mornhm - FSO wrote on 12/26/07 at 06:26:48:


Thanks! I guess I'll be taking it apart later and probably convert to standard on/off/res.

And thank you, to everyone who posted.

Well, it's done. I've got the petc0ck converted, and the bike runs much better. After I finished the conversion yesterday morning, I took a quick trip in the 42° weather. Not even one hiccup! It ran as well as it did in the 50's and 60's.

Now I'm only limited to how warm I can bundle up. I didn't ride this morning, which was 22°, as I didn't feel that I had warm enough clothes. I'll fix that this afternoon.

An interesting observation: this bike idles for a loooong time with the fuel cut off. During my initial test of the petc0ck conversion, I cranked up my bike and let it idle for a bit, then switched the valve to 'off' aka 'pri'. I was expecting to idle for a short time then die, but it kept running and running. At first I thought I messed up the valve and it was leaking, so I pulled off the fuel line; a little fuel ran out, and the bike kept running and running. It did finally die, but it lasts a long time on just the fuel in the bowl!

Thanks again to all who help me out!

Verdict is in: I can ride in the cold.
I came to work this morning at 29°F. I was bundled up well enough that only my fingertips got cold. I only had a couple of problems that may be related or just an old bike problem. The worst was my own dumb fault.

I was riding along fine when it seemed like I was running out of gas, so I switched to reserve and the engine smoothed out. I stopped to get gas and only had to put in 1.4gal. Which was strange.

Then I couldn't crank up again; I had stupidly forgotten to turn the fuel off and the engine flooded, I think. I did finally get it started again after nearly draining the battery. And it did act like it was running out of gas again. Holding the throttle open kept it running, and letting the clutch slip kept the bike from lunging erratically. It smoothed out after 10-15 seconds.

Would these be symptoms of a sticky float?

Not necesarrily a sticky float,but when you do the conversion always make sure it is shut off.Just the pressure(weight)of the fuel on it will make it leak.It can leak in reserve with the petc0ck conversion.Prime would then be Off.