I'd left for work on the bike and just a half-mile into the ride I suddely lost power and the bike seemed to stutter a bit. I pulled in the clutch, pulled over, the idle dropped and it died. I can start it but it'll die if I don't give it some throttle. I have to get to work so I've no time to play with it but all fluid levels are good and I detect no obvious damage. Sounds like it's running on one cylinder? Or like the jetting is suddenly WAY off (don't know how that'd happen but it SOUNDS like that). I'm at a loss off the top of my head so if y'all have any suggestions so I can get at the bike when I get off work I'd appreciate it.

 

Couple of Questions, did you have the tank off just before this happened. It is very east to get the vacume related hose for the Fuel vavle on the wrong location on the petcock. It does not go on the bootom.

If that was not the case did you by chance stop and fill the tank to the top just before you parked it last time. The VTR can cause a tank vacume problem sometime if filled all the way up and allowed to sit in the sun or cool over night. If this occurs it will starve the carbs of case. Pop the top on the gas tank and try it again.

Simple checks first, you know the old saying keep it simple stupid.

Then investigate further as needed. I am sure the knowledge on this forum canb help get you on the road again.

 

Agree with Thumper. Assuming those things check out, I ran into the same symptoms when the diaphragm in the vacuum-operated petcock was torn (happened to me twice).

 

Water in the fuel? How recently had you refueled? If it was a short amount of time before the misfirings that would be my first target.

 

KISS is right, Thumper. You had it spot on. Didn't get a chance to ride the bike till this morning but I popped the fuel fill, closed it up again and it ran fine. After your mention of this issue I realized how many times I've seen that other people have experienced this. This was a first for me and if I'd had my head about me I'd have realized the problem. Thanks folks!

 

Most Excellent, I too had this happen to me last fall after filling up at a stop we made during a day ride. I always fill my tank to the top as we all know how short the fuel rangfe is. Well after we had a long lunch we mounted up again and i went about a mile and the dang thing just died.

I thought hum that sure felt like ran out of fuel. I thought back to all the RLZ threads and SuperHawkForum threads mentioning the pitfall of over filling the bike and creating a vaccume.

I had ridden mine for years and years and always fill up to the top and had never had this happen until that day.

Hasn't happened since and i still fill it to the top.

 

Rapid acceleration or braking will cause the fuel to slosh into the vent line, thus causing the vacuum lock. If you're easy for the first few miles then you won't have any problems filling to the rim.