I'm embarrased, and angry, and confused all at the same time. Got my bike running very well after all these years (thanks Buddha and all for the advice for the carbs, was a cloged pilot), and spent yesterday putting on lots of miles. Even took my wife out for a ride or two. This morning I grabbed the bike to ride out with the wife to get some biscuits, and the thing started stuttering at speed, then ended up stalling. I was thinking major problems, but hit the starter, and got nothing. I tapped the bowl on the left side, and got a hollow plink, seemingly empty. "Out of gas", I thought, "how, I just filled up?" I primed, then shifted the petcock to on, and got started. Half a mile down the road, did it again.
This time I checked the tank. There seems to be quite a bit of fuel in the tank, so I primed again, and this time shifted to reserve. This time it lit right up, and rode like a charm all the way home.
What am I missing? I don't remember this think running out of gas with fuel in the tank, is this bad memory? I was thinking perhaps that the on setting is vacume driven, maybe I've a vacume problem. Maybe a pinched line, though visual inspection dosen't support that, nor the miles I put on yesteraday. To complicate this thought, I was warming up with the bike on the side stand, and got a fuel overflow, but when holding the bike up, no problem. This may be two seperate problems, I don't know, somebobdy help.
You are running out of fuel in your main tank and have to put it on the reserve. The main tank holds roughly 4 gallons and is good for about 225 miles or so if you ride reasonably, then you need to put it to reserve to access your additional 1.3 gallons
+1
Reserve is vacuum operated as well.