WTF - gas issue? what's going on here? anybody have the same issues?

Draining is not always effective, (with E10) the reason being, the tiny idle circuit passages, (and Amal mixing chamber) will remain filled with untreated fuel and corrosion will happen where you least can tolerate it.
If you want to drain, go through the treat and run-in routine first.

JMWO 50 years of seasonal storage.

Tornado said:

You said you'd washed bike prior. Any chance water got trapped in the HT leads off the coils or at plugs? I typically run some dielectric/silicone grease on inner lead boots to help keep them sealed.

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Yes I'm wierd on this one, but washing your lovely old bike I can't recommend. Water will get into those electrical connectors and contact points and lead to oxidation , corrosion and sketchy grounds and switch connections sooner or later. My 8 X best in show winner has never seen a washing , always by hand with care and soft cloths. Rain is to be avoided at all costs , I check weather reports constantly on any trip and plan accordingly. Manitoulin Island and back this season , hand cleaning every evening by the setting sun ( with a beer or 2 ). Enjoy.

My !972 was doing something similar, start up fine, warm up fine, then after 5 or 6 minutes on the road it would start running badly, like one cylinder was dead. at first i thought it was ignition, but both plugs were throwing spark.. I have boyer ignition, so I wiggled the connections under timing cap while bike was runninfg, tested good. Then I too thought it was fuel starvation problem.
Jumping to solution, the Left carburetor choke cable had developed a small fray, and it was holding the choke slide from completely opening after warm up. This explained why it was behaving fine up until full operating temp, and why it seemed a bit intermittent. Anyway, all the cables were 10+ years old so I changed them all. Bike been running perfect ever since. Just a reference for anyone else who may have had this symptom

If the problem was water, there will still be some water visible in the float bowl drain plugs, if you remove them and look.

I had something similar happen this week. Even now I'm guessing/ hoping it must have been fuel related.
I started my bike (72 750) and it took a while to get running right, popping etc.
Then it died. I tried to restart but more popping like the timing was out. I checked that it hadn't moved away from the marks I'd put on the plate and recess (Boyer) but it was fine. Nice spark when checked. Baffled I tried again and it fired up and ran fine for a minute then spluttered and stopped like it was out of petrol. The tank was full of very recent fuel (Esso Supreme). Anyway, I drained it all out and bought some fresh fuel from somewhere else (Shell) and it fired right up no problem.
This is my first time with dodgy fuel so I count myself lucky.
Must admit my head (the one on my shoulders) was rocking for a while.
The thing is I no longer trust my local garage for the fuel.

Should be a good test next year...we are not going down to Mexico (where the Norton is located) as we usually do in early December through May (normally we would have been there for several weeks by now. The Norton was last ridden in May of 20 and we won't be down there again until Nov or Dec of 21 so it will have been "in storage" for around 18 months. We'll see how effective the Stabil is over that period! 7 Months has been the longest I have "stored" the fuel in the tank on any vehicle....

Small but relevant fuel pump fill up tale here.
O.N.O. group ride heading north , 8 Nortons pull into an Esso , 6 crowd up to the premium pump, so Klaus and myself settle for a mid range pump fill up. Time to go and none of the 6 can start up. After checking out Manse's Ign. for troubles in the gas station. Hot , sweaty in full riding gear, Fun. Klaus goes "Let's try ours , different pump. " Both bikes fired right up good , we blasted off north to the Campground after saying good luck to all 6.
3 hours later they show up running our pump fuel after they all dumped their tanks , seems the fuel truck just before our arrival put premium into the almost empty Diesel pump tank. Esso offered us all free fill up coupons later on.

MexicoMike said:

Should be a good test next year...we are not going down to Mexico (where the Norton is located) as we usually do in early December through May (normally we would have been there for several weeks by now. The Norton was last ridden in May of 20 and we won't be down there again until Nov or Dec of 21 so it will have been "in storage" for around 18 months. We'll see how effective the Stabil is over that period! 7 Months has been the longest I have "stored" the fuel in the tank on any vehicle....

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3 years on Stabil, no worries.

Ethanol sucks.
I quit running that garbage and began making runs to a local airfield for aviation fuel. I add a stabilizer to my portable tanks, fill them with Av-gas and bring them home. I have been ambushed too many times using ethanol from a local dealer. I have two generators that would start and then die within 3 minutes. The Honda techs were flummoxed. One tech finally examined the fuel itself. Very fine particulate matter in the fuel that came from the local gas station.
I am constantly doing battle with, and changing the fuel in the ATV's as the Ethanol loves to draw water in and deposit on the bottom of the fuel tanks.
The only reason I run it in my truck is my state, being a big agricultural state, I cannot purchase non ethanol automobile fuel. In my truck I burn through it before it can start depositing its layer of water on the bottom of the tank.
Stabilizing additives can help but they can also crystalize and clog the various tiny orifices and passages in a fuel delivery system too.
Save the planet.
Ethanol sucks.

Current theory.......You know how these bikes always run better if they are in daily use? My theory is that it's because there is always fresh gas in the tank, no more than a week old. Partial theory.

Lineslinger said:

Ethanol sucks.
I quit running that garbage and began making runs to a local airfield for aviation fuel. I add a stabilizer to my portable tanks, fill them with Av-gas and bring them home. I have been ambushed too many times using ethanol from a local dealer. I have two generators that would start and then die within 3 minutes. The Honda techs were flummoxed. One tech finally examined the fuel itself. Very fine particulate matter in the fuel that came from the local gas station.
I am constantly doing battle with, and changing the fuel in the ATV's as the Ethanol loves to draw water in and deposit on the bottom of the fuel tanks.
The only reason I run it in my truck is my state, being a big agricultural state, I cannot purchase non ethanol automobile fuel. In my truck I burn through it before it can start depositing its layer of water on the bottom of the tank.
Stabilizing additives can help but they can also crystalize and clog the various tiny orifices and passages in a fuel delivery system too.
Save the planet.
Ethanol sucks.

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Unless there a huge quantity of water you should never see water in the bottom of the tank with E10. It acts just like the Drygas additive of old and keeps the water in solution. Of course if the quantity is so great it will separate into an unburnable mess but it takes so much water there's some other problem with the supply or storage.

I don't seem to have any problem with E10 but I buy from busy stations only and if the delivery truck is there I pass.

My airplane is hangared so no water getting in from rain and leaking caps and I've never seen any from condensation in this plane. Tanks are bladders, a sort of double edged sword - they may be less prone to condensation (not sure about that, maybe old wive's tale) but expensive and a PITA to replace when they eventually leak.

Back when I had boats I heard lots of complaints about E10 and the ones from outboards were probably legit. The guys saying that it attracted water and they had phase separation were full of it. They had leaky caps or vents. My tank was 300 gallons and never a problem.>