Motorcycle Repair: Motorcycles, piston crown, xr200r

Question
Why would a 2002 Xr200R run very poorly like it was starving for fuel even thought the carb has been cleaned 3 times?

Answer
Hi Joe...

I'm going to answer this question as if the bike is in my shop for the described complaint. Here's what I would do: (Assuming I already cleaned the carb and set the screws proper).

1) Replace the spark plug with a fresh one.
2) check engine compression.
3) De-carbonize the cylinder head dome, piston crown and exhaust port.
4) Check for a blockage or obstruction in the tail pipe.
5) Make sure the gas tank vent is not blocked.
6) Make sure the fuel petcock is working.
7) Make sure the carb vent is open.

The first three items listed above should be done periodically as part of routine maintenance anyways. One of these 7 items could be the source of the problem. ALSO: Check that the float bowl level is set correctly. It could be set too low or too high, either way, it will cause bad performance. Hope this helps ya Joe!!

Jack