Spot of bother

Ok, so the curvy started fine, as usual, this morning for the ride to work. First mile or so was fine, as usual, but then she started spluttering in any gear/any revs and idle revs were all over the place, before cutting out at the lights. Managed to limp the last couple of miles to work by holding the throttle in neutral/restarting etc.
It wasn't actually raining but the roads were soaked. Now I'm aware of the whole 'water on the front cylinder' business - but I have a fenda extenda and a belly pan fitted. Rode the bike all day on saturday with no problems at all (also rode a good 20 mins in driving rain last friday with no probs). I've had the bike for about 250 miles now with no problems - she was all MOT'd & serviced etc before I got it.

Any thoughts or anything I can try to get home tonight?

Cheers,
Dave

It could be water in the fuel. Do you keep the bike outside and uncovered?
Around the top of the Filler there is a small drainage hole which allows any water that has collected to drain away, however this can get blocked and thus any water just collects and can seep past the filler caps into the tank. If you lft the tank you will be able to see a couple of rubber hoses which run down through the bike and end up sticking out of the bottom of the frame / engine. Make sure these hoses are clear, i.e. can you blow through them?

Either that or you could have water in some of the electrics.

Hope you get it sorted

[embee]

...or sticking chokes, or the usual wiring chafing points for a curvy.

Try searching on the above.

Thanks for the pointers folks. I did leave it uncovered outside for the last couple of days, but if it was water in there - would it run fine for the first mile or so? Just had a quick look and it doesnt look like there's any water in/around the fuel filler. Would I need to drain the tank if so?

Think it must be weather related somehow though.

i would imagine it would run fine for a couple of miles cos there would be untainted fuel in the carbs, but as the watered dwn stuff runs into them thats when u start getting problems. ide guess you would have to do a tank drain but im not an expert!

Right, it's not the filler water drain - just ran some water round below the filler top with a straw- it flowed down the drain hole and out the hose down by the belly pan no problem.

Started her up fine - ran for a few mins - idle revs dropping and dropping - until she died. Could be an rac job later.

If you have ruled out the water then my money would be on sticking choke, quite common on the curvey SV.

Managed to get it to the garage where I got it, with the choke on full and some luck. They drained the carbs and changed the plugs.

Fingers crossed and touch wood - it seems ok now!