Kawi2strokes.com Forum

Any potential downsides to a pingel petcock?

No reserve, MUST remember to turn it off.

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Answers are here: http://kawatriple.com/

Mraxl nailed it...

so in other words... THERE IS NO DOWNSIDE.

Unless you mistakenly leave the Pingle on and a needle and seat leaks

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2819

J

as I said... Mraxl nailed it. Remember to shut the fuel off and no problemo..

I dont understand WHAT is so difficult about shutting the gas off? Pretty sure every single one of us grew up on bikes that needed its petcock shut off after riding? It has been "engrained" in me since I was 12 years old. Either that, or my dad would ball me out for the 3 gallons of gas all over the garage floor from my XR80. It really should be second nature for guys that have been riding long enough (pre-vacuum petcocks).
To "blindly-depend" on a vacuum diaphram to do the job is silly. Ive had more modern bikes where the stupid vacuum diaphram has failed flooding the cases. and I cant tell you how many stock triple petcocks Ive had that spilled fuel all over my garage or how many have had me pulling the turkey baster out to suck the fuel out of bottom ends.


Yes, Pingels are overpriced plumbing fixtures, but they do exactly as intened. "On" means fuel is "On"... "Off" means its "Off". The only remote problem I have had with them is sometimes the brass outlets are not completely pressed into the body itself and will have a bit of a "seap". This is usually on NEW petcocks and easily fixed in about 10 seconds in a vise.

and Reserve on a triple is a false economy as well. What do we get? 100 miles out of a tank if lucky? If you own a triple and drive by a gas station during your ride, you're a braver man than I am.....

I just assume my bike is always on reserve and I never (ok not often anyways..) run out of fuel.

Valid points Cody. Here is the opposing point of view:

It's not like Pingel petcocks never leak and need to be repaired. I've found my stock vacuum petcock to be very reliable over the years. I guess the only way to be sure the fuel is off and not leaking with any petcock is to check it by pulling off an outlet tube or three and seeing if it drips.

My preference is to have "reserve" as well. I've had times when something was wrong with a carb or two, like a stuck float valve, and got only 45 miles to reserve. Without that feature I would have run out of gas for sure. I don't think I've ever run out of gas in the 34 years I've had my H2.

If I wanted a very reliable manual fuel valve, I think I'd get a Nupro 1/4-turn stainless steel valve (or equiv) and adapt it to my tank fitting and lines. It's hard to beat the Swagelok product line.

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If it surges, that's normal, upshift.

I will just disagree then, never did or will use a Pingel. Unnecessary. Never had a flood.........

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Twist the throttle, tilt the horizon, and have a great time. What triples are all about...........

we know you hate them John.. Thats why I put the "overpriced plumbing fixture" comment in there.

Like anything in life, it all comes down to personal experience. Stock petcocks dont like me...so I dont like them.

I'll add my 2c since I want pingle about 2 years ago.

I had problems with the oem not fully shutting off. Did everything except the small O-rings but Jim gave me some last year I'll try later.

Here's the gig.

I like the pingle.
It is expensive but well made.
Flows like a mad-dog.

For a long time I'd forget to turn it off and flood my floor and risk hydro - always a pita.

The nipple is larger than my 30's. Little heat and spit to get lines off/on but I'm used to it now.

Here's the scary one:
The collar nut is double threaded, basically you can't position it where you want and tighten the nut. Its a turn till it seats the valve onto the bung of the tank. Now the treads worked so my on/off lever was almost on the inside to I gave it a little more UMPH and thought I stripped the tank. You guys remember my post on that a while back - I was freaking....

Closer look the pingle nut stripped (softer material I guess - but thanks for that). So I ordered another nut from Pingle ($24bucks plus shitting) - get it - and all is good. This one actually lined up pretty good - I've left it alone.

Knowing what I do now, I would have worked on the oem till I had it working. The pingle is fine, I'm used to it but the almost stripping my tank freaked me out.

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This is true. Where I grew up the hills were so steep and long, when your ball rolled down the hill you just said "screw it"...

For mine, a triple without a reserve is a bit like Russian-roulette! Never had a vacuum-tap leak, but I always do the slow kick first. Hey, I don't have to shut off the fuel on my ZX10R, (or my car!!)

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"One day, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it's worth watching." : anon.