New Rider: What to do if your bike stops but has fuel

You are out on your first touring holiday having diligently loaded up your bike with all the stuff you think you’ll need, packing a tankbag to the gunnels with maps, spare gloves, waterproofs, travel documents you name it, and then your bike packs up on you, as though it’s run out of gas.

Checking the fuel level shows it to be ok and when you close the filler cap the bike re-starts, but then the same thing happened again five miles later.

Chances are a badly located tankbag has blocked a fuel breather and caused a partial vacuum that means the engine can’t draw enough fuel to run at higher speeds. 

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