I was riding home this morning and I decided to take a little longer route just to let the bike warm up a bit and got about halfway home and the bike started backfiring, popping and chugging and then when I pulled in the clutch to make a turn it died..

I let the clutch out to make the turn and it almost went out from under me.  there was a car next to me so I couldn't hear it running when I made the turn.

I check the pettfuelvalvethingy (yes I know what it is called   ) and it appeared to be in the right position.  After that it would not start.  I ended up pushing it half way home.  On the way there I figure that I would try a roll start as prescribed in the manual in 2nd gear.  It popped over and ran all the way home.  

Later this afternoon I went out to see if it would start and it did and ran for a few minutes at an idle then the idle got slower and slower but it would still rev.  Eventually the idle got so slow that it stalled and would not restart.  

I haven't tried it since.


Any ideas?

Tank is half full of fuel and the choke was not on.  

I haven't tried tapping the side of the carb yet.

I hadn't ridden the bike in about 2 weeks due to vacation and I come back to it doing this.   Might be a little gunk in there I guess.

Along the lines of getting rid of sediment, it's not a bad idea to drain a bit of fuel from the float bowl every month or so. It's amazing what builds up in there.

Pull your plug. I'll bet its in need of attention.

Checking the fuel supply is a great place to start because its easy and cheap to sort out....

But what you have described to us there sounds to me like a sterotypical electrical problem.  It could be something as simple as a shot spark plug, or it could be a prob with the HT coil (the one the plug lead is attached to) or the Ignition coils inside your motor.  You can check your spark by pulling the plug out, connecting it to the HT lead and grounding it on the motor somewhere.  Then turn over the motor.  The spark should be "fat", very bright, and regular.  If it appears thin, dull and or is only occuring intermittently then thats your problem.  Replace the plug, try again.  If its still crap then its one of those two coils which is the problem.  The cheapest way of finding out which one it is is by substituting them one at a time with one off a mates bike that you know 100% runs well.

Note do this test at night, or in very low light.

ratdog472 wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:08:


Yes, on bottom of the float bowl.

I really can't say because I don't know the condition of your carb but I know I'd want to at least have a look inside and make a judgment as to whether it warranted anything else.  You can usually rejet and do the spacer mod without removing the carb (just loosen and rotate it slightly for access), so an inspection should be pretty easy once the seat and tank are off.

The bike is a 2001 with 11,000 miles on it.  It is in good condition with the usual slight oil leak from the plug.  I've only owned the bike for about a month or so and really have done nothing for mods except relocate the rear turn signals being that the stock ones were trashed.