Last evening, I pulled the Sporty out of the garage, got her turned around in the gravel and was letting her warm up. Got ready to leave, made sure I was in first gear and it was like the brake was stuck or something. The front end hunkered down and she died. This happened three times. On the 4th try to get going, I put her in neutral, then back in first and all was fine.

This was odd to say the least...Any thoughts?

 

Never heard of that one! Let us know if you get to the bottom of it.

 

you didn't run over a kids toy did you?

 

I saw some guy on his sporty pulling (trying to)out of a gas station the other day, he put it in gear let out he clutch and then ...screech, engine died, it acted like the brakes were locked, he fired it back up andit worked on the second try.. At first I thought heneededsome riding lessons but the bike was acting a little strange.
Can you roll the bike when its in neutral? What happens with the engine off, bike in gear, clutch in and try tomove the bike?

 

I can move it when the bike is in neutral, and with the engine off, in gear with the clutch in it moves just fine.

I'm wondering if the front brake locked for whatever reason. It was odd though that I put it into neutral, back into gear and it was fine. Its been fine ever since. I rode last night and to work today, no issues.

I'm going to have the shop look at it and see what they think (my outside mechanic is out of town on vacation until October).

 

I have noticed that if the bike is in gear when I shut it off, and I want to move it later when starting it, just pulling in the clutch does nothing to allow me to move it. I have to shift it to Neutral AND let out the clutch to get it freewheeling. I can olny guess that this is some sort of safety interlock that is built in or something. I found this strange as it is different from how a clutch operates things in a car. Could it be that what ever does this is malfunctioning and causing the bikes to do that? Not releasing the tranny to do what it needs to do?

 

With the engine off, mine won't move with the clutch in when it's in gear. In fact, it's tough to find neutral unless I rock it forward and back a few times with the clutch in. Been that way as long as I can remember.

 

hmm.

 

Update: I took her into the shop tonight on my way to a LoH meeting and the head tech rode her. He put her in the shop IMMEDIATELY saying something was very wrong with the front brake. He told me he could feel and hear the brake dragging when he rolled her backwards with the engine off and the clutch pulled in.

Sooo, tomorrow morning they're going to go through everything and find out what's going on. I'll keep you all posted.

 

Hope you're on the road soon, glad the front brake didn't lock up while you were riding. That could've been ugly! [sm=smiley19.gif]