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Hey guys, first a little background. I picked up this bike last year for my wife to learn on. It was running ok but lacking power. I rode it home about 40 miles but couldn't get it past about 52 mph. She rode it around the yard a few times and I added seafoam before I put it away for the winter. This spring I added fresh gas and it seems to have more power. Rode it last Saturday and it pulled decent right up past 70 mph. Carb is obviously working better but still not right, as it occasionally would stall when I came up to a stop sign. Always restarted and idled without a problem. Last night we actually got her courage up for a short jaunt on the back roads, following me. I showed her how to start it by pulling out the choke knob. She started it then instead of just letting it warm up on the choke, she started turning the throttle....which apparently flooded it. Couldn't get it restarted last night so today I threw it on the charger just to make sure the battery had plenty of juice. Tried to start it without choke, fluttered a couple times but no start. Pulled the choke, not even a flutter. Pulled the plug and it was brown but dry. Gave it a small shot of starting fluid, reinstalled the plug, not even a flutter. Pulled the air filter out and another shot of starting fluid, nothing. Opened the throttle all the way and cranked it and it began to start, building rpms just faster than the starter for maybe 3-4 seconds then it quit. Couldn't get it to fire again. Put a new plug in, same results. Pulled plug to check spark, seems to be strong bluish-white spark.

One other symptom, there's a drain in the bottom of the airbox, and when I try to start it with the throttle wide open, it spits fuel back out of the carb to the point that it drips fuel (almost a steady stream) out of the drain.



Now that my wife's ready to go, I sure would like to have a running bike for her.

Any help GREATLY appreciated.

Steve

 

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Well, time for an update. After some deep thinking I figured maybe the Seafoam I had in it over the winter had loosened enough gunk that the carb passages were now plugged. I pulled and disassembled it, sprayed Seafoam through all the passages, blew it out with air and reassembled it. Reinstalled it and it started right up. Idles smoothly, throttle seems to be good. Finished at 10:30 pm so I figured that was a little late for a test ride around the yard. We'll give it a try tomorrow so here's hoping......

 

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Another update, yesterday we were planning a ride out to Lake Michigan, but my daughter couldn't leave until 4:30 ish. My darling wife suggested that while we were waiting, we try a short ride around the back roads with me leading on the Wing and she could follow. My son agreed he would bring up the rear so she wouldn't need to worry about getting run over from the rear. The bike started and ran great the whole trip (3 times around, roughly 5 miles total). I forgot to remind her before we left to look through the turns to where she wanted to go, not directly in front of the bike. Last lap she got it up to 47 mph, and she did great. We have wireless headsets so I was able to talk to/encourage her the whole time. I don't know if she'll ever want to drive on our longer excursions but I sure am proud of her for getting her license and trying it.