bike crapping out

suzuki2000

suzuki2000

Well-known member
Was out with my wife Sunday, she has a 250 Maurader. Twice the bike would die after going up some long steep hiils at higer speeds. f she shut it off after the hill, the battery would be dead and need to be bump started.
We could ride on realtively flatter roads with no issue and the battery would charge fine, bike would start fine.
Could the hills/speed just have been taxing the alternator/battery enough that the battery was being drained or unable to charge? (between the highway and the side roads, speeds were mostly 80-100km/hr. The issues seemed to occur when hills were combined with 80+ speeds. The bike is pretty topped out at 100-110, and my wife does very little highway because of this, maybe an exit or two but nothing sustained

Maybe this combined with the heat of the day?

We stopped at the Forks after going through each way and had no issues, but the speeds are fairly low in that area. Bike started fine, at lower speeds no charging issues appeared to be happening
 
I'm no mechanic, but...I always start electrical problems with a good snugging up of the battery terminals, maybe 'cause I ride a Harley, it usually fixes my electrical woes.
 
have you had any issues going up the same hills at a slower speed? might not be speed related, as much as the angle and duration at the angle. Did the bike bog down or just shut off? Maybe some crap in the tank causing a blockage when you're at an angle and causing fuel starvation?
 
If the problem is particular to going up steeper grades and losing power make sure she isn't using the choke. Will cause significant power loss going up hills at higher speeds. (i.e. make sure the choke is fully pushed forward, not in use). You really shouldn't be using the choke at all actually if the engine can run without stalling.
 
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