Something stinks in my garage and its my 09 RK after a ride.

I have about 500 miles on the bike and we went out for a ride last night. When we got home I pulled it in the garage and closed the doors. During the night I woke to the smell of gas so I got up to research it only to find the HD in the garage stinking like it had too much Mexican for dinner. Since then I have aired out the garage and the smell is gone but I am thinking something is amiss.

I have the stage 1 kit and some better flowing mufflers. The tank is only half full and there is no sign of any fuel anyplace.
Any suggestions?

 

That means you ran the **** out of it.


NORMAL

 

Its normal, especially when the bikes are new, you think a bagger is bad, you should smell a fresh v-rod (out of the crate fire up) when those pipes are burning in...open the door.

 

do you remember running over something dead .roadkill maybe

 

Wipe your *** and move on.

 

I find I just need to leave the door open a few minutes after I ride in. I have an uphill driveway, so I have to give it some gas to get it in the driveway. I let it idle about 30 seconds before I shutdown, that seems to help too.

Of course neither of these will compensate for filling up to much before putting the bike away. Just last week I was leaving early on a longer ride for the weekend, so I got the bike all ready and filled it up about two miles from my house. I didn't fill past the neck, but it was right up to it. Then I brought it home and parked it in the hot garage. Walked out about two hours later and the garage smelled horrible. Puddle of gas on the floor under the breather tube. :-( Must of expanded a bit when it heated up.

 

This is normal fuel vapour venting. When you shut the engine off, the heat radiates up to the tank and heats the fuel in the tank. This builds pressure as the fuel expands and it vents this off just ahead of the rear tire with a checkvalve. This is normal and nothing to worry about unless you have an open flame in the shed. In that case let the bike cool down before closing up the building.
Ron
Ron

 

Well your answer really makes sense. This is my 5th new HD and the 1st to smell...

 

I have mine in the shop for this exact problem. They've had it for a few days now and have thus far found it to be OK. I asked them to ride it hard for 15 miles and check again just to be sure. Just doesn't seem right to be smelling what seems like gasoline two hours after I ride.

 

rbabos - while your answer is technically correct its, well, just darn on the money! My King is five years old and if I put her away wet after riding her hard I'll also get the fumes.

I've found it best to let her cool down in the drive way then bring her into the garage. Any fuming will happen outside.

Thanks for the detailed explanation.