Periodically my H2 has had this issue with plug fouling and poor running. There's a pattern, I just didn't put it together until today.
Here's a common example. I'm out riding, stop at the gas station, put premix oil in the gas tank, fill up, continue riding and the bike dies. Bike doesn't want to run, needs choke, smokes a lot, clears out eventually, change the spark plugs, things get back to normal.
I used to think the problem was due to riding around with the guys at small throttle openings and loading up the plugs. Now I know otherwise.
Today I'm riding with clear fuel lines! I poured the oil in the gas tank, filled up, striving to aim the gas nozzle at the back of the gas tank to mix the gas. Getting on the bike, I looked at the fuel lines and they were solid red! That is, they looked like they were full of oil with not much gas.
The bike has a Pingel petcock. Maybe with a vacuum petcock the heavy concentration of oil wouldn't go down the fuel lines when the bike is sitting. Alarmed, I was also prepared for what might happen. And it did. I started riding, the bike bogged, it was smoking but it still needed the choke (plenty of oil, not enough gas). I stopped and changed the plugs, started it several times and tried to ride. The choke was required to keep the bike going. Once I got on an uncrowded street and was able to open it up without a stoplight, the oil cleared out and things went back to normal.
Maybe this wouldn't have happened if I had shut off the petcock. To play it safer, in the future I'll fill the tank at least halfway, then put the oil in and fill up to mix the oil and gas.
The scenario has happened at least four or five times over the four years I've owned it. Hopefully today's event was the last!
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