Trouble on the road

So I rode over 1100 km on my bike, Checked the spark plugs and they had that nice kinda greyish brownish color that I can't describe but that they show you as being good here: http://www.ngksparkplugs.com/tech_suppo ... aqread.asp

Yesterday I rode for about 300 km and it still fired up super easily, ran without a hiccup, sounded fine.

Last night it slept in some strong strong STROONG wind as the camping was right by he sea. This morning it fired up fine, warmed up for a couple of minutes then I closed the enrichment circuit and let it idle some more. All of a sudden I hear the rpm go down from and it's having trouble breathing. My dad who was nearby gives it a tiny bit of gas and the exhaust pours out some nice thick black smoke... Check the plugs and they're ALL fouled... Wtf?

The air filter is fine, I have some new spark plugs but if anyone has an explanation before I put them in I'm clueless...

The floats have been set before the previously mentioned 1100 km (now 1400) and the spark plugs had maybe 1000-1500 km at that point. I thought I had to change them in some time still as they were fine last time I checked... I also color tuned and sync'd it. Valves are in spec, I adjusted them right before leaving.

 

Maybe you dropped a jet in the bowl.

Hmm nm you said all 4 were doing it.
thinking***

 

think about the last place you got gas

 

Think the gas might make it bad? My dad's fuel injected v star had a couple of hickups after our last fill up but I don't have the proper extension with me to check his spark plugs... It's running fine now though which was why I ended up discarding bad fuel, was I wrong? I had it happen on a car before and it wasn't happy

 

FI can adjust somewhat for poor gas, yours can't. try topping it off with premium, see what happens

 

...and stay away from that Ethanol shit!!!

 

All gas here has ethanol mixed in it, I put metal tipped needles partly because of that too

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I'll be putting premium in either tonight or tomorrow morning while crossing my fingers real hard lol

 

I think the closest station to you that has Ethanol-free pump(s) is:

Francis Fuels Gas Bar
1944 Merivale Rd, Ottawa, ON

 

Isn't any premium gas supposed to be ethanol-free in "la Province de Quebec"?

 

"New Brunswick, Newfoundland, PEI, Quebec: all stations dispense ethanol-free premium grade."

There ya go.

 

You're right, i thought so, but I just asked around and only some places mix it with ethanol. (Now to figure out which) I'm not anywhere near that gas station you mentioned though lol, even if I was in Montreal it'd be like drivin to Boston from New York to grab gas!

I'm in some random town in eastern Canada at the moment anyway (near the province of Prince Edward Island if you feel like googling). Looking for trouble driving a 30 yrs old motorcycle on a 4-5000km road trip XD

 

i've been putting "up to 10%" in mine for years, never had any problems, but i do go to busy stations where the gas would be fresher

 

Also, in lieu of premium, you can drop some 'dry-gas' or equivalent in the tank. Usually does the trick for me when I get the sputter-sputter.

 

Sta-Bil makes a fuel stabilizer for watercraft that is supposed to neutralize Ethanol. I've never used it, just regular Sta-Bil for the storage, so I don't know how well it works, or if you can find it north of the US.

How does the air filter look? May be oil blowback into the filter.....

 

I never have had a dirty oil filter so I showed it to the mechanic who sold me new spark plugs and he said it was ok.

 

I just re-read that and realized how stupid it must seem to not know if something is dirty, but I'd read somewhere it can be hard to tell and I usually just want to be on the safer side when something has the potential to just explode right under my balls...

 

Not at all! I just rode mine 5800 miles from wisconsin to the california coast, over the mointains and back, with nothing but a fork seal go bad

 

Talking about going bad...

I just stopped and, while I can't feel anything by moving the forks by hand, I can hear a click when I come to a stop a little abruptly. I'm going to dismantle it and check the steering bearing. Does my prognostic sound good or am I way off? Can I get bearings for this bike at any garage if need be?

I'm driving it about another 10 miles to the hotel and then it's stayin there until this is fixed...