Topic: 550 Dead on acceleration

[jimbo]

Well, work continues on my 74 550.  I took her out to stretch her legs today and she let me down a little.  I ran 1st up to 5k, rolled off the throttle, clutched in, shifted, clutch out and rolled back on the throttle and nothing.  I had to clutch in, roll off throttle completely then, the engine would rev back up.  Traffic was backing up behind me so I had to pull off.  Once I got it back to normal, I took back off.  Same problem happened when I went from 2nd to 3rd.  Also noticed it when I had to slow down in 3rd for traffic.  When this happens, I can roll the throttle all the way to wide open and the bike looses speed.  The only cure is to shift to the previous gear. 

I rode it back to the house and parked it.  Any suggestions? 

[DammitDan]

The first time you let the clutch out and got nothing, did you have to jiggle the shifter to get it to "engage" into the next gear (like you found a ghost neutral between the gears...) before it would rev back up again, or was it in gear and simply not pulling?

Sounds like you're losing power on your carbs.  The wide open loss of power may have to do with blocked air filters, or some other obstruction in the carbs.  Also, check your clutch cable tension, and make sure you can get pull from 1st and 2nd while sitting still and shifting between them (just play the clutch out real slowly).

[jimbo]

The first time you let the clutch out and got nothing, did you have to jiggle the shifter to get it to "engage" into the next gear (like you found a ghost neutral between the gears...) before it would rev back up again, or was it in gear and simply not pulling?

Sounds like you're losing power on your carbs.  The wide open loss of power may have to do with blocked air filters, or some other obstruction in the carbs.  Also, check your clutch cable tension, and make sure you can get pull from 1st and 2nd while sitting still and shifting between them (just play the clutch out real slowly).

It was in gear and not pulling.  Gears shift smoothly with a good click.  I can actually feel them.  Tonight I'll pop out the air filter and see if it helps.  I am running the stock af.  Thanks