[smithstevee]

Going down the mountain the bike was running rough like it was out of gas. I changed to the reserve tank. Still running rough. I stopped at the bottom of the mountain at a gas station. I had plenty of gas. Tried to start the bike but it was completely dead - no lights, no movement of the starter, and the ammeter did not move when I switched on the key. Anybody have any ideas? I did check the battery with a voltmeter. It is fully charged.

Steve Smith

[Vince]

     Always check the fuse first. No matter what it looks like or what you think, replace it. Next is to check connections. Common problem areas are the ammeter and battery ground. You could have a loose connection anywhere on the bike.
     Sometimes a volt meter will not detect a specific problem in the battery. This could be an internal connection that is failing under normal running loads, but will read OK under the light load of the meter.
     After you get electricity back, check the plug. It may have fouled due to poor running conditions.

[1Blackwolf1]

  If this is a point ignition bike that same thing happened to me when the coil power supply connector came apart in the wiring. (Also took out the sprague IMO), so I'd check to see if that 5 cent connector came apart and is only making partial contact.  At least yours didn't do it in the middle of the night at 50 mph in a corner like mine did.  Will.   

[clamp]

The battery has somehow become disconnected from the bike. The charging system is trying to charge the battery and run the ignition. However since the charge system in Ac and gets converted to DC it is in positive  or spikes only.

    Normally the battery acts as an accumulator and the spikes are lost , in your case the batt is not connected,-- so the ign system is trying to run on pos spikes. This will mean that occasionally the ignition system when trying to charge the coil will have zero voltage as the  spike passes,  consiquently it will not run smoothly, spit an cough like it had no fuel.