initial starting problem

[Anonymous]

I finally got my bike running. It has been a year and a half in the making, but I have got the finished product in working order. The only problem I am having is if the bike sits for a period long enough to allow the engine to cool, it does not want to start unless I push it. When the engine is warm I can bump the starter button once and it turns right over. I will soon change out the pilot jets and was thinking that could be some of the problem. Sometimes I can do a combination choke throttle to start it, this requires complete silence and I have to do a special dance in order to hit the sweet-spot. anyway, if anyone has the magic answer please tell me.

Regards,

Brent

[moto_dan]

Brent,
I experienced the same conditions on my 1100 and always believed it was the carbs, but amazingly after I got my charging system working correctly and a new battery it now starts perfectly hot or cold.

[Anonymous]

For good starting you need a good battery. I agree, whith a bad charging system, the battey has not enough power to feed the starting motor AND the ignition system.
I'd start checking the electrical connections of the coils and the battery ground. Corroded connections can be (part of) the problem.

Jojo

[Anonymous]

hard starting

in one of the two manuals I have (clymers, and another one) when I was going thru the carb rebuild section there was a note about making sure the "start" passage in the float bowl was open. Otherwise the bike will start hard and idle stupid. I had the same problem with my 79 550E. Plan to go thru the float bowl circuits this weekend. One other thing! recheck your timing! I put new points, condensers, etc., in mine last fall and set the timing. This spring when the bike would start, it wouldn't exceed 60 MPH in 6th or 6000 RPM in any other gear. Everyone said it was carbs! When I finally decided to recheck the points settings (after several forays into carburetor land) I found the only thing it was running on was flooded cylinders and point bounce. I reset the point gap and timing and now 9500 RPM'S in 3rd gear gets me about 75 MPH with 3 more left to go! DON'T FORGET THE BASICS!