[thumper]

How many of you folks have left your TW's sit for a week or more only to have them very difficult to start again?

Even on battery tenders, if you leave 'em sit for a while it can take several kicks, or cranks on the electric starter.

Well here's another little trick that I've been doing that has been working very well for me.

when you park your bike, before you stop the engine, turn off the fuel petcock and let it run out of gas.

Simple huh?

I've done this since new on my 08's, and everytime I go to start 'em, no matter how long they've been sitting, they

usually start the first or second kick! Or within a crank or two when I use the starter button.

Just thought I'd share.

Ride safe out there.

Igofar

 

[trailboss]

If mine is hard to start I take out the choke lever and spray starting fliud in it put it back on and vrooom fires right up.

 

[Lewis54]

I did this for years with my vintage BMWs, and now do it every time on my TW200. Another benefit is that if the bike sits a long time between starts, having a dry carb prevents varnish from building up in the carb and you needing to do a thorough cleaning or rebuild.

 

[Kev250R]

A good idea if your TW is going to be sitting for a while. You can also turn the petcock off then drain the carb's bowel using the small screw located at the bottom of the carb (bowel) which has a rubber tube adjacent to it (it will drain onto the ground or an approved container). I drain the carbs on my ATV's using that method and it works pretty well. Oddly enough I personally never drain the carb on my TW as I generally try to ride it every couple of weeks, however Sunday I realized that I hadn't started or ridden my TW in six weeks so I fired it up and went for a quick ride around the block. Some bikes seem more prone to having the carbs gum-up on them then others, luckily the TW seems to be one which seems to be resistant to carb gumming (thankfully).



Kevin

 

[qwerty]

Always turn off the gas and run the carb dry before transporting any motorcycle with a carb. Bouncing around on a trailer or in a vehicle will jiggle the float, allowing the bowl to over-fill with gasoline, potentially causing engine flooding and oil in the combustion chamber, with all that scenario's evil consequences. The same effect can be had merely pushing a bike around a garage or rolling it onto a motorcycle lift.

 

[tripleted]

Run Seafoam through it on your last tank of gas before you run it out of gas.

 

[RodneyReed]

Ride the bike so often that it always has fresh gas in it.

 

[Two Shoes]

Ride the bike so often that it always has fresh gas in it.

That's what I do. It works great!