These spark plugs have about 1500 miles or so on them and they are not looking so great. The bike isn't running all that great either. These don't have that nice medium tan burn color to them...kind of dark and sooty with the darker one being from the front cylinder. These are out of a 96 RK. I think I may need to adjust the ignition timing. The bike was running pretty good but has steadily been declining in performance lately. I recently had another post about it dieseling, backfiring out of the carb and exhaust...kind of sputtering. It's also having a very hard time getting from 90-100 mph...which is unusual for it. I have not been able to find an intake leak...but a buddy of mine thinks I may have an exhaust leak from listening to it. Any thoughts? Thanks!

 

Look OK to me.

 

I second the above opinion. Nothing going on there.

 

It's dangerous diagnosing problems over the internet, but from a decade or so as a Land Rover tech I'll agree those plugs look okay & do not point to anything immediately specific. Not to say there is nothing wrong with the bike though, as it sounds like there is. I'm no expert on a 96 RK, sorry.

 

Look good to me. But if you run 90-100 all the time, spend the 14 bucks on a new set of plugs. That will take them out of the equation. Clean your carb, and jets you know, all the simple (free) stuff you can do thru the process of elimination. And retune your carb.

 

That!

 

I'd have to agree. Those plugs look reasonable for a carbed bike IME. I doubt that they are anything to do with your problems, but as this guy says, they are a cheap thing to try. (I recently replaced mine after using them for 5k miles and the difference in performance is amazing. There was nothing wrong before, but it runs much better now.)

I'd also be running through the simple things; jets, fuel and air filters, hoses etc. before fiddling with timing or even tuning the carb to ensure that you are not just masking something more simple and losing out as a result.

 

New plugs, run, and have another look.

 

plugs look ok to me. Considering your issue with not being able to pull to 100 mph id be wondering if your float bowl isn't running out. Could be a problem with screen in your petcock. (dontcha just love that word)

 

Thanks for the feedback guys.