A couple of weeks ago, my bike suddenly shut down on the freeway on my way home from work. It was as if I had hit the kill switch and it did not sputter as if it had ran out of gas.

  I pulled over to the median and tried to resart her... no luck. **It did not run out of gas. That was the first thing I thought of. Tried starting it and the starter turned and turned but nothing more than that.  The bike is now at home and I still can't get her to start.

This is what I have done so far:
-it has gas
-pulled and cleaned carb
-spark plug has spark

As soon as I can get a compression tester i will try that next. In the mean time I am asking for any ideas as I am not sure what else to do.

First,.. if you've been cranking a while and not had fire,... pull the spark plug, and squirt a teaspoon of oil into the cylinder... it may have lost compression do to gas wash in the chamber...
Second,... just for me,... unplug and replug,... the clutch lever ignition cutout... (2 wire connector, at the hand lever,..)...
Third,... check the vacuum line that runs from the right side of the carb, up to the rear of the petcock,... make sure it's secure and has no leaks or cracks...

Then try starting again...
if that don't do it,... report back...

It is a 2006 with just under 20k miles. I bought it in 2008 with 746 miles on it. I mainly ride to and from work, 40 miles each way.

I will get the tester from harbor freight tomorrow and replace the vacuum tube.

i had that problem once and for days i was dumb founded. then i tightned the bolt at the bottom of the kickstand and it fired right up. if its loose, the bike just dies as if you had let the kickstand down while running. at least check it. most likely your vacuum hose tho

If it sounds normal while cranking, I would not suspect a compression or valve timing problem.

W/o any sputtering, I would normally not suspect a fuel problem. But if it has spark, I guess it would have to be,.....either that, or spark timing.

The carb itself would be the last thing I would have suspected.

I would bet on either the clutch cutout, or the kickstand cutout.
I consider both of those to be solutions to non existent problems.

If you try to ride away with the kickstand down, the bike will train you not to.
If you try to start the bike in gear, he bike will rain you not to.

That's the way it was for the first 80 years of motorcycling, until some idiot lawmaker who should not even be on a bike had it happen and instead of learning for himself, he passed a law so that the manufacturer must include these cutouts so that he won't have to actually learn the correct way to start his machine.

Phelonius

If he is FOR SURE getting spark, doesn't that rule out the safely switches??

Serowbot wrote on 05/29/10 at 12:05:09:

Possibly, it could be intermittent.  But that does point more towards fuel.

Phelonius