Hitchcocks Forum

My Bullet 500 (Jan 1999) starts well and runs beautifully. However, when waiting in front of red lights, or in a traffic jams, the engine often stalls.
It always happens in the same way: all of a sudden the rpm goes slightly lower, there is a small misfire (fart) in the inlet, and the engine stalls.
I have the Boyer electronic ignition, a 190 watt alternator and regulator from Rex' Speed Shop.
Standard Mikcarb carburettor (slide with richer mix from our host) and conic air filter.
I also noticed that right before the stalling the amp meter is nearly halfway the left part. My idle is at approx 1000 rpm (judging by ear).
I suspect the regulator. The ammeter needle often "trembles" and randomly jumps from left to right. When riding at approx 75 kmph, the ammeter sometimes goes to the left. How is that possible with a 190 watt alternator when only the headlamp is on ?
Anyone who experienced the same, or has tips on how to troubleshoot this ?

I have the same problem with my bullet 350 (98). At the moment we haven't found a solution.

190W for a Bullet might be a sledgehammer to crack a nut! I am assuming your reg/rectifier is a fairly new one, but I'd check with Rex's. Otherwise there could be wiring issues. 1999 was the changeover year from DC to AC lighting, are you using Magura or Minda switchgear?



A.

What sort of exhaust do you have? As someone elegantly proved in a video on this board recently by holding a silencer on and off the end of a straight exhaust, a straight-through exhaust provides little to no back-pressure and will prevent a tuned bullet from idling properly.

Are you using a micarb or mikuni carb is your pilot jet 25, if so up it to 27.5 I had same problem espscially in thefirst few klms 27.5 pilot jet fixed it.I run a 210 watt alt no problems use h4 headlamp bulb 55/60 with sparx reg led stop and tail.

I have this happen sometimes when I stop and hold the clutch in first gear.Stopping in neutral is not a problem.

Hi Stinkwheel, I think you might be referring to my video. I think the length of an exhaust system has a major part to play in how to make an engine run at its best, as can be seen here, also retarding the inlet cam timing helped with this machine, but I believe any 'backpressure' is unwanted and always aim for the absolute minimum wherever possible. Regards, Paul. ... https://youtu.be/owIQcjBfDAQ

My yr 2000 Bullet, 500cc, often does the same. I'm always tempted, then, to give it a bit more gas to try to recover it, but then it stops.
I find it better to hold my nerve and let the throttle right off as soon as it does this thing, ie no twisting it at all. Then it goes back to normal.

Other than that, I find I keep it at slightly higher revs all the time when stopped, but it's a bit loud then.
There is also the theory somewhere on this board that red traffic lights suck electricity from the bike...

I have always rightly or wrongly put this down to a quirk of big singles. All three bullets I've owned have done this and friends bikes also have. My Indian 500 was particularly bad because it would tick over all day outside my house, but at the lights with a lorry behind me it would always stall if I didn't blip the throttle. My old Yamaha SRX600 didn't do it but my Honda XBR used to occasionally.

I have the same issue with my 2000 Bullet, stock air fiter, short muffler with baffles. Idles like a charm in front of the house, but misses every 30 seconds at lights. It did this with the original carb and now with the PWK carb while otherwise running and starting flawlessly.
Puzzling!