It was a sleepy Saturday morning in Chiang Mai, the beginning of another hot day. Despite the forecast 32C I donned my BKS leathers & full gear - this was a test ride, after all - and headed out onto our local triple carriageway.
The road was empty. Despite some reluctance to pull away, the engine was soon up to temperature and speed. Third gear and 9,000 rpm - what speed is that? - and the sweeping bends of the road felt good. Best not to go too fast given the propensity of local scooter riders, pickup truck drivers, and livestock to emerge without warning onto the carriageway from side roads/the hard-shoulder/the fields.
The engine sounded fine. In fact, it was great! I was delighted. There was one small detail I felt sure could be fixed. On coming to a halt, the revs would drop and the engine die. Not a problem. It restarted fine. Ten miles down the road I turned round and headed home.
The following day I took the bike out again. This time it didn't run well. I posted to the forum, "
Carb tuning - Classic symptoms, but what of?". I had just managed to get home after a short Sunday run, cut short by the rain. In retrospect, that was a lucky break.
In reply, Neosophist hit the screw on the head. Had I adjusted the pilot screws correctly? A few hours later I spoke to "JB", who runs a couple of RVF's in Bangkok, and he asked the same question. During our conversation it dawned on me. I checked the manual, and then the carb guide online. Duh! I had turned the pilot jets out two turns, and failed to adjust the pilot jet screws at all. Double duh!
It didn't take long to get the carbs off again, to find that of the four pilot screws, three had tightened by about one turn, while a fourth had wound out, what, eight or nine turns.
It had almost fallen out into the float bowl, which would have made for an interesting engine disaster.
