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Japanese Bikes / Re: new owner of a 1975 Yamaha XT500. few questions..
« on: August 19, 2010, 02:13:54 AM »
Been a VERY long time since I started one of these!
They demanded a certain 'knack' as I recall.. get it wrong and it COULD prove painful.... as I ALSO recall!
From cold:
clean plug, good spark,
Choke full on.
1/4 turn of throttle
turn over on the decompressor lever until the white mark appears in the sight-glass on the cam-cover, or until you feel the compression pick up.
Then 'Man-Up'!
Big breath
decompressor out
kick lever to 'just' the top of the stroke
Then you lift up and stand on it, PUSHING firmly and CONFIDENTLY down as you kick it through the full stroke.
You dont kick it or prod it, it's a firm deliberate push with distinct follow through action, like striking properly in soccer, not that I know much about that game.....
If you do it right, it should 'catch', and once you have the knack, pretty much first time every time, even when warm, though then it doesn't need choke.
Get it wrong, and it can bite back. Particularly if you just give it a less than confident kick or prod, as though scared of it, becouse then the piston comes up, but without enough momentum to get over TDC, spark ignites charge in the pot and the kick-start lever gets sent backwards putting you into orbit or breaking your ankle!
Master starting it, you have half mastered the bike!
Seem to recall it was like 'that' with most stuff; you just had to be firm with it at let the bike know in NO uncertain terms YOU were the boss!
Oh, carb, you say 'the' carb... memory is a bit hazy here, but pretty sure that the one I had had twin carbs. Curiouse set up, and only one barell had choke..... might be worth looking into.
They demanded a certain 'knack' as I recall.. get it wrong and it COULD prove painful.... as I ALSO recall!
From cold:
clean plug, good spark,
Choke full on.
1/4 turn of throttle
turn over on the decompressor lever until the white mark appears in the sight-glass on the cam-cover, or until you feel the compression pick up.
Then 'Man-Up'!
Big breath
decompressor out
kick lever to 'just' the top of the stroke
Then you lift up and stand on it, PUSHING firmly and CONFIDENTLY down as you kick it through the full stroke.
You dont kick it or prod it, it's a firm deliberate push with distinct follow through action, like striking properly in soccer, not that I know much about that game.....
If you do it right, it should 'catch', and once you have the knack, pretty much first time every time, even when warm, though then it doesn't need choke.
Get it wrong, and it can bite back. Particularly if you just give it a less than confident kick or prod, as though scared of it, becouse then the piston comes up, but without enough momentum to get over TDC, spark ignites charge in the pot and the kick-start lever gets sent backwards putting you into orbit or breaking your ankle!
Master starting it, you have half mastered the bike!
Seem to recall it was like 'that' with most stuff; you just had to be firm with it at let the bike know in NO uncertain terms YOU were the boss!
Oh, carb, you say 'the' carb... memory is a bit hazy here, but pretty sure that the one I had had twin carbs. Curiouse set up, and only one barell had choke..... might be worth looking into.