What to look out for after dropping?

[andym]

It had to happen at some point, yesterday I had just left to go to work and managed to get to the top of the lane which has a blind corner. I slowed down and got the front wheel round then I noticed a car coming the other way. I managed to lock up the front wheel and the bike went straight over at about 6-7mph and left a nice little scratch on the road. The bike was still in gear when it went over and the engine eventually died our.

After quite a while trying to get it started it finally spluttered to life and ran like a pile of shit. After a couple of adjustments it idled better but when I put it in gear it would either cut out or had no power. Eventually I took it round the block and it couldn't manage to get up the slightest of slopes without cutting out or needing full throttle for about 2mph. I took it back into my garage and noticed the exhaust was smoking and very hot. So I looked for loose pipes etc on the left side (the side that hit the ground), and couldn't find anything wrong. Then I decided to look on the right side and felt like a complete idiot when I noticed the spark plug lead had come off the plug. I put that back on and the bike ran a lot better... strangely.

I figured if I went along the motorway I would just make it to work on time, so I got across the bridge and about 500 yards further on and the bike died, 10 minutes later the bike started again only to get a mile down the road and it happened again. This happened 4 more times, one of the times it resulted in the highways agency stopping all the traffic so I could get to the hard shoulder (came off the M48 onto the M4 or M5, which is like a little single lane that leads you to the outside lane with no hard shoulders). I eventually got the bike back home and for the last 3-4 miles it didn't even splutter once. I done all the basic checks and couldn't find anything wrong, I filled up the petrol tank (it was about half full), and took it for a test ride and didn't have any problems. Now I'm just a bit worried that it might cut out on the way to work again and I can't afford to lose any more money.

So if anyone can make sense of that, what should I be looking for, what damage can be done from the bike sitting on its side for about 2 minutes while running?

[Kickstart]

Hi

The way it is running sounds like fuel starvation to me. Parked up for a while the fuel manages to see through again. What bike is it and does it have a vacuum fuel tap?

If it is fuel starvation then most likely causes are a blocked fuel tank breather, blocked fuel filter or a kinked fuel pipe.

All the best

Keith
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[Frost]

Water builds up in fuel tanks sometimes. Putting a bike on it's side would let the water get sucked into the carb where it will stay. Drain the carb using the drain screw on the underside. While you're at it make sure that the carb is seated on the rubber correctly and that the airbox is connected properly too.