Performance in the rain?

Rode my bike for the first time in the rain today. There was a hard downpour for about an hour before I left work, but by the time I was ready to leave, it had slowed to a mild shower. I cranked over the engine and it fired right up, but died after a few seconds, so I gave her a little choke and it started up again. I moved the choke back to normal position andaAfter a mile or so she idled really rough and spit and sputtered up to about 4000 RPM.

My question is: Is this caused by the rain, the humidity, the sudden drop on temp or is this totally unrelated to the weather?

 

Moisture grounding.

There's no Hood on a bike.
When you get the spark plug wires wet ... they are going to find the most convenient path to ground.

In the rain or after a real soaking bike-wash ... that path to ground is ahead of the Spark Plug ... so, you start missing and stalling-out.

It only takes a few misses to wet foul a plug.
After things dry-out ... you're back in action.

Or ... at least we hope it isn't anything more serious than just having a wet bike.

Try organizing the wires above the engine so that they aren't wrapped-around each other.

That can go a long way to making the situation better.

 

Thanks Rick!

I'll try rerouting the plug wires plus I'll let you know if it gets back to normal once the rain lets up. Your explanation makes perfect sense though. By the way, did you check out my gallery with the pic of my bike? curious to hear your opinion on the work so far.

I am having way too much fun with this thing!!!

 

Dave: No advice on the rain situation, but it's good to see others from Indiana on here!

 

Sounds very similar to when my bike is telling me to go buy some gas. I don't know about the plugs, but it's even easier to pull over and top off to eliminate that as a possibility, and it's better than riding or pushing in the rain.

 

Rain again today and similar problems. Yeah, it does feel like running out of gas, but it is more than half full. This weekend I painted the tank which meant draining and there was some crumblies in there and I hope there isn't something worked into the carbs. I did put on an inline filter, so hopefully there won't be. Blue skies in the forecast tomorrow! So I'll know for sure.

 

Well, you must have been right. No rain and it's running smooth. Thanks for the input!. Perfect weather today, I gotta hit the road!!!

 

That wasn't a hard guess.

Jusut put 2 + 2 together and came up with Wet Bike syndrome.