1990 Katana - shuts off when clutch pulled in

[Rictor]

So my motorcycle recently started having an odd problem:

Whenever I pull in the clutch completely and roll off the throttle, the bike simply turns off. Doesn't stall, it just quietly shuts off. I can start it again with the starter button, but I need to apply throttle so that it doesn't turn off again. This happens regardless of which gear I'm in. As you can imagine, I now dread stoplights and the bike isn't being used until I figure this out.

It's an older model, a 1990 GSX600-F, and I'm by no means the first owner. But I've had it for more than a year, and it seems to be in generally decent shape. What's baffling is that I rode it for a good long while on Sunday without any problems, and then on Monday morning this started happening. We're talking less than 12 hours, during which the motorcycle was parked outside and not being used.

I've Googled the issue, and it seems that many people have had similar problems (in general, not only with Katanas). But there is no comprehensive solution, at least as far as I've been able to find.

It's worth mentioning that I had this same problem occur about a month ago, but it wasn't as severe (only shut off sporadically) and it went away after about two days. But now it's essentially non-rideable, so any and all advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[The_AirHawk]

Intermittent Issue.

Oooh, hard to say. If it only had one or two carbs, I'd say air-cutoff-valve(s), but with 4 that's unlikely.

How does it idle? What's the idle RPM? As a stop-gap, have you tried to set the base-idle about 300-400rpm high?

[MOKE1K]

Originally Posted by Rictor

So my motorcycle recently started having an odd problem:

Whenever I pull in the clutch completely and roll off the throttle, the bike simply turns off. Doesn't stall, it just quietly shuts off. I can start it again with the starter button, but I need to apply throttle so that it doesn't turn off again. This happens regardless of which gear I'm in. As you can imagine, I now dread stoplights and the bike isn't being used until I figure this out.

It's an older model, a 1990 GSX600-F, and I'm by no means the first owner. But I've had it for more than a year, and it seems to be in generally decent shape. What's baffling is that I rode it for a good long while on Sunday without any problems, and then on Monday morning this started happening. We're talking less than 12 hours, during which the motorcycle was parked outside and not being used.

I've Googled the issue, and it seems that many people have had similar problems (in general, not only with Katanas). But there is no comprehensive solution, at least as far as I've been able to find.

It's worth mentioning that I had this same problem occur about a month ago, but it wasn't as severe (only shut off sporadically) and it went away after about two days. But now it's essentially non-rideable, so any and all advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Make sure your side stand safety switch is
Depressed. Meaning make sure the kickstand is pushing the switch closed when it's up. Let me know. Good luck!

[MOKE1K]

Did you figure out what the problem was?

[Kenneth_Moore]

Does that bike have a clutch switch? Mine does, and they're known to get flakey and cut the ignition.

[MOKE1K]

That would come next. That's a good point I'm trying to remember what year they had the old style brass contact switches.