Hi everyone! A bit of a long story so please bear with me before it comes to the 'HELP ME TMBF - YOU'RE MY ONLY HOPE' section! A few weeks ago I bought myself my first ever motorcycle - a Gilera Coguar and I love it to bits... however nothing, it would seem, is simple. I picked it up from Pewsey (near Swindon) at 6pm and, because L plates can't go on the motorways, planned a rid up to Gloucester and then back down to Pontypridd. It was a glorious evening and, after some stalling, I was on my way and delighted! Then 20 mins down the road I broke down. I couldn't believe it! My wife, Rachel, was ahead of me (using her tomtom) and hadn't noticed I'd stopped and though I tried everything I could think of it ended with me pushing the bike to the side of the road and waiting for her to come back for me. Meanwhile the sun went down. 15 mins later Rach returned and was so pleased to find me alive she didn't think to be angry! I phoned the seller and he was devastated... then asked "You did put petrol in her right?". Switching to the reserve tank I resumed my journey and filled the tank up! 7 quid!! I couldn't help but giggle as i screwed the fillercap back on. I arrived in Gloucester in good time (the bike cruises at 70mph with a top speed just above that I think) and shared tea and cake with my stepmother who was delighted with the bike (my Father used to ride Hondas and my Gilera has a Honda engine.. so she thought this was fitting). All warmed up I returned to journey home! Though the darkness was disconcerting at first I soon re-discovered the joys of being on a motorcycle at night... the smell of the fields and hedges was mesmerising and I felt confident that I'd made the right decision. Until I hit Monmouth and the bike started to violently jerk. Cursing my ignorance of petrol tank sizes i switched over to reserve again and managed to get to Newport, where it broke down just as I entered the forecourt. Suspiciously the bike didn't need nearly as much petrol this time to fill up. Something was wrong. As I made my way along the last stage of my journey the bike continued to judder and lose power. I was now cruising at about 25mph and I was having a wretched time. After what seemed like an eternity I joined the A470 and, finally the exit to Trefforest (my village). The next morning I awoke aching like a fool. I contacted the seller again regarding the engine problems and he confirmed what I'd suspected: The carburettor was most likely blocked from running out of petrol. After researching for a while to find out what the carb actually looked like on my bike i operated (a big deal for me!) and cleaned the muck out. For a week or so it ran beautifully. However now it's started to fail again. No way as badly as before but possibly because my journeys are shorter. I re checked the carburettor again, cleaning it as i did but it hasn't helped. Any ideas? Oh my motorcycle doesn't have a full exhaust (I have ordered the silencer that was cut off by the previous owner and replaced with what looks like an aluminium pipe) - can this be part of the problem? Sorry for such a long post and any obvious beginner ignorance