Posted by Richard D on July 19, 2003 at 05:15:49:
In Reply to: Question about the petcock posted by Kent on July 18, 2003 at 06:20:34:
Kent....I'm curious about what you term keeping the petcock in the "fuel" position. I first have to tell tales on myself. For about the first two months that I had the bike I thought the petcock design was such that when the long "tail" of the lever that can be twisted from "on" to "res" and to "pri" was not the pointing element but rather the trailing end of the shorter part of that little knob in a manner that I am more familiar with having seen on other such systems.
Phew!...that sentence tired me out. In which case I thought when the petcock was actually pointing straight down to "on" I was reading it as pointing straight up to "fuel". After, for whatever reason, I took a close look at the lever and saw the arrow pointing toward the end of the "tail" of the knob and saw the word "on" I knew how the thing was supposed to work. The two times that I had to switch to "res" I had in fact switched to "pri". It worked for me as it has for you. All well and good, but after reading the advice from WD I think I want to go through the exercise of making sure everything is free and clear of any contamination. I have a plastic see-through in-line fuel filter, but I have been having the same problem that you described. I'm not looking forward to the job, but I won't feel comfortable until I do it. I don't see anything wrong with running on prime and turning to "on" when parking, and knowing by the odometer when I need to fuel.
Sorry to write such a book, but please let me know if I was way off base with what I thought you may have been reading on the petcock dial.
I have had the bike for 3 months now (got it brand new) 772 miles on it right now, and I have spent a whole lot more time working on it than I have spent riding it. I'm not complaining, it has been a great learning trip and I have gotten a lot of help from the many new friends I've met on the forum.
Enjoy your fine tuning....Richard