revtothelimit - motorbike forum

Coming back from an mot on the zx9r on reserve and it starts to choke... still manages 5 more miles to get home in 2nd at 3000rpm to save me a walk in the heat.

Great bike.

Kawasaki's always did have carb problems, not sure if anyone ever got them really sorted out.

Also it could have been premature fuel evaporation in this heat?

Nope, it's just empty. Rode beautifully on the way there and will do so again when I put some more fuel in. I've had a few Kawasakis with carbs, and none had carb problems.

Few mates/brother had a range of carbed Kwaks only issue I remember was carb icing. But then they were used daily which seems best for carbs.

The 9r’s have carb heating, they improved it in the later models, double rail instead of the single rail that was on the c’s. I got it bad on my c model back in the day as I used that daily for work, was a pain in the old cock.

The only one I rode all year round was a late gpz1100e with the detuned zzr1100 engine and I never had a problem with it. That was a lovely bike. So comfortable and fast. I expect it would feel old now but it was one I wish I'd never got rid of.

dern wrote: Thu Jun 25, 2026 11:29 am Coming back from an mot on the zx9r on reserve and it starts to choke... still manages 5 more miles to get home in 2nd at 3000rpm to save me a walk in the heat.

Great bike.

Hadn't used the CBR 900 for a few weeks and turned the tap off whilst we were away - It started coughing and spluttering quite a long way down the A12 from our house - Halfwit Smethurst quickly realised after about 5 minutes what had happened

asmethurst99 wrote: Thu Jun 25, 2026 3:13 pm

dern wrote: Thu Jun 25, 2026 11:29 am Coming back from an mot on the zx9r on reserve and it starts to choke... still manages 5 more miles to get home in 2nd at 3000rpm to save me a walk in the heat.

Great bike.

Hadn't used the CBR 900 for a few weeks and turned the tap off whilst we were away - It started coughing and spluttering quite a long way down the A12 from our house - Halfwit Smethurst quickly realised after about 5 minutes what had happened

Easily done.

My RD350 from years ago sputtered so I switched to reserve, and it died completely. The previous owner had plumbed them the wrong way round.

fuel stops in short supply?

dern wrote: Thu Jun 25, 2026 12:16 pm Nope, it's just empty. Rode beautifully on the way there and will do so again when I put some more fuel in.

Ah i misunderstood you.

I've had a few Kwaks, now trying to remember if i ever had carb issues....
Might have had issues on the Mirth in the dead of winter, but couldn't say for certain.

Using the reserve then forgetting I'd done so was almost a regular occurrence for my first year or so of riding on the road....

dern wrote: Thu Jun 25, 2026 3:49 pm

asmethurst99 wrote: Thu Jun 25, 2026 3:13 pm

dern wrote: Thu Jun 25, 2026 11:29 am Coming back from an mot on the zx9r on reserve and it starts to choke... still manages 5 more miles to get home in 2nd at 3000rpm to save me a walk in the heat.

Great bike.

Hadn't used the CBR 900 for a few weeks and turned the tap off whilst we were away - It started coughing and spluttering quite a long way down the A12 from our house - Halfwit Smethurst quickly realised after about 5 minutes what had happened

Easily done.

My RD350 from years ago sputtered so I switched to reserve, and it died completely. The previous owner had plumbed them the wrong way round.

Same deal with my 250 Gamma, it's a fucker when it happens first time, going along thinking this Gamma has got great MPG when !!!!!

Rockburner wrote: Thu Jun 25, 2026 12:12 pm Kawasaki's always did have carb problems, not sure if anyone ever got them really sorted out.

Also it could have been premature fuel evaporation in this heat?

100+ Kaw's over 50 years, never had carb issues on any of them.