Motorcycle Forum / Country Specific / UK Group / November 2007

It may be fuel vapour lock.  Remove the petrol cap and burn off any excess
vapour with a lit match or cigarette lighter, then get back to us and let us
know if that made any difference.  If it didn't, we may have other
suggestions.

Put it in the bottom oven of your Aga. Works every time.

GINGE.

I ask for sensible replies from people that might understand such technical
things.

All I get is nonsense.

Are you *all* inbreeds or just plain thick?

I need some help here and I don't seem to get any...Perhaps the question was
too technical and I should resort to asking my friend in India again as he
is far more clued-up than you appear to be.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "Rajabin" <Rajabin
Singh@indiatown.net> saying something like:

Drain the curry from the auxiliary tank and make sure your turban isn't
fouling the air intake.

You're about as Indian as I am, you fraud.

Yes, yes it's only got one sparking plug, but it's a *four* stroke
engine and it sounds to me (and I have 15 years of experience of
broken motorbikes) like one of your strokes has fallen you out.

IIRC it's normally stroke 4 that works loose and drops out on the CG
because it's the one on the end,  and that will cause the symptoms you
desrcibe.

Your options are:

1.  Buy a new stroke from your local dealer.  If possible go to a
Kawasaki dealer rather than a Honda one because Kwak strokes are
bigger and will deliver more power.  However new strokes are expensive
and most dealer will try to con you in to buying a new bike.  You're
best bet is to walk right in to the dealers and tell them, in your
best comedy Indian accent, "I no want new bike.  I give you £200, you
give me stroke 4 my piston!"

2.  You could try to get a spare stroke from a scrapped bike.  Bike
breakers in the UK can easily be judged by how rough they look and how
big a dog they have guarding the place - the bigger the dog and the
rougher looking the owner the better the chance they have the parts
you need.  So find the roughest looking bloke with the meanest looking
dog and explain to him that you're after a 2nd hand stroke and willing
to pay top money.

3.  Try retracing your route and see if you can find the stroke lying
in the road.  It may be slightly dented, but you can hammer them out.
If anybody asks you what you're doing explain about the stroke and
your plan to beat one out.

4.  The final option is to simply take another stroke out of your bike
to make it a 2-stroke.  Stroke 1 is the easiest to take out (because
it's at the other end to stroke 4) and you should be able to get £50
for it on eBay.  Once your bike is a 2-stroke make sure to run it on
oil and not petrol.  Just fill your petrol tank with the most
expensive oil from your local garage (it's false economy to use cheap
oil) and then crank it over until it's working properly.

Hope this helps.

To paraphrase wot I heard on the wireless the other day: "Welcome to
Britain.  Mind the gap."