Third time's a charm, right? Well, almost. I buttoned the bike back up yesterday, and changed the oil today. Almost stripped the screws on the inner oil filter cover, so just made the decision to leave it alone. The first ride ended with me at the bottom of the hill with a bike that wanted to rev like crazy; the throttle grip needed to be re installed correctly. On the second trip, I ran out of gas just as I got to the bottom of the hill because the petcock is dripping, and so I didn't put enough gas in earlier: I should have checked before I left. So I pushed the bike up the hill again. On the third trip, I made absolutely sure everything was in order. The throttle was fixed, and now very crisp, and the tank had plenty of gas. This time I made it around a few blocks in my neighborhood, getting the thumbs up from a couple old dudes. But, as I was making my way up the last block (hill) to my house, the bike lost power, and started smoking out of the right pipe. I was at least halfway up the hill, so I pushed it up the rest of the way. My neighbors must think I'm an idiot for trying to ride this thing...So, I called my dad, feeling kind of glum, thinking I'd broken a piston ring, or something mildly catastrophic. He suggested I take a look at the plug and see if it's oily, or just carbon fouled. Well, low and behold, it's just fouled
Could a leaky petcock cause an over rich mixture, and end up fouling my plugs? I'll fire her up later with a cleaned up plug and see if she runs on both sides again.
Right now, I need a beer.