[Jim Moore]

I'm still putting together my new-to-me Y2K Ninja 250. I have about a hundred miles on her so things are going in the right direction. I had an unsettling experience today though. I was accelerating in briskly (12K+ rpm) in second or third and suddenly it just died on me. I mean, dead like zombie with a knife through its skull. No power, rpm to zero. Like I had hit the kill switch.

Now here's the weird thing. I pulled in the clutch and it came back to life! So I let the clutch out and it died again. In-alive! Out-dead! Several times. I noticed that even when the clutch was in I had rpm readings, but no real power with the throttle.

After what seemed like an eternity but was probably 5-10 seconds it all came back to life. I was able to ride normally, accelerate, etc. The entire sequence happened a few more times during the next five miles, then it went away and I rode home (20+ miles) normally.

So, wtf? It certainly felt electrical. Sidestand switch or kill switch? I could also believe it was a fuel issue, except for the fact that pulling in the clutch seemed to revive it immediately. To my knowledge the clutch switch only acts in conjunction with the starter relay. Right?