Hello everyone!
So I am just learning to ride and I was approaching an intersection coming off the highway (with no turn off lane and semi's coming up on me) so I had to go from about 100km down to 20-ish to make the 90 degree turn. I was running down through the gears but I couldn't get down to 2nd fast enough so I just pulled in the clutch and tried to go down three gears in one go then make the turn. I screwed it up and I think I ended up in first. I pulled in the clutch as I didn't want to lock up the rear tire. I got around the corner to find the engine had stopped. I coasted to the edge and started her up again. Started on the second go. I got her home and checked the battery. Its not in the greatest place...about 12.3V. I then went to start her up and turned the key to "on" and noticed the oil light did not come on. turned it off, back on...oil light now came on. Started fine. I put the multimeter leads onto the battery and held it at 5000rpm and it was at about 12.8V. down at 2000rpm it hits 14.5 -ish. At idle its about 12.6V

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

OKAY - an update.
I pulled the plug cables alternating from one side to the other and one fired up normally while the other would only start when choked and a bit of throttle was added. As soon as you let the throttle go it shuts off.

I wish I knew more about engines. I get the feeling I'm about to.

So you say it starts fine, if you just ride the bike normally does it seem to be ok or is it "off"?

Great question - and I wish I had an answer for you. I have a grand total of probably three weeks of riding so my "gut feelings" about something being off are not exactly valid information. I can tell you it seemed to run fine up until it stalled on me. Though, to be fair, who knows what stupid thing I did in that moment of panic!

I went out this evening and did a "compression test" -Okay, it was a put my thumb over the spark plug holes and they blew off test. Up to spec?...no idea.
There was spark at both plugs. I drained the bowls and no gunk came out.
She only has 14 thousand Km on her so like - 8 thousand-ish miles on it and basically looks new. It seems to have been well cared for prior to me getting it.

I'm not saying the two issues are related (battery/charging and possible engine issue) I'm just confused. (this is my resting state so not exactly disturbing to me)

I tried the single sided approach again and it was the same thing. BUT I did manage to get it to settle out and stay going but I needed to really warm it up with both connected then disconnect one. With a single piston going, both sides idled at about 800 when both sides were both firing it was at 1100rpm at idle. Not sure if that is pertinent.

The crappy part is I have my motorcycle license road test next week! I need to practice and also have a running bike for the exam.

Thanks.

I'm going to take it in and get it checked. I don't have time to do it myself this round. It took me 2 months to get an exam date, so cancelling isn't an option.

Sounds sensible under the circumstances.

Have the shop check your valve clearances, this seems to be the most neglected maintenance procedure. With just 4 valves to check, it's pretty easy and should be done prior to any carb work.

Many shops will just say..."we will clean and rebuild the carbs" as an automatic response to any and all running issues. These old-school engines need a valve check every 5000-8000km--your bike may have never had it done.

Then get them to test the charging system. You might just need a new battery.

Thanks. I will make sure they shove their dirty little feelers in there and see if things are not happy.

I'm guessing tight exhaust valve on at least one of the cylinders.
Maybe a regulator/rectifier on its way out.

I would ride it more and see if the bike dying keeps happening at stop lights, stop signs, etc and if the battery health deteriorates quickly. Lots of dying coming to a stop would be valve clearances. Battery dieing a quick death would be charging issues (Likely regulator/rectifier but possibly the stator).

The shop couldn't get to it fast enough for me, so I just crossed my fingers and went and did my road test. She kept running and I passed my exam. So, now that I have a motorcycle license, I have to not ride and instead I need to wrench! Sound typical?