Bandit 600 - could this be carb icing?

Hi all, first post!

Got myself a 1999 Bandit 600s. I'm riding it to work and back which is
30 miles each way. I have noticed that for the first five miles of the
journey the engine does not run at all well below 4000rpm, so I have to
keep the revs up when stopping at traffic lights etc. It's juddery,
hesitant at accelerating, and will not idle. Once I've gone on a good
long blast along the M4 into Bristol it's all fine.

The bike is a German spec import and as such has no carb heaters. I am
wondering if it could be carb icing. Does this sound likely? Or are
there any other theories?

I replaced all the spark plugs when I first got the bike, so that rules
out them I reckon.

Thanks for your help

Luke

 

Yep, you've got carb icing there, I get it on my import Bandit 600. I
get round this by having 2 other bikes though. Some people use silkolene
pro fst in the cold weather, apparently it helps greatly, but is around
£10 / l.

Goodness only knows why the German ones don't have carb heaters.

 

Thanks for the advice, yes it certainly seems like carb icing's the
cause. I won't worry about it too much because once I'm on the motorway
it's not a problem. I was just worried there was something more
sinister wrong with the bike, that's all.

Luke

 

Ferger wrote

Amazing really but yet again I seem to be the owner of a bike that
doesn't suffer carb icing. The gods must love me.

 

That's exactly what I said, last weekend.

Bloody bike's been eavesdropping on me, hasn't it?