Stump the Band!

[jimboreeno]

OK Gurus, I have a (probably easy) challenge for you..
I was riding the other day, nice weather, no rain or water.
The XJ had been giving me some intermittant sputter so I ran a bottle of seafoam through. Great stuff. I was riding on the next tank of gas when the following happened.
Riding along and got a big hiccup/sputter
Didn't think too much of it then, wham BIG hiccup
downshifted and increased RPMS ... ran better
then WHAM a BIG power-loss hiccup.
It recovered but I was afraid I was dead in the water (or on the side of the road as it were)
Then I thought it through and fixed the problem without stopping the bike. It worked and I rode on with a big grin and LOTS or relief.
Any guesses on what happened and what I did

(There are probably lots of potential answers here, but I was so happy to figure this out I thought I would throw it up and see what you came up with!)

[Ken Talbot]

.. turned the petcocks back on....

[John]

Had a loose connection at the kill switch or ignition switch?

[jimboreeno]

no on the petcocks

no "loose" connections

[Dragonrider]

I'd check the battery cables...on the battery and the other ends, particularly the negative to the frame.

Also main fuse holder, and the rest of the fuse holders too...particularly ignition.

It really sounds like a loose ground somewhere.

[John]

Choke still on?

[jimboreeno]

OK... John, you were the closest. It was not a loose connection, but... the rocker on the kill switch was somehow in the middle. It would make the connection with enough rpms but each bump would stall it out.

I tried to reproduce it, to see if the switch was bad or going bad, but I could not make it do it again.

When it originally happened it felt like it does when hitting the kill switch so first... I freaked out and worried , then all I did is switch to kill then back and it didn't happen again.

This was a pretty easy one (John basically hit it on the 2nd reply) But I figure you gurus could throw out some good stumpers.! so...
Stump the Band!

[HobbyMan]

Lets get some more of these. You guys reply to quickly. I was in the garage "working"

[prometheus578]

"What he said."

You guys reply to quickly

Yeah, and I worked late and am two time zones away. Don't give the answer so soon!

[TADracer]

Hiccups......I was going to say have something different for lunch! But John guessed it too quickly.

[John]

I had a similar condition some years ago...The housing on my ign switch had broken, and every now and then I would loose all power. I had to ride with one hand pressing down on the key to keep it running.

[jimboreeno]

Premature answerlation

You are right, I should have held out. The next one to throw one out there give it at least 24 hours before the answer.

[HobbyMan]

Does anyone have any more? If not, I have one. It should be REALLY easy.
Went on a long ride on my 80G. Stopped back at the house to get a snack. On my way out of the neighborhood
(downhill road with a curve) , the two left cyls cut out, then the right. I had to push the bike home a up the hill. What happened, and what did I do to fix it? If you can't get this on your first try, I will be shocked and dissapointed. I will wait a while before posting the answer if you don't already know it.

[John]

My guess is you ran out of fuel after the long ride, because you forgot to reconnect the fuel gauge wires, and forgot to switch to reserve. WK said that you may have not turned the fuel on, but you were probably riding the Standard, and it doesn't have an off position on the petcocks.

[Czekus21]

That was my guess as well. Ran outta fuel.