Went out this afternoon and the engine cut. I had been riding for no more than 5 minutes when I stopped to pop into a shop. When I went to restart the engine uncharacteristically it took about 10 kicks to get it going again. Normally it is a first or second kick starter. Anyway, I had not gone more than about a quater of a mile when the engine cut. I kicked, and kicked, and kicked, but it was having none of it. As luck would have it this incident happened not far from a a fairly steep downward gradient so I pushed the bike to the start of the gradient, got on the bike and got it rolling. After two or three attempts coasting down the hill and letting the clutch out in gear it fired and kept on running. I decided discretion being the better part of valour, it would be wise to abandon the ride and return home. On arriving home, I killed the engine and tried restarting it to see what would happen. Would you believe it started first kick, so I repeated the exercise several times, and it started first kick every time! Out of curiosity I removed the plugs and found that they were black and sooty. Any suggestions as to what was going on? Mag dropping a hint that it was getting tired and needs attention perhaps? Stuck float causing flooding? All very strange. By the way I tried starting the bike when I got home before I checked the plugs.
John
