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Hi all,

I bought my wife a lovely 1999 L9 last year when she passed her test. It's a UK bike with genuine 2.5k on the clocks from new. I have the MOT's and documentation to prove it and it still had the original rubber and Tokico pads fitted! It is completely stock.

It's always been a pain to start and the wife is nervous of taking it out now as she wouldn't be able to bump it if needed so I need to get the starting issue sorted.

What happens is it will take 30 seconds or more of constant engine cycling to actually fire up. Then it's really rough and wont rev. If you try to blip the throttle it will stall. If you add choke it doesn't seem to make much difference unless the engine start to run better after 30 seconds or so, then you can add choke and let it idle.

I replaced the spark plugs
The carbs have been balanced by a respected tuner
It has a new battery
Oil and filter changed due to its age

The battery is good I believe as even when you keep it on the button for over 30 seconds the engine cycling doesn't change.

If the bike has been on a run it will fire up after a few seconds, if it's been left for a few hours it goes back to taking ages.

Maybe we're doing something wrong? does the fuel tap need to be on prime to start? it seems like the float bowls are empty hence the pump has to fill them before firing up.

Any help is appreciated

There is no prime on the fuel tap Off/on/reserve

The fuel pump does not run until you press the starter button. Not that the floats bowls would be empty anyway if the bike was recently running With empty float bowls the pump fills them very quickly.
Given the age of the bike and lack of use I would look to the carbs being full of gummed old fuel and in need of cleaning.

A fresh fully charged battery is vital to starting A weak battery may well be able to turn the engine over but starting will be a struggle

i would say carbs are full of crap, 2500 miles in 16 years means a hell of a lot of standing about doing nothing - for starters i would put new boots on it, after 16 years they will be hard and are so old that its a danger to go out on them.

if not, i would say its quite rich, starting with no choke, choke doesnt make a difference, opening the throttle kills it, sounds like too much petrol in it to me.

even if the exterior is stock, the interior (i.e. jets/needles and air filter) might all have been played about with, i would investigate further.

if you know how to check the pilot adjustment, let us know how many turns out they are from fully turned in.

Thanks for the replies,

I was thinking along the lines that the carbs need cleaning, luckily the wife has access to a pukka commercial ultra sonic cleaner

I put new boots and pads in her as soon as we got her I know they were original due to the date code on the rubber. When I pulled the top off the airbox to change the plugs it looked like it had never been off in its life, the engineer blue hadn't been cracked off the bolts yet so I doubt it's had any jetting change but I'll find out when I pull them apart.

I'll check the pilot settings and let you know.

How did it go? I have the same problem

he is bringing his bike to me tomorrow, ill take a look at it and get back.

OK,

We took the bike to Banners place and he fettled it once he'd stopped being amazed at all the stock bit's he'd never seen on one before lol

It turned out to be a simple carb setup issue, the pilots were way out. He set them all up, re-balanced the carbs and checked the bike over.

Highly recommended to pay him a visit if you can get to his place.