Cold Starting Tips Wanted

[Barry]

Ed, it was 80 F. this morning when I left for work at 0510 .

My starting routine is the same as Ed .

I can't get my head around an airhead engine needing full choke at 80 F. It's not that I doubt it of course it's just so different to mine. You would think one must be set up very weak and the other very rich but last weekend mine returned a best ever 74 mpg on a longish relatively gentle run. How can it be excessively rich with a figure like that ? There has to be some differences between the choke jet sizes and ports on the flat tops compared to the later carbs. I know the enricher disk got more holes over the years and there may have been other changes as well. The fuel blends will be different with the UK thankfully having only 5% ethanol so who knows what difference that makes.

I'd truly would like a choke that worked properly in the winter but I quite like being able to start without it for 6 months of the year too.

[Bob_Roller]

In the higher temps, it will start without the choke, but it won't continue to run on it's own without some choke .

In really hot weather, I use half choke to start, but again, it's not happy about running, until maybe a mile without it .

I don't know how the bikes were set up for the European market, but the US production bikes are set to the lean side for exhaust emissions compliance .

According to the Bing manual I have, the '81  model year production bikes were jetted the richest of the second generation twin shock bikes, the '82-'84 are even leaner .

From what I've seen in print, 15% ethanol fuel should be introduced in the Phoenix area sometime this summer .

Phoenix uses the same blend of fuel as southern California .