Just filled it up yesterday... Was out riding to go get a game, bike was lugging like it was gasping for gas in first gear... once I got going it was fine. At a light I got stuck in neutral, couldn't shift to first (wtf?) so I shifted up to second instead. Gave it some gas (enough to get it going in second) and the damn thing sputtered and lugged for like 15 feet. Got home, checked my tank - it's full of gas.

The **** is wrong with my bike?

Could it be the oil?

Look I don't know hardly anything about engines or bike mechanics - i'm trying to learn though. The nearest bike mechanic is like 30 miles away and quite frankly, I don't know if my bike can do it right now.

 

As for the "lugging", perhaps your fuel or air is impeded...ie., a fuel-pump problem, blocked fuel filter, or bad air-filter restricting air flow & needing to be replaced.

 

Are these things that I would be able to check / change on my own - or is a complicated process best done at a dealer?

 

You *could* do this yourself but w/ the lack of experience, you could find yourself in a frustrating loop of spending money on what could or could not be the cause(s)...& ultimately, not having the problem corrected.

I always like to encourage folks to try to solve issues when they can to save money & gain a sense of self confidence & self reliance. However, I wouldn't want to recommend you try to solve an issue that hasn't been definitely identified.

From your description, you could have one or more problems. W/o being able to specifically identify these things, it would prob be best for you to take your bike to the factory Honda repair shop.

I hope you're the issue(s) are easily repairable & wish you the best of luck. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

 

was it a one time accurance? I would certainly ride the bike again to see if its still having the issue. If its not, a mechanic will probably not be able to diagnosis the issue either. I would suggest keeping tabs on when the bike is having issues, such as when its cold, or after a refill... things like that. It will be information that can be used to diagnosis the issue.

When the bike was stuck in neutral, did you roll the bike a bit to see if it would go into first? If not, I would chock that one up to the trans just being in exactly the wrong spot to go into first gear. Its quite a common occurance, but as soon as you roll the bike forward, it will go into first. Also, the chugging from taking off in second gear could have easily been from just being in too high of a gear and giving it too much gas. If your rpms are not high enough, and in your in too low of gear and give it a lot of gas, it will sputter out.

I dont think the oil would have anything to do with it. Unless you overfilled it and the drag of the oil was causing issues.

On another note, If the bike is not fully warmed up before you take off, it can sputter, especially if its cold out. Carbed bikes can be finiky once it gets colder. So, it could be just one big coincidence that everything sort of happened all at once.

Or, you could have a carb or spark plug issue. I wouldn't lean towards a fuel delivery issue as you said it ran fine once you were going. If there was a fuel restriction, the opposite would happen in that you would run bad once you were going but, fine on the low end. If its carb related, you may have dirty pilot jets.

 

Thank you for your replies guys.

I did ride it this morning, same issue but to a slightly lesser degree. It would sputter a bit in first, but once I got the RPM's up past 3k or so, everything went smoothly.

It was kinda chilly this morning, and I only let it warm up for a minute or two. Maybe that's the problem? Should I just start the bike, and it leave it running for 5-10 minutes?

I'm not really sure about the whole cold thing though... on friday (when this all became more of a problem) it was like 3pm and 60 degrees out. And it was sputtering worse than it was at 50ish this morning. Also, before it was sputtering really bad on friday, I had already rode home from work. (20 min ride.) then in the middle of my ride to the gamestop (10 mins) it started really badly.

Not sure if that means anything though.

 

My take ....... ya got a tank of not so good gas (moisture laden).
Had it happen once or twice and once down at the Dragon in TN
.....all 4 bikes in the group had stuttering
due to a bad fill up at a certain gas station.

 

Oh that's a good point.

I also forgot to mention that... maybe a week ago I had put 89 in the bike because the only other octane at that station was 93. My bike takes 91 or 92...

And then a few days ago I filled up with 92.

So could the 89+92 mix mess it up? Or not..?

 

Why would you not use 93 octane? 89 sucks in high compression motors.......

 

Run it down and refill at a well used bigger gas station with 93
and I 'd bet she'll t'ank your for it !

That 89 ....mighta been more like 87 if it was a mom and pop type gas station. !