Not sure if this is too late to help, but having had an 83 XL600R for three months, my genius of a mechanic showed me the way. From cold or hot.; Stick her on the stand. Pull the decompressor in and kick the bike over 4-5 times with the throttle full open. (Don't bother with the choke as that seems to do precisely that, and choke her).
Kick her gently to find TDC, and then just kick her gently just past TDC, or by pulling the decompressor in, you can just ease her gently past TDC.
Stand up and give her a long kick right through. My worst is four goes, but usually 1st or 2nd go does it. Definitely never touch the throttle - which takes a lot of getting used to. Holding front brake hard down helps with that. When she was taken in for an MOT, my mechanic went back to get her, only to find that they had spent 90 minutes trying and failing to get her going. He rather smugly got her started first go. Egg on face...
8th Nov 2011, 11:07
Not sure if this is too late to help, but having had an 83 XL600R for three months, my genius of a mechanic showed me the way. From cold or hot.; Stick her on the stand. Pull the decompressor in and kick the bike over 4-5 times with the throttle full open. (Don't bother with the choke as that seems to do precisely that, and choke her).
Kick her gently to find TDC, and then just kick her gently just past TDC, or by pulling the decompressor in, you can just ease her gently past TDC.
Stand up and give her a long kick right through. My worst is four goes, but usually 1st or 2nd go does it. Definitely never touch the throttle - which takes a lot of getting used to. Holding front brake hard down helps with that. When she was taken in for an MOT, my mechanic went back to get her, only to find that they had spent 90 minutes trying and failing to get her going. He rather smugly got her started first go. Egg on face...
Cheers, Joel 11/11/11.