Cold starts and chokes?

[Breed777]

Can someone tell me what I might be doing wrong.... heres my start up procedure... (Note my bikes idle is set quite low since it came back from the shop)

9am...

1) Try to start bike, no choke, no throttle....no go.

2) put choke on half, no throttle, no go.

3) put choke on full.... try with and without throttle.... no go

4) continue trying with full choke....finally starts after 5 attempts....very low idle....

5) now at the point I have tried 2 different things: 1) leave it for a minute or two and try letting the choke off and bike dies... 2) give it quite a bit of throttle.... raises the rpm... but still cant let choke off or it dies...

6) sit there for 10 mins with choke on full.... giving it throttle from time to time hoping it will warm up.... still cant turn choke off completely or bike dies (previously use to leave choke on for 3 mins and turn it off completely bike was fine)

so....

7) Should I just ride off with the choke on? is this ok to do?


Anysuggestions?

[sil3nt]

Have a read of this http://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/What_is_the_correct_way_to_apply_choke_at_startup% 3F

They are fairly similar bikes so should be the same. You don't need to let the bike warm up like you would a 2 stroke.
http://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/Warming_up_your_engine

[MSTRS]

You are not doing well with this bike, are you?
Idle speed should be set around 1250-1500rpm when warm. Since this idle speed is not being 'met' whilst cold and under choke, I'd (normally*) think that there may be a problem there. When the choke is used, it should 'automatically' raise the idle speed, by opening the throttle a little.. This is achieved by a mechanical connection from the choke mechanism to the throttle system at the carb end. This may be out of order, or incorrectly adjusted.
* Or it's just cos you are new to these things. Which is probably the case here...afterall, the bloke that fixed your dirty carb problem did enough other stuff to the bike that it should be right.
Incidently, a Ninja250 is not that close to a GSXR. Twin against 4, to start with.

[sil3nt]

Still the choke operation should be the same on both bikes.

[xwhatsit]

Still the choke operation should be the same on both bikes.
Not at all -- even identical bikes, after they've had a few ten-thousand kilometres on them, like different things. You ask ten different SR500 owners how they start your bike and you'll get ten different answers.

[Maha]

Different chokes for different folks...
The choke on our Yamaha is a lever, whereas, the choke on the bike in question is probably a pull out one?

The problem th OP is having sounds very much like what we had a while ago on the yamaha, no marking on the lever so what we thought was 'open' was indeed 'closed'.

[CookMySock]

First attempt, FULL choke, tiny throttle opening, start without moving throttle or maybe adding a tiny amount.

Once started, do nothing until revs rise and stabilse at a high idle after about 4-5 seconds, then very slowly slowly reduce choke until revs drop to about 2,000 rpm - no lower. Clutch, put bike in first gear, quietly ride off - total warmup time 20-40 seconds. 3-4 minutes down the road, or as you enter the open road - choke completely off. Max revs 4,000rpm on a stone cold engine, and maximum half-throttle.

Steve