Had a little problem with the Wifes 500. Some might get a chuckle out of it, some might get some good info.

Kawgrl was having a problem with her bike not getting up past 60 MPH or so. We had recently had the bikes serviced at out local Kawi dealer and they did not indicate there were any problems with the bike. So I opened the shop manual (thanks Edge) and did some TS'ing.

After removing the tank, keep in mind I had to turn the petcock to the off position (this will become clearer later). I started checking the usual things. Spark plug type, gap, tightness of wire, ignition coils, and other "spark" related items. The # piston wire was a little loose, so I quickly remedied that.


When I put the tank back on to do a test ride. I finally noticed the petcock valve. It was in the reserve position when I took it off.....hmm. Like most gravity fed tanks, the reserve fuel line is of a smaller diameter then the main fuel line. somewhere along the lines of 1/2 the mains diameter. Well......Duuuuhhh. no wonder she wasn't getting any power.

Threw on the gear for a quick test ride, BTW I feel like Andre the Giant riding a tricycle on that thing , and...wow what a heck of a difference. racked it up to 9500 w/out a problem and was screaming down the local road at about 70 MPH.

Wifey had been riding the bike in reserve for the past 653 or so miles. We are still trying to figure out when the petcock was put into that posistion. Most likely it was like that from day one when picking it up from the dealer..... so I blame myself for being such a Dumnazz. :roll: :roll:

So the moral is

1) check your petcock before heading out on every ride

2) don't let hubby ride your new toys.

hate to dig up and old thread, but.....wtf?

Damn Phil...this sucker is old, and your the only one to reply to it :)

hey will, what's up? yea, i just dropped a grand on a 500 for my g/f. it's got carb issues :) i've been hitting up all the forums researching carbs and rebuilds, sync's, valve adj. ect...