[ST] new problem with sons new ST

[don draper <donnydogood@xxxxxxx>]

       Listers may recall that my son Mo had problems with his new
('02) ST killing the battery on every ride when he first got it a
month ago.  Our Triumph shop quickly found that the alternator had
been left unplugged after a factory modification had been made before
delivery.  We then had a great 200+ mile ride with no problems and he
took it home to Lake Tahoe.  He's had only 2 or 3 days since that the
weather allowed him to go riding and I got the following note from
him yesterday.  Since the Archive Search is no longer available, we'd
appreciate any input from you guys:
                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
 Yesterday was so nice that we rolled out the bikes for a ride;  the
ST fired right up and we all enjoyed a pleasant ride over to Carson
City for breakfast. After breakfast tho, the ST was not a happy
camper. It started OK, but was missing like crazy and wouldn't pull
against a load.  When you get it rolling it does OK, not great, but
it doesn't backfire or quit running. It just doesn't have any power,
won't rev past about 5 or 6K and acts like a very unhappy motorcycle.

 Pulling away from a stop is very difficult. You have to try to keep
the revs at about 5 or 6k and slip the clutch as it lurches and jerks
it's way along.  It can take a full block, on level ground, to coax
it up to 25 mph.  It will idle, and it doesn't backfire, it just
won't pull. It's almost completely powerless between 1.5k and 4k RPM.
I managed to nurse it around the area and home again, about fifty
miles in all, but it was a real struggle.

 I don't think it's bad gas, based on the fact that it ran great on
the way into Carson City. I did add fresh gas to to it, hoping that
it might help, but it didn't make any difference. (I added Stabil
when I got it back from your house last month, so the gas shoulda
been OK.)  The key had been cycled off and on about 10 times
throughout the day, during that fifty miles, without any change. 

 I also switched off the heated grips and went to low beam on the
headlight, thinking maybe the battery was getting tired from lack of
use, but that didn't make any difference. (Also, the battery's been
on a Battery Tender.)  Throughout all of this the engine management
light did not come on.

 I put about 200 miles on it when I was down there with you. During
that time, once or twice it started to act like this. The first time
was when we left The LookOut and turned off on that little goat
trail. It ran like that until we got to the flats and then cleared
itself out so I didn't worry about it any more. But thinking on it
now, it might be significant that BOTH TIMES it
started fine, ran fine and then misbehaved after the first stop.

                            Thanks for any help,          mo

PS  -  TRIUMPH ROPE  (remember your Husky???)
     The Harley guys are laughing their asses off. Barry, Dave and
Evan are going to take turns on future rides carrying the "TRIUMPH
ROPE" to drag the ST home with.  On all three rides now  they've had
to follow me back to the house as I limped the bike home.

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