Hornet/General Biking Questions

[KelvinAng]

Warning: This thread is rated Adults Only (AO). It contains extreme n00bie questions.

Hi, I'm new to motorbikes, and not mechanically apt. "Butterfingers" is my middle name.

So I picked up a lil ol'hornet recently. She's sweet as, when she wants to be. Otherwise she can be quite a bitch. Problem is I don't really know why there's this split personality, hence this post...

I should probably say that the lil ol'hornet and I didn't get off on the right foot. Twice already she has decided to take a nap on her side, once on each side. Both times from stationary. Not sure if this has led to her spilt personality.

Two days ago while on my way back from work, she suddenly cuts out and wouldn't restart. I guess it might be an empty tank (haven't topped her up since I got her mid last week) so I hopped off the bike, switch tank to reserve, and tried to start her again. No go. When she eventually starts up again after lots of difficult, a slight opening of throttle will cut her off again. She chose a perfect place to die however... I'm just across the road from a gas pump. Borrowed a container from the gas station, filled her up with $2 of gas (I wasn't sure then if problem is due to empty tank...), still leaving the switch at reserve, and she starts up sweet as. Weird. How does this reserve tank thing work? Is her reserve tank stuffed? I filled her up to full and the pump reads 13.7L. Plus the $2 of petrol I filled earlier, she had a drink of about 14.5L. Does that sound like she has something inside her reserves but is somehow not tapping into it?

Yesterday was uneventful, other than me taking a wrong turn and heading to Lyttelton instead of Sumner. "Malfunctioning Compass" is my nickname. The road into Lyttelton is fun. Fast. Pretty.

This morning, after a whole night's rain, she wouldn't start again. At first she does start up and grumbled, but a slight twist of the throttle killed her again, this time round for good. I tried a few more times, nearly exhausting the battery, and it's just no-go. I guess the rain and/or moisture must have done something to make her sad. She's my only ride and I gotta catch a bus to work (and arriving an hour late...).

I've got a full body check-up scheduled for her next week. Not sure how I can get her down to the shop if she doesn't start up now...

Oh, a friend who rides a Bandit says my bike sounds like "a slot car from a racing set", referring to the high revs. Does that sound right?

Any clues? Hints? Tips? Comments?

[NOMIS]

All i got to say is lol.

1, sounds like you just ran out of gas. My tank is meant to be 17 l and i ran it on e for 75km before filing up this morning, I only just got 15L into it.

You said you droped it on both sides? did you dent the tank? if so maybe this got something to do with it,

2, yeh you prob got something wet. is the starter going as usual before you killed the batery?

[KelvinAng]

Ahh. So it seems that it might be possible she's using her reserves even though the switch at the fuel tank is "ON" and not on reserve?

The good ol'hornet doesn't seem to have any damage other than minor scratches, a bent gear shifter (which I bent it back... err... not sure if this is a bad thing to do) and a mirror replacement.

The starter appears to be going fine before the battery weakens. Starts up once with much difficulty, but the moment I open the throttle slightly to rev it a bit, the engine cuts. I didn't want to end up with a totally flat battery so I left it as it is and caught a bus to work... it currently has a weak battery but not totally flat.

[iamkirk]

Just because she is on reserve doesn't necessarily mean that she will use ALL of the petrol in the tank. I have no idea why manufacturers do this, but the reserve (as far as i know) generally never does this.

Correct me if i'm wrong!!

[TOTO]

[B]

So I picked up a lil ol'hornet ....


you related to GiJoe by any chanse ?

[KelvinAng]

We're sworn brothers in the Cult of de Hornet's Nest. :2thumbsup

[Papa Bear]

We had a similar problem on the RF when we brought it... turned out all the fuel hose's where put back on in the wrong order when previous owner serviced it...

May not be the problem with your's but might be 1 thing to have a look at and eliminate at lest. :ride:

[Macstar]

Some tips in no specific order:

1. Buy a rain cover for it if you are leaving it outside.

2. Running a bike out of fuel will see all of the built up shit in the bottom of your tank being sucked through the carbs possibly causing a blockage. Never let in run out of gas for this reason.

3. You will need to charge the battery, or hook up some jumper leads to a car to try starting it if your battery ls running low. Do not hold the starter button for more than 3-5 seconds at a time otherwise you could fry stuff.

4.Take the 4 ignition lead caps off the spark plugs (at the top front part of the engine) and squirt the spark plugs and leads with CRC or WD40. Also spray CRC on the alternator.

5. Remove the airfilter if you have a little mechanic sense (approx 4 screws) on the left hand side of the engine and remove the cylinder-shaped filter and see if it is excessively dirty or wet etc.

6. After dropping it - check your levers, bar weights, mirrors, rear break lever and shifter etc to see that these are not loose.

7. If it does fire up i.e start - take note of what comes out of the exhaust i.e. moisture, unburnt fuel, excessive smoke etc. Take a whiff of the exhaust fumes too does it smell rich? Is there white residue around the edge of the exhaust?

If none of these steps work then you'll probably need to see a mechanic. If you do get in running, take it for a decent blast but stay close to home or civilisation i.e. keep doing circuits around your suburb.

Do not leave the bike running for ages whilst stationary either. This will overheat your engine - you need to be moving.

The Hornet has a choke - are you using this on cold starts and remembering to push it back in after a few minutes?

[AllanB]

I'm not fimilar with the 250 (got the 900 :clap:) if its a carbed motor which I think the 250 is, you'll probably need a lot of choke in the winter and possibly a tiny bit of throttle to start it.
It should start right up and rev on its own (with choke) - don't blip or open the throttle straight away as this often kills a cold carbed engine. Adjust revs when warming with the choke to a fast idle.
By the time you have your gear on you should be able to ride off with no choke, if not use a small bit and kill the choke when down the road a half k. Ypu don't need to warm them up for ages - a couple of minutes will do it - just time to get jacket, helmet & gloves on.

250philes will confirm standard starting procedures.

[KelvinAng]

I'm not fimilar with the 250 (got the 900 :clap:) if its a carbed motor which I think the 250 is, you'll probably need a lot of choke in the winter and possibly a tiny bit of throttle to start it.
It should start right up and rev on its own (with choke) - don't blip or open the throttle straight away as this often kills a cold carbed engine. Adjust revs when warming with the choke to a fast idle.
By the time you have your gear on you should be able to ride off with no choke, if not use a small bit and kill the choke when down the road a half k. Ypu don't need to warm them up for ages - a couple of minutes will do it - just time to get jacket, helmet & gloves on.

250philes will confirm standard starting procedures.

Actually from what I can remember from the days of my dad's bike this is true. But with the lil ol'hornet it seems I do need to ride her quite a bit before I can close the choke. I have a feeling her idle rev is being set too low. When she was starting up right, I rode her to office 20km away. Usually by the middle of the journey she's still not warm enough to have the choke fully closed. She may stutter and die at a traffic light with the choke closed.

That said I usually ride her between 6-8k rpm and never beyond 10k. Maybe that's why she's never warm enough?

[Choco]

I'm not fimilar with the 250 (got the 900 :clap:) if its a carbed motor which I think the 250 is, you'll probably need a lot of choke in the winter and possibly a tiny bit of throttle to start it.
It should start right up and rev on its own (with choke) - don't blip or open the throttle straight away as this often kills a cold carbed engine. Adjust revs when warming with the choke to a fast idle.
By the time you have your gear on you should be able to ride off with no choke, if not use a small bit and kill the choke when down the road a half k. Ypu don't need to warm them up for ages - a couple of minutes will do it - just time to get jacket, helmet & gloves on.

250philes will confirm standard starting procedures.

Confirmed in my view!
Start the bike, get it idling and then chuck your gear on while it warms.
My hornet hates choke and dies if I try to use it, but isn't really an issue for me.

As for your bike dying: first one sounds like you ran outta gas my friend!

Not starting might be water in your tank (if you park it outside?), don't run the battery completely dead or you wont even be able to bump it.

And as for the noise? Hornets scream like a banshee on high RPM, and I love it :love:

[KelvinAng]

Some tips in no specific order

Thanks for the tips! I'll try to digest it... tomorrow or Sunday I'll see if I can figure out how to take out the spark plugs for a clean. With my puny brains and butterfingers I hope I don't do anything stupid...

[NOMIS]

Thanks for the tips! I'll try to digest it... tomorrow or Sunday I'll see if I can figure out how to take out the spark plugs for a clean. With my puny brains and butterfingers I hope I don't do anything stupid...

Lol maybe you should take it to a shop lol.. otherwise you may end up starting a new thread. lmao

[Neon]

I have the same problems with my lil ol' hornet, so don't worry. If you manage to run out of gas (stall) with your tap set to 'on', you'll have starved the carb float bowls, so even when you switch over to reserve it'll take a minute or two, plus a bloody good shake to get the gas flowing again (it's gravity fed). This seems to happen to me frequently at traffic lights, and it can be a bitch to get started again.

As for the starting problem, I have this problem too if my Hornet has been parked in the rain all day. I've found that turning the fuel tap to 'off' while it's parked, and giving it a shake up and down, plenty of choke and a bit of throttle on starting again seems to do the trick.

But I do love my lil ol' Hornet, so I happily tolerate these annoying personality traits... :love:

[KelvinAng]

After 2 days of near-continuous rain here in the wet Garden City, it's nice to wake up to a bit of sunshine this morning. I tried to see if my lil ol'hornet would start but still no luck with it. All this time the fuel tap is left at "on", kill switch at "run" and choke opened.

Also the piece of metal connecting the gear shifter (that kick up or kick down thing) to the engine has completely rusted. WTF? I don't suppose it should rust this easily.

Man... it certainly isn't a good start to my motorbiking life. Did I mention that I couldn't find the WoF sticker on my bike although my bike has been WoFed and registered according to carfax.co.nz? Turns out, the importer who did the WoF for me stuck the sticker inside the seat compartment. Now... I understand I'm suppose to display that sticker proudly, shouldn't I, otherwise I may be liable for a fine? The inside seat sticker is also white instead of yellow, so I'm not sure if that is even the WoF sticker, but it supposedly is?

[AllanB]

Yep the WOF is meant to be visible - debatable on the word visible - mines tucked in by the left muffler - if you crouch on the right side of the bike and look over the rear wheel it is clearly visible :laugh:

You can purchase a plastic WOF holder at any bike shop, repco etc for under $5 and bolt this somewhere visible.

PS - you sure you have enough fuel in that bike?

[KelvinAng]

Oh, mine surely is visible... once you take the key and pop open the seat, it's clearly there in plain view :laugh:

The bike's had a full tank couple of days ago and had since done just 100km. There should be more than half tank left! But you're right, she's exhibiting similar symptoms from the time she went dry, ie the engine coughs but doesn't start. Suspected bad spark plugs but then again I know nothing so it could be anything. Could it also be gas not going in properly or something? I'm gonna do that shake 'n' start dance routine tomorrow and see if she swings that way.

[imw-hornet]

Hi KelvinAng,
Just been going over your messages and it sounds like a mates bike, (his is a GN ,, shame ha ha) anyway we tried a few things and it turned out to be the HT leads , maybe give them a checking and clean , hope you get it running ASAP , cheers

[meatface]

Hey Kelvin,

Did you get this bike from Motorcycle Direct Imports? i was looking at a silver one from there too but obviously didn't get it!

[KelvinAng]

Hi KelvinAng,
Just been going over your messages and it sounds like a mates bike, (his is a GN ,, shame ha ha) anyway we tried a few things and it turned out to be the HT leads , maybe give them a checking and clean , hope you get it running ASAP , cheers

Hey there, thanks for that tip. She's been sitting pretty for the past week waiting to be revived by someone who knows more than me. I'm afraid to meddle too much with it really... given my current bad luck with bikes (see my posts on my scooter) I thought it's best to leave it to the professionals. The importer is going to give her a look-over (there is a three-month warranty tagged to the bike) later today. I've originally got a workshop check for her scheduled tomorrow but will have to postpone it until she comes back on.


Hey Kelvin,

Did you get this bike from Motorcycle Direct Imports? i was looking at a silver one from there too but obviously didn't get it!

Hey meatface, yeah I got her from there. Saw the listing on Trade Me, called up the shop to ask if she's still available then and he said yes, so I went down to give her a test-ride. Unfortunately I dropped her when I got back to the shop. That was embarrassing... By this time I don't really have a choice but to buy her I suppose. A good thing I like Hornets, otherwise it'll be a sting (pardon the pun). It has a suspiciously low Ks however. I asked Costa (the shop owner) if he thinks it's true Ks and he just smiled... saying that the engine should still be good from his inspection. I guess you can never tell for sure as with these imported bikes.

[imw-hornet]

Hey there
Well i hope that it nothing serious and you can get back on ASAP :scooter:
Keep us updated

Cheers

[KelvinAng]

Everything seems to point to the spark plugs... my flatmate was saying a good clean would bring her back to life. Costa reckons it's the spark plug too from what I told him on the phone. Hope that's just it...

[KelvinAng]

Update: Costa came by at 9pm, tried to start the bike but it wouldn't go. He said, "it almost went, didn't it?" and I agree... I've been saying that all along, ie the bike sounds like it wanted to start but somehow couldn't, as if there's no gas in it (but there's at least half a tank, and the switch is at "reserve").

Then we tried bump starting. He's on the bike, my flatmate and I pushing the bike. It wouldn't start either. The bike just coughs and coughs but still no go.

He brought the bike back for further examination tomorrow. Here's hoping a change or clean of spark plugs is all it needs.

[imw-hornet]

$h1t ,,,, I have just remembered that when I was looking around for mine , a guy was looking at another Hornet and was in the process of trying to start it , and before the sales guy could say anything to him , he had proceeded to start it with full choke and hand full of gas ,,,,, ending up in the sales man trying to start it for about 5 min and then having to change the plugs (due to them being fouled ),,, eventually getting the bike fired up ,so I am sure that you will get buzzing tonight , good luck and cheers

[KelvinAng]

$h1t ,,,, I have just remembered that when I was looking around for mine , a guy was looking at another Hornet and was in the process of trying to start it , and before the sales guy could say anything to him , he had proceeded to start it with full choke and hand full of gas ,,,,, ending up in the sales man trying to start it for about 5 min and then having to change the plugs (due to them being fouled ),,, eventually getting the bike fired up ,so I am sure that you will get buzzing tonight , good luck and cheers

That is probably what has happened to me! In all my n00biness I tend to start the bike with full choke just because it was easier (but just a tiny bit of gas on the throttle). But on that cold, wet fateful morning I suppose all that few failed starts + gas with the choke on full fouled the plugs.

Just got a call from Costa. The bike's alive again! Changed the plugs to NGK Iridium and was charged an hour's labour, totally $136. Ouch. I'm wondering what the importer's warranty actually covers? I can understand they do not cover user errors but... what exactly constitute a "manufacturer fault" in this case? I suppose if the engine suddenly blows up on me, that could be argued a user error too?

Anyway I'm still gonna give her a good workshop service look-over (I was quoted somewhere in the region of $220), get the bulb changed (my bicycle's LED blinker is brighter so that says quite a bit!) and start keeping service records proper (the bike came with no records and no manual, just one key, the vehicle sales agreement and the toolkit under seat).

[imw-hornet]

Yea - Ha :woohoo:
I have used the choke twice on my bike when i forst got it , now she starts no problem , in the morning i need to keep the revs up a bit for about 30seconds and then i can let it idel while i get kitted up and push it out and am good to go , still taking it easy for about a km.
I would like to know the what difference the NGK Irdium plugs make , gas and performance. I dont think this little head scratching will be coverd under the warranty , But as someone told me " at least you know that its done " thanks again Gijoe :) and about the full workshop service , maybe just do the oil and oil filter your self (it is nat as hard as i thought it would be) and check your air filter (on the side)(how many km has it done)and if after that it is not running sweet as , then take it in, could save you $$$ :yes:
About the Bulb , yep i have read a few posts on this point and would like to find out about it aswell (Hint)
About only getting one key :confused: I got 2 with mine the other one is for the gas tank and seat .

Anyway give it a good welcome back ride ha ha :wari:

[NOMIS]

I start my bike every morning in the cold with choke on full untill i hear it 'overreving" then flick it off, warm straight away. never stalled once, stalls if i dont use it.

[breakaway]

Also a 'failed start' can totally fuck your bike up, making consequent starts difficult. So learn the easiest way to start it, and stick with it. Whenever I've changed bikes I've aways had issues with starting them up. There's a trick to starting every bike.

[KelvinAng]

Yea - Ha :woohoo:
I would like to know the what difference the NGK Irdium plugs make , gas and performance. I dont think this little head scratching will be coverd under the warranty , But as someone told me " at least you know that its done " thanks again Gijoe :) and about the full workshop service , maybe just do the oil and oil filter your self (it is nat as hard as i thought it would be) and check your air filter (on the side)(how many km has it done)and if after that it is not running sweet as , then take it in, could save you $$$ :yes:
About the Bulb , yep i have read a few posts on this point and would like to find out about it aswell (Hint)
About only getting one key :confused: I got 2 with mine the other one is for the gas tank and seat .

Anyway give it a good welcome back ride ha ha :wari:

I will, once the weather clears up a bit! Guess who was the one who recommends that I get NGK Iridium (and BP Ultimate?) :p

What did you read about the bulb for Hornet?


Also a 'failed start' can totally fuck your bike up, making consequent starts difficult. So learn the easiest way to start it, and stick with it. Whenever I've changed bikes I've aways had issues with starting them up. There's a trick to starting every bike.

Actually that's what I do... full choke, start with a tiny bit of throttle. Starts first time, everytime, except on that cold wet fateful morning. But yes I will look for a less "dangerous" way to start the bike and stick to that!

[imw-hornet]

I will try and find the link tonight when i get home , but somthing about the "Blue bulb" that gives a much better beam of light ;)

[Choco]

I start my bike every morning in the cold with choke on full untill i hear it 'overreving" then flick it off, warm straight away. never stalled once, stalls if i dont use it.

Mine stalls if you give it choke and plain old wont start if you try with it on!!!<_<
I just start it without, hold the rev's over 2k for maybe 20-30 seconds and then she can do it herself.:niceone:

[imw-hornet]

It Works for me ,,,,,:banana: