speed, and then adjust the idle speed back down to about 1200 (lowest smooth running speed, if you don't have a tach)

unless you added a fuel filter there isn't one.

it does sound like a loose electrical connection.

william Hutt wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:05:

Easy thing to check is the connections to the coil, these connectors can get a bit lose and cause odd running however as described and since you have had the diaphragm/slide out of the carb this sounds like a hanging slide to me. It dies and is hard to start when you pull in the clutch because it floods the engine because the slide did not close the needle jet as much as it should because the slide is hanging toward the bottom of it's travel because the spring the was not centered on the cover, or the slide was a little dirty, say from oil on your hands, when it was reinstalled or the rubber was not seated correctly in the grove.  

I would pull the slide back out of the carb and with a clean paper towel rub it down real clean and wipe out the tube the slide fits in - if that paper towel is dirty when your done it'd bet that was the root issue - this does get worse was the bike gets hotter - I guess the slide expands more than the aluminum tube it fits in and the tolerance closes.

Chased this down twice now you'd think I'd learn!      

I believe it is the vaccum line to the gas thingy and this is why.  I was riding last night when it started stalling and hesitating.  I reached down and put the tank on prime, this bypasses the vaccum line which is required on reserve and main settings.  In other words, no vaccum no gas on those two settings.   It took mabey 10 seconds and I was rolling again.  I switch the tank back to main several more times and ended up switching back to prime to keep me rolling.  If nothing else its repeatable.  

I am going replace the vaccum line and see if that helps.
I am thinking(hoping) that the line is colapsing from heat or age.  The bike is a 1998.

Any thoughts?  

The above was done on a full tank of gas, gas filter cleaned, flushed gas tank, added clear gas line to make sure gas was getting to carb, Cleaned vent holes in gas cap, made sure vaccum line was open on carb end,  made sure I could not suck gas from the gas thingy end, and carb vaccum line to gas thingy secured.

If your wounder if there was gas in the line when it started acting up the answer is yes.  Remember when you where a kid and you stuck a straw down in a glass of water then put your finger tip over the end then pulled the straw out of the glass. The water would stay in the straw until you took you finger off the end.   The same  thing appears to be happening here.  When the gas thingy is on Main or Res it requires that the finger be removed(vaccum present) to let the gas flow.  This explains why there can be gas in the line but can't get into the carb when there is no vaccum present at the gas thingy

No Vaccum at gas thingy = Finger over end of straw.    

sunny wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:05:


I'm sorry Sunny, but Mr. Hutt is right.
There is a built in fuel filter inside the gas tank attached to the end of the petc*ck