Hi all,

Long time reader, first time poster here.

My RVF has been sitting for about 8 months without being started. I have only had the bike for about a year, I bought it damaged but running. It wasn't running perfectly when I bought it however it would idle and rev quite well and started relatively easy.

The issue I am having now is that it is very hard to start, it will eventually start after 5-10 minutes with the choke on all the way, however as soon as I try to turn the choke off it dies. It will also die if I try to rev it even the slightest bit.

Originally I thought this must have been a fueling however the fuel and vacuum line seem to be fine. I also pulled the carbs off and to be honest they appeared quite clean internally, however I still gave them a clean with carb cleaner and took the jets out to check for gummy residue.

The bike doesn't have fairings, cluster, lights etc installed as the fairings are waiting for paint.. However, I am quite sure this would not affect the issue at all.

I was going to grab a new set of plugs and throw them on to see if it made a difference but thought I would ask here first.

Any insight is greatly appreciated, cant wait to get the bike finished and finally ride it!

Cheers,
Josh

What charge does teh battery have, may well have a flat battery if it's been stood for a while.
Could try jumping it from a car or other bike and see if that has any affect.
Do all the downpipes get hot when you start it on the choke?
I would also still suspect dirty carbs may have drawn some crap out the tank or carbs after cleaning them.

Are you saying it takes 5-10 mins of turning over before it fires? If so, I'd suspect the plugs are fouled. They might clean up if you heat the tips using a blow torch or gas ring. A while ago after suffering an electrical fault (who'd have thought an NC would have electrical issues...? ), the RAC tried starting my bike off a battery pack despite my protestation that if it didn't fire almost immediately the plugs would be ruined. When I got it back and sorted the issue, the bike idled OK, but revved a bit funny on the driveway, and had almost literally zero power - just about no acceleration in first gear with the throttle wide open. New plugs cured it.

The battery won't hold a charge at all but I am jumping it with another 12v battery I have so thr battery isn't the issue. I don't stand there with the starter motor cranking for 10 minutes, I give it little Burt's of maybe 3 seconds, I don't want to fry it.

As for thr plugs I will try snd grab a new set today and see how I go with them. I'd assume thst I'd thr plugs were founded the bike wouldn't start at all though?

Cheers guys.

One other thing I remember is thst sometimes it will idle really fast when thr choke is on, I'm not sure of thr rpm as I don't have thr tachometer on thr bike at the moment. This leads me to think that it may not be a fuel.issue.

Sorry for thr multiple replies.

I gave the plugs a good clean with care cleaner and a soft wore brush, the bike.now starts fine and seems to be idling slightly smoother. It will only start with thr choke on, I can slowly turn the choke to thr half on position when the bike is running but any further and it dies. I also still have the same problem that when trying to accelerate it dies. I did manage to get a slight bit of acceleration out of it but it was far from smooth, very rough and boggy.

Any ideas?

Cheers,
Josh

Are you leaving the jump battery connected after the engine starts? A dud battery can unsettle the ignition system and thereby cause problems.

either your battery is dead or your carbs are not installed correctly onto the engine or they are not setup right / dirty.

i.e

block pilot circuit, incorrect foat height / micture screws / something not assembled properly.

did you mess with float heights? did you check tem? how about pilot screws?

are the carbs located onto the rubbers properly?