A Zebra Diagnosis

[Duo Maxwell]

So, went out for a night ride tonight and every time I got on it from a stop the bike would afterfire around 9-10k in 2nd gear and then the bike would just go limp until I slowed down a bit.

Anyway, I was rattling my brain for an hour on the side of the road trying to figure it out....riding, stopping, riding stopping.

Guess what it turned out to be?
Carbs? Spark? nope...the wind was pushing the kick stand out a little bit, causing it to trip the switch and cut ignition. A bit of WD-40 and I'm good as new.

Bike pulls like crazy other than that....I finally got the stage 3 working to quite an extent (It idles perfectly, bogs a little bit at 3500RPM but soars afterwards....probably fixed after carb synch).

-Duo Maxwell

**EDIT**
If you don't get the title, it's when you are diagnosing something with a bizarre theory when in reality it's much simpler. i.e. "When you hear hoofbeats, think horses....not zebras."

[SweetLou]

Good to hear it was something simple. What kinda bike you running?

[Duo Maxwell]

1989 Katana 600

It has a stage 3 jet kit (I'm rather sure DynoJet) that the PO was running. Came with tons of vacuum leaks at no extra charge. Took me awhile to find them/figure out they were there in the first place.



-Duo Maxwell

**UPDATE**

If anyone is curious about the bike...my progress so far:

-Tuned for idle
-Rear tire replaced
-Front tire being shipped
-Lockset being shipped
-Pod filters replaced
-Turn signals being shipped

[The CyberPoet]

My suggestion: Replace the springs for the side-stand with new ones.

The springs get weaker with age (esp. if the bike was parked on the side-stand for a very long time, such as in storage). New springs aren't that expensive, and will keep the problem from redeveloping for another decade-plus.

One thing to watch for though -- if a previous owner (or you) use the sidestand as a pivot to rotate the bike around, over time, that elongates the hole the sidestand bolts through, and the piece with the hole in it will need to be welded & retapped, or replaced.

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[Duo Maxwell]

My suggestion: Replace the springs for the side-stand with new ones.

The springs get weaker with age (esp. if the bike was parked on the side-stand for a very long time, such as in storage). New springs aren't that expensive, and will keep the problem from redeveloping for another decade-plus.

One thing to watch for though -- if a previous owner (or you) use the sidestand as a pivot to rotate the bike around, over time, that elongates the hole the sidestand bolts through, and the piece with the hole in it will need to be welded & retapped, or replaced.

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

My girlfriend's father did it once as he used to own a bike shop but other than that I'm not really skilled enough to do it as of yet. Not sure if the previous owner did it but I really appreciate the warning....I was wondering if a small metal stick could support 400+ pounds of kat

No idea why i used that smiley...was looking for a =P smiley and thought "A chicken getting caught by a net? Definitely needs posted."

Regarding the spring, it was rusted out, a little bit of WD-40 and it's fine now but I will look into replacing the spring.

Thanks,
-Duo Maxwell