Ran good 12 miles then died

Hi All,

My 1980 KZ 650 was out in the yard for a few years. Three weeks ago I got it insured and licensed and took it out. It was backfiring out the exhaust and fouling #2 plug. I took the carbs apart and they didn't look too bad. I replaced the bowl gaskets, the carb top gaskets, the airbox hoses, and the accelerator pump diaphram. Today I got it all back together. The bike started right up and ran good. I took it for a ride, the backfiring was gone. It had good acceleration and ran smooth. I was out for about 30 minutes running at different speeds from 25 to 60 miles per hour. During that time the bike stalled 2 times at stop signs but started right back up. I figured I had something set to low for idle and wasn't concerned. The gas is fresh, 2nd tank since getting the license and insurance. After that ride I decided to take it out a little longer. I got out about 2 miles from home on the hiway and it died like it had no gas. Full choke would get it to start for a few seconds but then die again, no power to get it to move though. Finally it started and ran long enough and well enough to get to a gas station, I topped off the tank, less than 2 gallons so gas wasn't an issue. Then it started and ran long enough to get me within 1/2 block of my house. Any ideas why it would die like this?

Thanks in advance.

i would check your petcock to see if it is functioning as designed.
sounds like you are running out of gas because the float bowls are running dry.
try it on prime and see if it still happens.

Your symptons sound like a couple things. The fuel supplis is one, as mentioned. A second would be the valves out of adjustment, a third could be a bad coil heating up.

OK, I feel like a dork now. The petcock was rebuilt about 2 years ago, it is working perfectly. I have spark. Now for why it died like it had no gas. I was test riding in the dark. I had put on new fuel line and apparantly used too much. When it warmed up it softened and kinked. In the light of the day I could see this and just cut off about 2" of line and now its running well again.

Good find - it's usually the simplest things, eh!

Happy trails.