OF
I don't keep lists, nor do I even try to use the terrible search here.
But I have read of several that raptorizing did not help a messed up carb problem. Sorry if you missed them.

So this one too,... he raptorized it, and it still had carb problems afterwards. IT DID NOT FIX HIS carb problem,......it NEVER fixes a carb problem,....and even tho it may have needed a pet thingy because unlike the Suzy, the china one are no good......???? I don't know about that.

My point is,.......unlike you, I would never tell some to raptorize, just to elliminate a problem that mite happen someday in the very distant future, much less tell them to do away w/ a saftey device.
In reality, the vacuum hose is most times the problem,....seldom the diaphram in the pethingy, but I'm sure you already know that.
And yeah, because of all the politics here, the pethingy get blames for every float and float valve that malfunctions.

No problem,....I agree to disagree,....not a problem.

Routy,...  In my Tech post, How to check your petcock,..., I show how to test a vacuum petcock... I also list all the options available to fix it...
Testing  the petcock first is just smart troubleshooting... (...if your TV quits, the first thing to check is the wall outlet)... otherwise you may be tearing in to something that ain't broke...

You have two, relatively new bikes without a problem,... yet.
They will,... at that time you will do the test and choose your preference to fix it... (probably buy an $80 vacuum petcock).  Fine...
Other people want a cheaper, simpler, sturdier, option (Raptor)...
Fine,.. their choice...
A vacuum petcock is not a safety device,.. it is a convenience... (you don't have to turn the knob)...
If you are willing to turn a knob,.. a manual petcock is safer... (it has no vac line to leak)...

There is the theory,.. that if you have an accident, a vac petcock will not allow gas to spill... (this assumes that your engine dies, the petcock stays intact, the tank is not ruptured, and the tank vent don't leak, and that the bike falls on the left side)... could happen,.. but does not have the makings of a safety device...

The reason the Raptor is particularly popular on this bike,.. is that this bike appeals to the old school, simple, efficient, rider...
No high tech stuff... air-cooled, one carb, one cylinder, no digital stuff...
Simple mechanisms are more reliable than complex ones.. and are easier to troubleshoot and fix...

At the time that a part needs replaced,... many people would prefer a cheaper, stronger, replacement...
Especially since the original has just failed...
When a manual petcock fails... it just starts to weep a little around the knob, instead of flooding your engine, and it is fixed with a $3.00 gasket...

There are legitimate reasons for replacing a weak part with a more dependable one... even as a preventative measure...
The day that you find yourself brokedown on the side of the road,.. these things will occur to you...
Just like Versy's pinned cam adjuster,... I feel better knowing that it's in there...
One less chance of being stuck on the side of the road... ...

Yup, I remember when car carb rebuild kits were sold at every auto parts store and they came with VERY GOOD STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS on how to set the float level and every other little detail of the rebuild process.

No we don't -- I don't think you should change your petcock unless you are having issues that drive you to do the Serobot test and you fail that "fairly easy to do" test.

Having failed it, your choices are to replace the vac line and give her a whirl and see if you are good again -- if so then GREAT, you are fixed for right now  ...... but

.... but, then you know you got the second set and third set of vac petcock symptoms to look forward to down the road a piece (the one about the diaphragm getting so stiff a fresh vac line won't fix it and the one about the diaphragm getting a crack or pinhole and losing suction/passing gas to the sump through the vac line).  

Plus you likely need to replace your vac line yearly to make sure the vac line itself doesn't come back to haunt you as that will likely happen again a couple of times before stiffrubberitus or leakus maximus actually shows up to finish you off.




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Raptors don't have all this fun hanging over your head all the time.

Vac petcocks cause people to get stopped by the side of the road or causes them to be signaled they need to buy gas when they have a half a tank or more.

Raptors don't do these things.   And so far no one has put gas into a sump because of a float needle failure when using Raptor either (although I am sure eventually that natural carb float/needle valve  failure mode will occur and a Raptor won't stop it).   Seems strange that a vac petcock won't stop it either but the vac petcocks are showing the gas in the sump failure mode  at 7 to 0 right now compared to the Raptor.   Perhaps this is because the vac jobbie has two ways to do it and the Raptor only has one?

You don't mind me telling folks the above facts, do you?

They are facts you know.


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Routy, anything up above not factual?

Ok WTF, I found a LS650 carb on ebay for $25.00, put it on my watch list, then I followed the link for the carb rebuilding service...then this morning I go to look at the service and it now has LS650 carb rebuild for $100.00, then I go back to the LS650 carb for sale and it is gone....who on the site provides the service and bought the carb?  Too funny

Iono wrote on 08/21/11 at 16:59:23:


I dont think that it is all that funny -  
I saw that carb as well. I didn’t get it but I was watching it! Darn.  :'(

bill67 wrote on 08/21/11 at 17:09:46:

Bill, how would keeping inside make the diaphram valves last forever.

I'd bet the fact is that there is not near as many failures as this site pretends.
I do believe that there is a bunch of perfectly good valves laying around the country, strictly because of all the politics on this site
against them.

Routy, this is your chance to shine.  

You believe in the vac petcock and you now have a chance to develop a test so folks will know that the shut off vac return function still works correctly.  I mean that is your main interest in the things, right?  Safety first?  Prove that the safety aspect still works.

How will you apply vac?    How much vac matches what the bike puts out?  How much gas should it flow when it is "on" over what time?   How quick should it stop?  How many drops coming from a stopped vac petcock's carb bowl infeed line constitutes failure?   How many drops coming from the vac line constitutes failure?

Good luck there buddy -- until you propose your test and prove it out somebody might have license to say "Sorry, nobody really knows if a vac petcock really cuts the gas off each time or not."

And that would be a fact.


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All the junked vac petcocks were taken off by folks who had very good reason to think the "vac on fuel on" function on their bike wasn't operating correctly.   Their bikes stumbled and died.   Then they did Serobot's test and the vac petcock failed it.  Then they verified this lack of correct vac petcock function by replacement, and the bad stuff stopped.  

Symptom, Test then Verification.  

Pretty solid method there.