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I was riding my bike home from work today and my bike was running like crap (and yes the choke was off) but after I got 3/4 the way home it was running a little better. But when it was running like crap I thought for sure that it was misfiring.
I considered that Gary, but when my brushes were short way back when it drained the battery. I suppose the dirty rings could be causing poor spark, or intermittent. Yes?
Well dirty rings is a stretch but when brushes just get short they cause weak charging. I guess brush life at about 5000 miles. check fuse holders if you still have the stock fuse box. Check clean wires and grounds... I like 600 grit and mineral spirits to clean up the rings
5K miles brush life, really? I must be living on borrowed time, lol. I checked my originals a couple seasons ago with about 29K on the bike. The inner was still at the new spec of 14.5mm, outer was 2mm shorter @ 12.5. For cleaning the slip rings, I like plain old chrome cleaner. Just put some on a rag and polish away. Here's one done, one not .....
I wipe it down with electrical cleaner after to remove any polish residue.
Not a whole lot, i've cleaned the rings and just changed the exhaust gaskets and welded a few holes in the pipe. Its running better but it sounds like its misfiring.
I'm with gary on this .it sounds like at low speeds you are getting an inconsistant spark.
I'd try disconnecting the charging system at the stator connector and seeing what happens .
if its worse then attach a well charged car battery with the stator disconnected and see if there is any improvement.
It kinda sounds like an intermitent electrical short or a component breaking down like a coil or spark plug or battery cell , etc
What do your plugs tell you ? any oil on them after a period of idleing
The engine sounds really flat and dead like the timing is off ..have you checked it with a timing light
Is it on one side or both sides? If it is on one side can you transfer the problem to the other side by switching the spark plug wires? Are the wires and caps tight?
Whynot2
have you tried swopping the Hi tension (HT)leads and plug caps over yet as whynot suggested? it might just be as simple as a poor HT connection to the coils or plug cap or the HT lead breaking down or shorting out .Otherwise I'd probably be looking at substituting known good coils , spark plugs , HT leads and caps next and carefully checking the low tension supply 12v cable to the coils
