Expert: Mike Wells - 12/9/2008

Question
QUESTION: My wife's bike spits back through the carb. chokes out at the light and will die while she is riding it! Right now if I try to crank it , it will sputter and die it is getting worse. I have had several HD cert. people look at it, and as you can guess I still have the problem.

ANSWER: Does she have any modifactions to the bike, like exhaust, cams and did this start happening after you made any changes or did it just start happening?
Mike

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: It had a set of Vance and Hines pipes on it when we bought it, and it did back fire through the carb. a little bit then and has really gotten worse since then. She doesn't ride much, maybe a hundred miles a year.

ANSWER: One other question, pull the spark plugs and let me know what color they are
Mike

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: they are clean, I pulled them a few months ago to see if that was the problem, since I had them out I went ahead and changed them, there was nothing wrong with them then.

Answer
I would first check to see if you have a intake leak. Next, check for a  exhaust leak. If they are ok, then do a compression test and a bleed down test. they will tell you if you have a valve leak. Last, i would pull the carb and check the jets for dirt.
Good luck and happy riding
Mike