loss of ability to move

[boppa]

Coming down 75 from insane I have lost the ability to move forward.  Bike kept slowing down but runs fine just kept slowing down no strange noise or anything. Any ideas?

[houstone]

I am sure it is "nogo-homitis".
The only known cures are a local pub, or a u-turn.
Have 2 cold ones and post again in the morning.
Good luck.

[R J]

Take your fingers off the brake lever.......

[Patrick]

I have the same problem, one step forward and two back..  If this is a serious post, I think we need a bit more info..

[Thunderbolt]

Make sure the clutch lever doesn't have a mechanical problem.  There is a brass bushing that the lever pivots on.  It could be worn, or there could be something keeping the lever from going all the way out.  Did you change oil type's recently?  If you changed to one that has friction modifiers in it, I would change back to an oil made for motorcycles with wet clutch applications.  Make sure the fluid in the clutch reservoir is at the proper level and is not contaminated.
Short of these things, your clutch plates could be just worn out.
Post what you find so we will know how you came out.

[boppa]

Serious post guys. Was just going down the interstate and bike kept bogging down untilled I made an exit. Shut bike off waited a few minutes. Started and drove around parking g lot no problem. Gases up and started back down the road OK.  It tried to do it again for just a minute but went away.

[MikeT]

Do you have a Red Eye quick disconnect installed?

[R J]

Check for a kink in the vent hose.

If it does it again, leave the gas cap loose, and drive her like ya have been.  Have ya had the tank off or been screwing around with vaccum lines.  The cap loose will fix a kinked vent hose till ya got time to find it other than along side the road.    Gas tank off, common problem till ya learn to pull the kinks out of the vent hose.

[98valk]

Serious post guys. Was just going down the interstate and bike kept bogging down untilled I made an exit. Shut bike off waited a few minutes. Started and drove around parking g lot no problem. Gases up and started back down the road OK.  It tried to do it again for just a minute but went away.

if u have oem petcock it sounds like the vacuum diaphragm is leaking

[fstsix]

Ditto on the petcock, fuel starvation, if you are stuck on the road you could do this fix with just a 4" piece of hose to make it Manual, make sure you plug the Vacuum line to the carb. http://daughertymotorsports.com/howto/tankvalve/tankvalve.html

[boppa]

Yes have the redeye disconnect. Tank was off 3 weeks ago for airfilter and disconnect. No problems until after about 1100 miles after work was done. Did not kink any hoses. Running OK right now just made Ohio.

[houstone]

Sorry for the poke.  Does indeed sound like the petcock diaphragm, almost certainly a fuel problem....

[Patrick]

Well, Ok, it doesn't sound as bad as I was initially thinking.. Like has been said, It certainly sounds like a fuel delivery issue;; kinked vent line[common when removing fuel tank], petcock diaphram/vacuum line,or the disconnect installation .. Whatever it turns out to be, its an easy fix..

[Tundra]

I agree with other posts, same problem a year ago, mine turned out to be a failing petcock.

[boppa]

Finely limped into Florance KY. Bike ran like a scalded did till about 19 miles out of cinncinattii then just bogged down. So do y'all suggest a petcock rebuild as everything else "looks" to be OK?

[boppa]

Hate posting with this phone!!! Scalded DOG

[Patrick]

Personally, I'd check the vent, #6 vacuum line and fuel line disconnect first cuz its the easiest.. Also, personally, if you find it is the petcock, you'll get many disagreements with this,but, I'd remove the petcock, hit it with biggest hammer you can find, then throw it as far as you can and then install a Pingle..

[Gryphon Rider]

Finely limped into Florance KY. Bike ran like a scalded did till about 19 miles out of cinncinattii then just bogged down. So do y'all suggest a petcock rebuild as everything else "looks" to be OK?

Until you can get your hands on a new/different fuel valve or rebuild kit, do the following to bypass the vacuum shutoff.  Just remember to turn off the fuel valve every time you shut off the bike.
1. Remove the vacuum hose, four screws, and the cover.
2. Remove the spring (to be used later) and the black plastic disk that separates the spring from the large diaphram.
3. Push the middle of the small diaphram so that it is away from the valve body hole that it is designed to seal against.
4. Reassemble, being careful to have the edges of the diaphrams in their proper positions, and with the spring in position between the small diaphram and the valve body.
5. Reattach the vacuum hose so you don't have to think of another way to seal the vacuum nipple on the carburetor.
6. The leftover black plastic disk can be used as a shim to stop something on your Harley from rattling.

[FLAVALK]

Personally, I'd check the vent, #6 vacuum line and fuel line disconnect first cuz its the easiest.. Also, personally, if you find it is the petcock, you'll get many disagreements with this,but, I'd remove the petcock, hit it with biggest hammer you can find, then throw it as far as you can and then install a Pingle..

+++++++1 on demo of the petcock. No disrespect intended, but I just cannot understand why people nurse this problem. It 's not a question of if, but when the OEM petcock will fail. I just don't get it....the fix is easy and permanent.

[fudgie]

Personally, I'd check the vent, #6 vacuum line and fuel line disconnect first cuz its the easiest.. Also, personally, if you find it is the petcock, you'll get many disagreements with this,but, I'd remove the petcock, hit it with biggest hammer you can find, then throw it as far as you can and then install a Pingle..

+++++++1 on demo of the petcock. No disrespect intended, but I just cannot understand why people nurse this problem. It 's not a question of if, but when the OEM petcock will fail. I just don't get it....the fix is easy and permanent.

damifiknow 

[X Ring]

Personally, I'd check the vent, #6 vacuum line and fuel line disconnect first cuz its the easiest.. Also, personally, if you find it is the petcock, you'll get many disagreements with this,but, I'd remove the petcock, hit it with biggest hammer you can find, then throw it as far as you can and then install a Pingle..

+++++++1 on demo of the petcock. No disrespect intended, but I just cannot understand why people nurse this problem. It 's not a question of if, but when the OEM petcock will fail. I just don't get it....the fix is easy and permanent.

damifiknow 

me either   

[Gunslinger]

Personally, I'd check the vent, #6 vacuum line and fuel line disconnect first cuz its the easiest.. Also, personally, if you find it is the petcock, you'll get many disagreements with this,but, I'd remove the petcock, hit it with biggest hammer you can find, then throw it as far as you can and then install a Pingle..

+++++++1 on demo of the petcock. No disrespect intended, but I just cannot understand why people nurse this problem. It 's not a question of if, but when the OEM petcock will fail. I just don't get it....the fix is easy and permanent.

damifiknow 

me either   

It seems to me that the pingle valve is a workaround, not a fix for a leaky diaphragm and not any easier than rebuilding the petcock (but more expensive). If you ever fail to close the pingle when you shut the bike off do you not have the same danger of hydrolock that you would with a leaking petcock?
An electronic shutoff seems like a good fix, but it also adds complexity and a different point of failure. Not a "permanent" fix

[fudgie]

It seems to me that the pingle valve is a workaround, not a fix for a leaky diaphragm and not any easier than rebuilding the petcock (but more expensive). If you ever fail to close the pingle when you shut the bike off do you not have the same danger of hydrolock that you would with a leaking petcock?
An electronic shutoff seems like a good fix, but it also adds complexity and a different point of failure. Not a "permanent" fix

Technically it is a fix. No diaphram to worry about, on the non vac ones. Yea you do have a chance of leaving it on but its not as bad as thinking it is off and have it leak on ya. I have always been good at turning mine off since day one. I have left mine on a few days to a week at a time with no problems. At least if your away from home and your diaphram leaks, it leaks. No way around that. At least with the pingel, turn it to noon position and your good. The electric one would scare me. What happens it it stays 'closed'? As far as the price it not bad. You do a couple oem rebuilds and you almost got a pingel. Hell look at the price people pay for bag rails. 

[Hoser]

When I got my first bike, there was no such thing as a vacumn petcock, it was SOP to turn off your gas every time you shut off the bike, It still is SOP with me, and I love my pingle. Is that wrong?  Well, at least I like it a lot.  hoser

[Gunslinger]

It seems to me that the pingle valve is a workaround, not a fix for a leaky diaphragm and not any easier than rebuilding the petcock (but more expensive). If you ever fail to close the pingle when you shut the bike off do you not have the same danger of hydrolock that you would with a leaking petcock?
An electronic shutoff seems like a good fix, but it also adds complexity and a different point of failure. Not a "permanent" fix

Technically it is a fix. No diaphram to worry about, on the non vac ones. Yea you do have a chance of leaving it on but its not as bad as thinking it is off and have it leak on ya. I have always been good at turning mine off since day one. I have left mine on a few days to a week at a time with no problems. At least if your away from home and your diaphram leaks, it leaks. No way around that. At least with the pingel, turn it to noon position and your good. The electric one would scare me. What happens it it stays 'closed'? As far as the price it not bad. You do a couple oem rebuilds and you almost got a pingel. Hell look at the price people pay for bag rails. 

Just to split hairs (and because I'm a PITA) A fix resolves the problem, whereas a workaround is a method for achieving a task or goal when the usual or planned method isn't working. (sometimes temporary, and often not 100% adequate)

[asfltdncr]

Just to clarify:  I get the pinched tubing, solenoid, and diaphram failure, but what problems could the quick-disconnect cause?

[Kaiser]

Boppa,

Same thing happened to me.  Was running on I-75 and starting dropping from 75 to 65 to 55.  I kept giving it more throttle, but it kept slowing down.  No noises, no warning, nothing.  I noticed I was running out of fuel, switched over to reserve and sped right back up again.

You mentioned in one of your posts that you "gassed up" and everything was fine again.

My bet is that there is nothing wrong with your bike at all.  You were just running out of gas and failed to switch over to reserve.

I'm not pointing fingers - because as stated I did the exact same thing.  Plus, this theory is easy enough to test.

[Gryphon Rider]

Boppa,
Same thing happened to me.  Was running on I-75 and starting dropping from 75 to 65 to 55.  I kept giving it more throttle, but it kept slowing down.  No noises, no warning, nothing.  I noticed I was running out of fuel, switched over to reserve and sped right back up again.
You mentioned in one of your posts that you "gassed up" and everything was fine again.
My bet is that there is nothing wrong with your bike at all.  You were just running out of gas and failed to switch over to reserve.
I'm not pointing fingers - because as stated I did the exact same thing.  Plus, this theory is easy enough to test.

If the vacuum diaphram has a small leak, there is enough vacuum to open the valve slightly.  When the tank is full, there is enough hydrostatic head that the pressurized fuel that gets past the slightly open valve to keep the engine running.  When the fuel level decreases, it loses hydrostatic pressure, and cylinders start to drop out.  If you pull over and idle, or just pull in the clutch and let the engine idle, the lower fuel requirement allows the carbs to refill, the idle picks up to normal, and when you engage the clutch, the bike will run fine for a couple of minutes at highway speeds.  Cylinders will start to drop out again as the fuel in the carbs is burned.

If it's simply a matter of needing to flip to reserve on a bike with a good fuel valve, at highway speeds the engine will be back to full power in less than ten seconds, and it will run as normal for the next 25-35 miles.

[boppa]

Finely made it home late mon nite. Left Florence, Ky. bike ran great all the way till Sweetwater, Tn.  Started acting up again bogging down, pulled off on exit ramp and bike picked right back up by the end of the ramp. Trudging on, got into Ga. stopped filled up,got Bacon the road. About 15 miles down the road it started again, this time completely shutting down on the side of the interstate and did not want to refire. Got her going and made it the remaining 70 miles no problem. Got to work the next few nites, guess I will start hunting down the cause this weekend.

Just before last gas stop ran the bike to reserve and let run dry switched over and bike picked right up. Several miles from home switched selector to off went about .5 miles bike started bogging down switched back to run and picked right back up. Tried one more time and went about 1.5-2 miles before it started. This time when I switched back to run had to pull over and let is sit about 1 minuet before she picked back up.
Also the throttle does not want to return to the closed position when it is released. I have to twist it forward to throttle down.

[houstone]

boppa,
I am really glad you made it home.  I had the same type of experience from Dallas to Houston last year, and the mile to mile uncertainty is excruciating.  I sincerely apologize for my flippant first reply to your post.  Knowing the sense of humor on here, and not your situation, I figured it was another "bait", which mistook.
Good luck finding the problem, and congratulations on getting the lady home.
Jeff

[Farther]

The discription of your problem sounds very similar to when I had a kinked tank vent line.  I would suggest replacing the tank vent and the vacuum line to the petcock and possibly a new coverset for the petcock.

[boppa]

Guy's no problems with the pokes and barbs. I know how the sence of humor runs with the VRCC family. Looking back at my post topic I should have worded it different, but being stuck on the side of the road I wasn't really thinking just looking for some quick advice.
Just hope I can figure this out as I have not had a lot of wrenching experience on the Lady. First major issue in 5 years of ownership.

[John Schmidt]

See if the fuel line has a droop in it before getting to the Tee that feeds the carb banks. If it does, then when the tank gets low the weight of fuel pressing down won't overcome that low spot. However, when full there is enough weight above the fuel line to cause fuel to flow past the low spot in the hose. Just something to consider. I'm with the rest however...sounds like petcock trouble in the making. Toss the OEM and get a Pingel.

[PharmBoy]

Boppa, I had the same problem a while back and found that the diaphram had popped off the knob on the end of the metal cylinder that it fits over.  After cleaning throughly and drying, a small drop of windshield super glue solved the problem...JTL