a stupid way to die stalling at speed
Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 10:19 pm
Have been lurking for a couple of years and posted a few times, but
here's a long one.
After spending 6 months rehabbing my shattered elbow from a dirt ride
on my 03 KLR last August, I'm back on the bike riding to and from
work. Tonight my 05 KLR failed me a second time, stalling in the
middle lane at 65mph after coming off the Dumbarton bridge here in
the Bay Area. The bike has been ridden a few times and charged up so
it didn't sit the whole 6 months. It also was filled with gas on
Sunday and has 130 miles on this tank.
The first stall was probably 10 or more months ago when the bike died
with no lights or electrical power. After fiddling with it for about
10 minutes while standing about 18 inches from Freeway traffic, it
started up and was fine for a few thousand more miles. I suspected it
was the petcock because when it stalled, I turned on the reserve and
even though it didn't' start up right away, it eventually did.
Tonight the bike just died at speed. I immediately turned to reserve
and barely made it to the right shoulder, which was about 3 feet
wide. Luckily it had all electrical power (so the battery connection
is not likely), neutral light, turn signal, brake lights, tail light,
headlight, and starter. After trying 4 or 5 times it was turning over
but not starting. I began pushing it to the exit, about half a mile
away, hoping to get it started. I left the ignition on so the left
turn signal would flash and I could hit my flashing brake lights for
extra "attention". All the while thinking, "this is such a stupid way
to die", on the side of the freeway pushing my bike in the dark
waiting for someone not paying attention to plow into to the bike and
me". In retrospect I should probably have just let the bike sit
while standing on the outside of the barrier and then tried to start
it later.
After pushing a while the bike would start but when I dropped it into
first it stalled, about three times. After pushing some more I tried
it again and it started and held when in gear. I rode it to a gas
station to check it, turning it off and starting again, but couldn't
see anything obviously wrong and rode home. Total pushing time was
about 10, maybe 15 minutes, with the ignition on the whole time.
My first thought to the problem was gas; maybe the petcock or the
valve is bad. Next is the safety start circuit because it would start
and then die when going to first gear even with the kickstand up.
Questions:
Has anyone had the bike stall at speed and find out it was the clutch
lever/side stand safety circuit?
Any ideas on the petcock or anything else?
I'm losing some confidence in this bike, the 03 hasn't had this
problem though it was a slow speed stall that sent me into the dirt
with the elbow shattering. That one was my fault but this stalling
thing is spooking me a bit.
Mike