motorcycle in headlock?

[Aspire7]

whats the deal with the choke feature on bikes? been ridin a lil over a week now and i havent fiddled with the choke yet. what is it for and how should i use it?...

[Fat Kid]

Originally Posted by Aspire7

whats the deal with the choke feature on bikes? been ridin a lil over a week now and i havent fiddled with the choke yet. what is it for and how should i use it?...

Hmm... I use choke to warm up the engine before starting it. It's a must do, from what i've heard, on carburetor engines.

[oblivion_twister]

Originally Posted by Fat Kid

Hmm... I use choke to warm up the engine before starting it. It's a must do, from what i've heard, on carburetor engines.

before starting? On my old 750 I never used it, even in winter. On the Sabre I need it unless I'm staying on the throttle.

[Fat Kid]

Originally Posted by oblivion_twister

before starting?

Ooops screwed up, i mean when starting it. Actually i pull choke, start engine, let it seat for a minute, then push it and take off...

[Aspire7]

i just leave mine in. do i need to be doin somethin different? like pull it before startin the engine or what?

[Convict1997]

The choke is to assist with cold starts. You haven't needed it yet because it's been fairly warm lately. Some bikes are more cold natured than others but I've never had one that needed to use the choke unless it was really cold out and had been sitting out overnight. Keep in mind that you'll only want to use the choke as much as is necessary to keep the bike running. Personally, I always start the bike and see how it's running. If it starts quickly and idles fine, then I don't mess with it. If the bike won't idle or if it idles rough and dies as soon as I twist the throttle, I'll pull the choke and restart. It usually only takes about 20 seconds, at most, for the bike to be able to idle on it's own. Again, this would be in the middle of winter after sitting in the parking lot at work all night. If you use the choke too much or ride around without pushing it back in, there's a good chance you'll foul out the plugs.

[Aspire7]

thanx man. all i needed to kno.

[dmeyer302]

It's ok to use partial choke, too. On the mornings that I need to use the choke, I usually gradually close it over 30 seconds or a minute. I haven't ever had to use full choke for a long time--I always begin the "closing process" almost immediately after starting.

All that said, don't overthink it. If it's running rough or won't stay running after you start, use some choke.

[Aspire7]

thanx.

[gat803]

To put a little finer point on it....Cold engines or engines started in colder weather, require a richer mixture of gas/air to start and stay running until they warm up. In todays mechanical world that chore is handled electronically by the Fuel injection system. It requires no thought or input from the operator, and is true of all cars and most motorcycles.

However. On older vehicles and some newer motorcycles, the fuel is delivered by a device called a carberator. This device does not have the ability to automatically enrich the fuel mixture for cold starts, so the designer added a "choke" which is manually operated.

Some "chokes" have a butterfly valve that actually closes in the carberator throat restricting, or "choking" off some of the air going thru the carb, thereby enriching the mixture.

Most motorcycles (yours included) even though they still call it a choke, use an "enrichment circuit". This isn't actually a choke at all, but a small valve that, when operated, lets an extra amount of gas into the air stream enriching the mixture that way.

It's interesting to note that, in years past, all cars had a choke that you had to operate to start your car. The next incarnation of that, was an automatic choke that was operated by pressing the gas peddle down to the floor one time before you tried to start the car.

All hail, electronic fuel injection.