Topic: cold starting

[Ernie]

my bike runs great,starts right up too as long as the chokes on, better than i ever expected,actually ,but it does seem to take a long time to warm up,i have to leave the choke on for like 5 minutes after sitting all night.is this normal for these old bike or is there somthing needing attension?

[bowhunter]

Does it require full choke for the full 5 minutes? I can usually back off on the choke after a minute or two depending on outside temps.
I normally run half choke for the first mile or so. If it requires full choke the whole time, the carbs could use a minor adjustment of the slow jets.

Bowhunter

[csendker]

I'm pretty much with bowhunter. Upper 40's this morning; started with full choke, backed off to ~1/2 or 2/3 closed within 1/2 minute or so, took off and was full open by the time I hit the end of my development, say a mile.  Probably a little quick, but then it was a striaght run at 40 mph for a while right after.

5 minutes of full choke would, well, choke it to death.

[medic09]

In addition, I find that if the bike sat until 'cold' again (like after parking it after my commute, and coming back in the afternoon to ride home), it starts better with the choke for 2-3 minutes...

IOW, some choke first thing is pretty usual.  I think the owner's manual for the new bike even says to start it with choke at first.

[DrMark]

I agree with Bowhunter. Mine starts and runs like he describes. I also kick mine over a few times with the key off to start moving some of the fluids around (per Honda manual - cold starting procedure), then turn key on...hit start button and Vroom...lol

[gar]

You don't  need full choke for 5 mins, as the others say...try backing it off after a minute or so.  ALSO - IF YOU RUN IT WITH THE CHOKE ON TOO LONG, YOU'LL BLUE YOUR EXAUST PIPES.

[Ernie]

my exaust pipes are black and i do back off the choke after about a minute but cant totally open it untill about 5 minutes,i gather from the replys all these ol bikes are about the same thnx for all your replys

[Gordon]

It does get a bit irritating having to keep it alive with throttle when down shifting and waiting at stop lights, but I still love her. 

Just turn the idle stop screw in a little until it gets warmed up.

[csendker]

Or gum up your slow jets some, just enough so the RPM's magically start to climb while at idle like mine does.  It's that innovative Honda Automatic Idle Speed Adjustment System.