New Member. Somewhat trivial question.

[John]

Hello all.

Currently own a '92 RC42. It's the second one I've owned. The first one was a 1996 minter which I was to young and headstrong to appreciate for what it was and I ended up letting it go for a song. Always missed it and bought another one last August. Can't explain why I'm such a fan of these DOHC bikes but they really do appeal to me. This one was a bit groggy when I got it but I ran a bit of fuel additive through it and it carried me around for the summer and up until November when I decided that it needed some attention. It was fine on the day to day commute but on long runs it would conk out at very inconvenient times (M25 twice!!) and would only get going on the reserve petcock setting despite a full tank. It's currently getting a bit of an in depth service and is in less than one piece in the garage. I started by cleaning out the tank and removing the petcock and giving it the once over, to be fair it was not in as bad a state as I had expected so perhaps there will be some surprises on the way, I'm expecting to have to clean out the carbs. Anyway, I decided to keep going at that point. I'm aiming to get in back on the road for spring. Work + Baby + Life means that I can't spend every hour in the day tinkering with it (worse luck). Centre stand was missing when I bought it so I have bought a replacement. Going to fit it soon but I have a couple of questions about it. There is no reference to fitting/removing the centre stand in the workshop manual so I am not sure where the spring attaches. No doubt I'll find it but if anyone has any advice it would be appreciated. My primary concern is why the original stand was not there. The bike has a 4 into 1 exhaust. The can sits on the offside and I am hoping that the centre stand can still go on without the stock 4 into 2 exhaust. Does anyone have any thoughts, knowledge or experience of this. Hoping this finds all readers well.. John.

 

[John]

No need to reply to this thread. Decided to 'just do it' pretty easy really. All washers, spacers and bolts were supplied with the part thankfully so it's tail is up and the rear wheel, mudguard, air box, and carbs will be coming off next.

 

[tommycarl]

In case you have future issues with the bike dying on a longer ride... you might consider checking the gas cap vent. If it's plugged, it could naturally stop gas flow and that would be more likely on a longer ride. Can't make sense of it going again only with the reserve on, but I do kinda wonder if that could just be a timing or coincidence thing... bike stops, check fuel level (open gas cap fixes the vent issue), turn on reserve, think the reserve is what fixed it.

The reason that comes to mind is that I had exactly the same problem... and it took me awhile to figure out that it had nothing at all to do with the petcock.

 

[John]

In case you have future issues with the bike dying on a longer ride... you might consider checking the gas cap vent. If it's plugged, it could naturally stop gas flow and that would be more likely on a longer ride. Can't make sense of it going again only with the reserve on, but I do kinda wonder if that could just be a timing or coincidence thing... bike stops, check fuel level (open gas cap fixes the vent issue), turn on reserve, think the reserve is what fixed it.

The reason that comes to mind is that I had exactly the same problem... and it took me awhile to figure out that it had nothing at all to do with the petcock.

Great advice tommycarl.

Considering that the tank looked very clean as did the fuel that I drained from it (aside from a few drops of H2O) and the petcock did not seem to be dirty enough to restrict flow in any way your suggestion makes good sense. Quite right about the sequence of events after breakdown too. Instinctively the first thing you check is the gas which vents the tank.

I'll check that out this evening and update accordingly. Very glad I posted now. I'm also much more optimistic about the potential state of the carbs...

Many Thanks.