Died on the freeway. Why?

[PachmanP]

Hey, need me some troubleshootin' help.

I was running my bike down the freeway yesterday, and it up and died.  I had gone about 15 mi or so at 65-75 mph (indicated which means what like 60-70?), and the bike at first just didn't seem like it was accelerating at all with increase throttle, then it started lugging which at first I just thought was the wind buffeting me, but then it died and I had to coast off to the side of the road.  I had just filled the tank, so wasn't out of gas.  The fill up was due to dieing after being out of gas but had been just as I was starting out.

Won't start or do anything, then maybe after 5 minutes I switch it to reserve, it starts up and I can carry on the rest of my trip.  When I got home I flipped it back to ON and it worked ok.  In retrospect, I might not have run it long enough to empty out any residual fuel though.

Is this some sort of petcock issue, or was the 5 minutes sitting more important? 

Thanks for your help.

[fred]

That sounds like a classic vacuum operated petcock problem. You should examine the petcock and possibly replace it. Next time that happens, flip to prime so the bike doesn't die on you on the freeway, just remember to turn it back to on when you get off the freeway...

[trumpetguy]

Search "fuel starvation" or "petcock issues"  - it's a pretty common problem on our bikes.

Solutions for me:
1) Stay in a lower gear (Higher engine vacuum = petcock passes more fuel)
2) Back off the throttle (same deal)
3) Run the petcock on prime

[905mike]

That sounds like a classic vacuum operated petcock problem. You should examine the petcock and possibly replace it. Next time that happens, flip to prime so the bike doesn't die on you on the freeway, just remember to turn it back to on when you get off the freeway...

yup classic fuel starvation .. i learned my leason to flip to PRIME before headin' onto the highway.
my GS sputtered at stalled on me during rush hour this summer and I had to coast two lanes over to the right to pull over ... i got honked severely by the cars behind me but i managed to pull over and it fire up right away.

[Mdow]

also why i don't ride on the HWY haha but i guess i live out in the middle of BFN and have to ride 30 mins to the interstate

[Turboryan]

I had the same symptoms happen to me on the freeway this summer, turns out my bike was running low on oil and was over heating, luckily i pulled over and let it cool and it started up again.  I thought for sure it was a siezed engine....  Just a thought to check the oil...

[beRto]

When I had this problem, I just replaced the petcock with a new OEM one (the original petcock was over 10 years old at the time). Good as new!

[PachmanP]

Thanks all.  I guess will be digging to the petcock, and adding it to the "stuff that needs to be fixed" pile...