I bought my bike new off the showroom floor, under warranty the petcock failed 3 times. The last time even when off it did not stop the flow of fuel. Almost hydrolocked one time but I caught it and did not do any damage. Replaced the stock petcock with a Pingle then replaced the Pingle with a belly tank. I did not totally trust the Pingle either but the belly tank has no chance of hydrolock.
There is not enough fuel in the lines or bowls to cause hydrolock. The bowls are below the jets and the lines would have to break a vacuum for the fuel to drain from them. Not to mention some have had fuel on the ground and in the oil. The other point is some have taken out the plugs and had gas shoot out from the cylinders. It was described as a mess on a wall that takes more than 25 cc of fuel and in more than one cylinder.
This poll does not take into account all those that have come before either because on the old board there was also much talk of this problem. This comes from a bike that has not been in production since 03 and yet 10 years later this is still a problem. So what ever the current numbers are its only still a drop in the bucket becuse of all the past who have encountered it.
Take 25cc of fuel and spray it, see what it looks like. All I can say is what I know. In my opinion, which isn't worth anything, what I've mentioned is what I know. Anything different is conjecture. But, anyone is certainly free to think what they want. I've live in the north country and have been dealing with fuel/ether locks long before the Valk was even thought of.
Like you I have done just that from a few engines that have actually hydrolocked and a couple that bent rods. Pretty impressive when the piston pushes the gas out but it takes more than a small 3/4 ounce to do this kind of mess. It also does not take into account the ones that have had crankcase full of gas nor the ones that had gas dripping out the exhaust either. I was actually thinking of putting some oil in the cylinder and turning it over by hand and see how much it takes before I cannot turn it over. Maybe some day,
