Motorcycle Repair: disengaging clutch kills engine when coming to a stop

Question
Jan,

My question has to do with a '72 CB 350 which I know is not one of the bikes you mentioned BUT I was hoping you could find it in you to help me nonetheless.  My bike was riding perfectly fine until all of a sudden the this issue came up.  I ride around in the 6k rpms range and let the engine wind down to 3k rpms before disengaging the clutch while coming to a stop and never had an issue until recently.  Now if I come to a complete stop, the engine dies once I disengage the clutch.  My only hope is to get the green so I can stay in 2nd and take off.  I am very green when it comes to motorcycles so I have no idea.  I appreciate your time and thank you for reading this.

Regards,

John

Answer
Sounds like either the idle adjustment has gone off a little or there is a blockage in one of the carbs.  These are fairly simple bikes, so I would check that it is running properly on all cylinders which you can do with an infrared thermometer aimed at each exhaust pipe.  They should be within about 10 degrees of each other. Then you can do a compression test which should be within 10 psi of each other.  Once you have all that information, you can look at carburation and possibly ignition.  Most important this to do is get a manual and join an internet forum related to your machine, there is a wealth of information out there.

Good luck,  Jan