Motorcycle Repair: fuel problems???, honda rebel 450, float bowls

Question
Hey Chris, my names Charles and I just purchased a 1987 Honda Rebel 450 with 9,000 miles on it.  Yesterday while riding home in OverDrive going about 85 mph I noticed my bike start to stutter.  I pulled over and let it cool off, and continued to ride the last couple of miles home.  This morning the same thing happened about a mile from my house.  After about an hour of unsuccessfully trying to get the bike to stay idling I finally limped it home stuttering.  It definetly seems to be a fuel problem, because the bike runs fine while theres fuel in the carb and float.  My pop says it's the fuel filter, probably got clogged with old gas or something.  If you could please e-mail me back as soon as possible it would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

Answer
Hi Charles.
 It is quite likely that the fuel filter is clogged.  If the biike sits in seaonal storage, then it is also possible that the carbs are overdue for a good and proper cleaning as well.  You could also have contaminants in the float bowls that are clogging the outlet ports.

 Check the float bowls, get the carbs cleaned properly (if the bike sits in storage at any time) and replace the inline fiel filter.  What I usually do for a filter is go to the autoparts store and get an inline filter with a replacable filter element.  When it gets dirty, change the element.  It is much easier than having to remove and replace an entire filter.

 But remember that you need to get a filter that fits the same size fuel line as the line you have.  You may want to take the old inline filter to the autoparts store with you to match the end sizes.

Good luck.
FALCON