Not sure how else to describe it.
I took a ride yesterday, everything started out fine. I knew I was going to need gas soon, and sure enough, the low fuel light began to illuminate briefly when braking, or stopped facing downhill, the usual thing, for me anyway. I had to ride about 18 more miles before a chance to stop for gas. At this point, the fuel light still had not come on steady.
As I slowed on a level stretch to stop for gas, I shifted from 5th to 4th gear, and the engine started to sputter and skip a bit, very briefly, with no response to throttle blipping (why does that always seem to be the gut response to engines misbehaving? "Give it more gas, that'll fix it!"
). It did this two or three times in a short interval, and when I pulled into the pump, and put it in neutral, it was idling fine, but when I twisted the throttle to run the speed up it would sputter lightly. Back down to neutral, fine; rev again and it sputtered. I did this for a minute or so, and I observed that while the bike was sputtering, the neutral light and the red "Royal Enfield" always-on gauge indicator light actually dimmed slightly "in time" with the sputtering.
I filled up, and rode a bit more, 1/4 mile maybe, and it began happening again, again in 4th gear. I experimented while at about 30-35 mph and shifted between gears: 3rd gear, no sputter. Back to 4th, sputter. 5th, no sputter, but the engine lugged so slowly that I couldn't really tell. Back to 4th, sputter. Back to 3rd, no sputter. 4th again, sputter. 3rd one more time, but it did sputter a bit this time.
My buddy and I stopped for lunch to think about it, while our bikes cooled down for about 40 minutes, but we couldn't come up with any obvious quick-fix scenarios, so we decided to head home on back roads to avoid traffic. All the way home, the bike behaved perfectly.
As you all know, I'm new to this whole business, but based on what little I do know, and based on what I've learned about these bikes here on the forum, this shouts electrical fault to me. The barely flickering indicator lights are the red flag - if it were any other type of fuel or mechanical problem, wouldn't the lights stay bright if the engine were sputtering within rpms well above idle? Also, the 4th-gear-only thing suggests to me an engine-speed vibration-related problem - can that be anything other than electrical? I also know that there have been some wiring chafing problems amongst us here.
The fuel was low when the sputtering started, but I've ridden with less fuel (according to the indicator) with no trouble, and of course the problem continued after I filled up. Fuel flow could be the culprit, but what about those lights? A dirty or fouled plug would be a constant problem, at idle as well as at speed, yes?
Any thoughts?