Sputtered, died

[b. rock]

Well, I've used this forum for a couple fixes which I greatly appreciate, but this one has me ???. I've got an 83 w/ 39k miles on it that sat for a couple months, charged the ol' battery up, then took off. Rode it for about 45 minutes. Sitting at an intersection, it sputtered and stalled. Restarted, it started, sputtered, died again. Had to push it home a couple miles uphill >:(. It smells like it's still getting gas but I've never heard of an electrical problem do that. It cranks briskly too (well, as good as ever) so it's not like the battery ran down sans stator. I live in an apartment so I'd like to have a good idea what I'm looking for before I disassemble and get busted by the landlord... thanks in advance if you've got any ideas.
-Brandon

[Lucky]

Try this, it's quick and might help.
Find the six wire connector on the TCI and cut the 2 center wires.  one is black/white, the other is yellow/black.
The black and white wire is for the saftey interlock system. the yellow/black wire is for the rev limiter.  both systems can, when they fail, keep the bike from running well, or running at all.
--Lucky

[QQBS]

Before you perform surgery, remove the outbound fuel line and put the petcock in its' "prime" position.  Gasoline should flow.  If it doesn't, you're either out of gas or have some sort of fuel flow blockage in the tank.  Do you have an in line fuel filter?  You may also have water in your gas (and hence your carb float bowls) from sitting.  Reattach your fuel line, open the carb float bowl drains, and turn your petcock to prime position to flush out the bowls.  Add a can of gasoline dewaterer to your tank.  Cheers.

[Rick G]

I had a similar experence, I pulled up to a red light and the motor died, I tried starting it (it turned over fine) but no luck, so I pushed it to the side of the road. Investigation revealed that  no gas was coming out of the fuel line ,even in reserve. Then it hit me! Reserve won't provide any fuel,  unless the engine is running.  I turned the petcock to "prime " and it started  in a few cranks. The moral of the story is if you run out of gas sitting still you have to turn it to prime!