1978 GS550E

[Anonymous]

Greets;

Here are the symptoms: the bike idles fine and runs great on level or mostly level ground, but start climbing a hill or grade and the power drops off and the right side exhaust (maybe both sides) gives off some pops or backfires. The power drop-off is pretty major...I was doing 35mph in 4th gear when I started up a moderate grade and was down to 2nd gear and 20mph by the time the road leveled out. What do you think? Timing? Carb sync? Carb adjust? Thanks in advance!

[Nerobro]

Check your float levels. It sounds as if they are WAY off.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, Nero! I didn't think of that. Better get out the Clymer to figure out how to check those.

[Anonymous]

So, I decided to take the scoot out for a spin yesterday afternoon since the weather was nice, and as before I was getting a loss of power and exhaust popping as I climbed a hill. Bummed, I turned to head home and felt a sudden surge of power. With a new ray of hope, I came around and climbed the hill again, this time with full power available and no popping! My question now is, was there maybe just some crap in the carbs that washed thru, or some other reasonable explaination? I will take it out again this afternoon to see if everything is still okay. Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Well, I finally got a chance to take the bike out for another ride today. The problem was back with the lack of power and exhaust popping. It seemed to get better as the bike warmed up, but never totally went away. I guess I should consider taking it to the shop and see what they say. I am not too confident in my ability to take the carbs off the bike and mess with them. Maybe if I had a Suzuki factory manual.