Decided to put the wife's CBR away for winter. Generally I empty the fuel and refill them with VP non-ethanol gas for storage, something I've done with all our bikes for years with no issues. Generally, this means I use my little manual siphon pump to pump the tank out into a gas can, then start it up and run it till it stalls, then turn it over once or twice to be sure it's dry. Then I just refill it with VP, fire it up to fill all the lines back up, and put it away for the season.
Well today (because she's only ridden it like, twice since I bought it for her, and I really wanted to ride it) I unplugged it from the battery tender and took it for a ride. It fired right up on the first try, ran like a million bucks for a couple miles, then back home. I proceeded to siphon the tank out, start it up and run it dry, which only took about ten seconds of idling. I've never been able to get so much out of any of my other bikes with the siphon pump, but regardless: I tried to start it two more times to be sure it was out, and it seemed to be. So I filled it to the top with VP, hit the button and it fired right up again first try and almost immediately settled into a nice idle. I bumped the throttle a time or two, let it settle, and killed it. So far so good.
Another of my off season practices (sometimes) is to take the bikes out of the garage and put them in the basement of the house, which (because the outside bulkhead sticks up out of the ground almost a foot) involves setting up a 2x12 like a seesaw so I can ride up/over/down the bulkhead stairs into the basement, so I can do stuff to them over the winter without freezing. I got the plank out on the bulkhead, hopped on the bike (which fired right up and purred like a kitten again) and road it across the yard over to the bulkhead, where I shut if off again and waited for my wife to come over and stand on the end of the plank so I could get the front tire on and hold it in place. Usually I have an elaborate system for doing this alone, but today I was feeling lazy. So- wife in place, I pulled the clutch and hit the starter, but it just turned over and didn't start. I realized then that I'd shut it off with the kill switch and didn't reset it to run position, so I did, but it made no difference. I tried cycling the key, the kill switch, putting it in neutral, but all it does is turn over. It doesn't sound like the pump is priming or anything, none of the normal pre-fire noises are happening, just the starter cranking it over to no avail. Any ideas what (and how) I may have screwed this up?
Well today (because she's only ridden it like, twice since I bought it for her, and I really wanted to ride it) I unplugged it from the battery tender and took it for a ride. It fired right up on the first try, ran like a million bucks for a couple miles, then back home. I proceeded to siphon the tank out, start it up and run it dry, which only took about ten seconds of idling. I've never been able to get so much out of any of my other bikes with the siphon pump, but regardless: I tried to start it two more times to be sure it was out, and it seemed to be. So I filled it to the top with VP, hit the button and it fired right up again first try and almost immediately settled into a nice idle. I bumped the throttle a time or two, let it settle, and killed it. So far so good.
Another of my off season practices (sometimes) is to take the bikes out of the garage and put them in the basement of the house, which (because the outside bulkhead sticks up out of the ground almost a foot) involves setting up a 2x12 like a seesaw so I can ride up/over/down the bulkhead stairs into the basement, so I can do stuff to them over the winter without freezing. I got the plank out on the bulkhead, hopped on the bike (which fired right up and purred like a kitten again) and road it across the yard over to the bulkhead, where I shut if off again and waited for my wife to come over and stand on the end of the plank so I could get the front tire on and hold it in place. Usually I have an elaborate system for doing this alone, but today I was feeling lazy. So- wife in place, I pulled the clutch and hit the starter, but it just turned over and didn't start. I realized then that I'd shut it off with the kill switch and didn't reset it to run position, so I did, but it made no difference. I tried cycling the key, the kill switch, putting it in neutral, but all it does is turn over. It doesn't sound like the pump is priming or anything, none of the normal pre-fire noises are happening, just the starter cranking it over to no avail. Any ideas what (and how) I may have screwed this up?