Sign of Holy Pushrod

So, I plumped for the CG (MSoHP) and drove it home tonight.

All started well, although it was burbling a little after 15 miles or so
(had shut the choke off by this point). It was on the reserve when I
picked it up so I popped to the garage to put some juice in. 500 yards
further down the road she stalled herself at the lights - clutch in, low
revs, just died. Took a while to get her going again and only after
trying several variations of choke and reserve/main tank.

Once she was off I got as far as the next roundabout before she died
again, and twice more as I tried to figure out what was wrong.

Choke didn't seem to make any difference, either off or half-on -
full-on stalled her instantly.

I tried with the reserve thingumy pointing down (reserve IIRC) or
parallel to the floor (main tank?) and it didn't seem to make much
difference.

Once started she was happy enough when idle but after going down the
road a little way and getting to a steady speed she would seem to
struggle despite holding the throttle steady. Slowing into a
roundabout/junction/lights just seemed to make her cut out. If it was a
car I would look at the tick-over - but I'd have no idea if I was right.

When I filled her up I (think I) set her to reserve so that would fill
first, and then switched to main once I'd finished. Also, I only managed
to put £7 worth in before the pump handle clicked off (dealer said it
had 50 miles in it and I'd driven 25). Is that too little? Certainly
sounds 'sloshy' as I'm wheeling her about.

Confused to buggery and hoping I'm just doing summat daft. Other than
that she seems a nice bike.

TIA

HH

 

From what I can remember, the fuel tap lever (long bit!) points _down_ for
ON, _up_ for RESERVE and _horizontal_ for OFF. If you look closely at the
tap the marks are embossed onto the metal. You shouldn't neec choke at all
after about 60secs or so. Full choke to start from cold, half or so for
warming up. No choke at all to start on warm engine or you'll flood it.

JB.

 

Two points:

1: it's an "it" not a "she"
2: All CG125s are unmitigated piles of shite.

hth
--
| ___ Salad Dodger
|/ \
_/_____\_ GL1500SEV/CBR1100XXX/CBX1000Z
|_\_____/_| ..88045../..23727.../..31893.
(>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 WG*
|__|_|__| BOTAFOT #70 BOTAFOF #09 PM#5
\ |^| / IbW#0 & KotIbW# BotTOS#6 GP#4
\|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4 YTC#4 two#11
'^' RBR Clues: 00 Pts:0000 Miles:0000

 

Sounds like you may have had the choke lever in the wrong position - this
would make it run very rich and may well have fouled the plug, causing the
other difficulties. Assuming you have the standard CG125 carb, the choke is
on max when in the uppermost postion, horizontal is half choke and down is
choke off. Usually half choke is enough for starting unless the weather is
very cold. It should start with half choke in most circumstances when cold
and run OK without choke after a minute or two although you may need to
"blip" the throttle to stop it stalling at idle for another 5 or 10 minutes
until it is fully warmed up. Try cleaning the spark plug (or replacing it
with a new one) and see how it goes.

Another possibility is that if the fuel was really low when you drove off
then it may have sucked some debris from the bottom of the tank into the
carb, blocking or partially blocking the jets. If the plug clean/change
doesn't work and you are sure that you have been using the choke properly
then take it back to the dealer and demand that it be put right.

£7.00 of petrol is more than enough to keep it going for well over 100
miles.

 

Sounds like you've just run out of petrol. Seven quids' worth is close
to brim-full on a CG125 (Makes Sign of Holy Pushrods). And if a dealer
says there's 50 miles' worth in the tank, it's always about half that.
Or less.

Running with the choke on for long periods would just make it guzzle
fuel faster. And the choe should be switched off ASAP - usually within a
minute or so in winter; les in summer.

If it's running fine now, then that's all it was. If it isn't, throw it
back at the dealer and ask for a refund.

 

S'OK. Turns out I'm just not intelligent to figure out how a tap works
first time round. In my defence it was dark and I couldn't see the
embossed metal. But basically it was just a dipshit moment. Had a quick
run out just now and all is well (I didn't even stall!)

Cheers all

vHH

 

Some of us get it wrong, even after years an' years. Hands up those
who have run out because they left the fuel tap on "reserve".

<fx: raises paw>

 

In

Shock !! .... one of the worlds finest motorcycles I think you'll find

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, SD

Your sole character flaw grieves me.

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - Podium Placed Ducati Race Engineer as featured in
Performance Bikes and Fast Bikes

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
SBS#39 OMF#6 Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (Falling apart) Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager "Oh, Oh, It's so big"
Suzuki TS250 "The Africa Single" Yamaha Vmax Honda ST1100 wiv trailer

 

TOG@toil, ,
wrote:

Definitely not. And never on the elevated section of the A40 near
Shepherds Bush, either, making it particularly non-handy for walking to
a nearby garage. Oh no.

On a similar note, I was out on the SV on Tuesday and figured I'd see
just what the fuel light (not having had one before) would do as the
tank got progressively emptier. A fag-packet calculation suggested I
should get around 140 miles from a full tank, so I watched it blink
quickly, then blink longer, and eventually come on and stay on. About
ten miles after that I realised it might be a good idea to find
somewhere to fill up.

I only had to paddle it the last ten feet into the forecourt - coasting
with the clutch in only gets you so far.

--
ogden
sv650 (slow)
cg125 (dead)
zx7r (in bits)

Last few 7R bits: http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQsassZdr.daifQQhtZ-1

 

What about casually kicking the footwell reserve lever *past* reserve to
off[1] whilst hurtling[2] down the outside of the M62 in an old Beetle
with string brakes, and being unable to get it back without using your
hands?

Other stories in this series include "Tow-starting a minibus down a
steep hill", "Having a minibus engine spring into life on full throttle
ten feet behind you", "Having a minibus try to overtake you whilst still
tied on to your back bumper", "Spraying the windscreen with anti-mist
and having it immediately turn white as the heater dries out the
anti-mist stuff" and "Having your own rear wheel overtake you as a
reminder to tighten your wheel nuts".

[1] Off is a TLA for "Oh flippity flip" in this situation
[2] For Beetle values of hurtling[2]
[3] These increase if going downhill for a suitable length of time

 

What about casually kicking the footwell reserve lever *past* reserve to
off[1] whilst hurtling[2] down the outside of the M62 in an old Beetle
with string brakes, and being unable to get it back without using your
hands?

Other stories in this series include "Tow-starting a minibus down a
steep hill", "Having a minibus engine spring into life on full throttle
ten feet behind you", "Having a minibus try to overtake you whilst still
tied on to your back bumper", "Spraying the windscreen with anti-mist
and having it immediately turn white as the heater dries out the
anti-mist stuff" and "Having your own rear wheel overtake you as a
reminder to tighten your wheel nuts".

[1] Off is a TLA for "Oh flippity flip" in this situation
[2] For Beetle values of hurtling[2]
[3] These increase if going downhill for a suitable length of time

 

And me, Brother Nigel. Come, let us join hands and pray for his mortal
soul. Forgiveness is all.

 

Once or twice years ago. I had a cunning strategy when hillclimbing the
Nordwest of keeping the tank always only just over reserve to minimise
weight. Slosh some fuel in just before a run and switch tap to 'on'.
Warm up and then switch over to reserve on the line. The logic was that
if it was running happily with the tap at 'on' there will be enough on
reserve to get me to the top. This ritual also prevented me from the
embarrassment of forgetting to turn on the fuel at all before going off
the start line (which I managed to do a couple of times on the Morini).

When competing on the 'Tart' I suppose I ought to aim to have the low
fuel light blinking most of the time for the same reason, but as it gets
ridden on the road more than the Nordie did I usually arrive at a
meeting with more than enough juice onboard and CBA to drain any off.


--

+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest Yamaha WR250Z |
| Gilera GFR Moto Morini 2C/375 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+

 

<Nods>

However, the Viagra has an little electrical on/reserve switch on the 'bars.
I don't trust it in the slightest.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique,
TOG@toil.?.murray.invalid typed

Oh. Right. Yes, OK.

<hastily extinguishes flaming torch, hides pitchfork>

Umm... Do we *have* to hold hands?

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - Podium Placed Ducati Race Engineer as featured in
Performance Bikes and Fast Bikes

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
SBS#39 OMF#6 Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (Falling apart) Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager "Oh, Oh, It's so big"
Suzuki TS250 "The Africa Single" Yamaha Vmax Honda ST1100 wiv trailer

 

Looking at the alternatives, I'd stick with hands.

 

The electrical reserve switch on some other Yamahas - FZsomething or
other, FJ1200 - wasn't actually a reserve switch at all, IIRC. A
sensor detected when the fuel level was low, and the engine
*simulated* running out of fuel, and then hitting the reserve switch
cancelled it.

It woudn't surprise me at all if the Viagra is the same.

<Googles>

Yep, exactly that.

http://home.online.no/~solesen/mc/fj-lore.htm#electrical

If ever there was a bad idea.....

 

Ish. When you've got 10-15 gallons of fuel in a car, it doesn't really
matter if the gauge is out by half a gallon or so. To measure the
volume in a small motorcycle tank, the gauge has to be *much* more
precise, and not many are.

Cases in point: my old GT750 shafty, whose LED display would remain at
full for half a tank and then drop like a stone, and whose red warning
light would blink for ages before it actually ran onto reserve. Other
GTs/GPZs are the same.

Present BMW - has a light *and* a gauge. Gauge isn't that great. Light
comes on when there's (supposedly) 5 litres left. I've done 40+ miles
with the light on.

Old Trophy 1200 - the most accurate fuel gauge I've ever encountered
on a bike. And a proper reserve tap as well. It would hit reserve the
moment the needle on the gauge edged into the red zone.

Ducati - managed 26 miles with the light on red, and it was damn near
dry when I stopped for fuel.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, MikeH

Good point. *Good* point.

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - Podium Placed Ducati Race Engineer as featured in
Performance Bikes and Fast Bikes

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
SBS#39 OMF#6 Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (Falling apart) Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager "Oh, Oh, It's so big"
Suzuki TS250 "The Africa Single" Yamaha Vmax Honda ST1100 wiv trailer