1979 GS550 Possible valve issue?

[Guest]

I recently acquired a 79 GS500 from a gentleman that rode it to work and everything was fine then got on it at the end of the day and it would only kick over half to 3/4 of the way and would not start. So far I have removed the valve cover to see if there was anything blatent but to no avail. Any ideas of a possible cause? I'm leaning towards a valve issue because you can feel it touching something when you slowly kick it over. Thanks for the help

[Brendan W]

I would remove the plugs and see if fuel found it's way in to a cylinder or two. Check that the oil level hasn't gone up and doesn't smell of petrol from the filler. For cranking remove the ignition cover and get a ring spanner on the large head and turn the motor slowly by hand.

[craighotrod]

I didn't think of that possibility thanks for the reply I'll give it a shot

[Nessism]

Check the newbie mistakes thread linked in my signature for a list of some things to watch out for.