I am a spannering god!

(Obviously that's stretching things a bit, but.....)

The Chinese bike is running. I've just blatted up and down the road with
it a few times.

It's very retro in the way the engine sounds and feels.

It's quite loud.

Seems to go, steer and stop OK.

The electric start is useless. But it kicks over first or second kick.

I'm feeling quite smug now.

 

Well done!

Roumour has it that you can get a bit more out of the engine if you open out
the end of the exhaust completely by drilling holes all round the restrictor
pipe and then cutting through the remaining metal between the holes. I have
a spare exhaust and I am tempted to try but I think the noise might be too
horrendous.

Whats the problem with the electric start? If it is just a bit sluggish it
could be that the battery needs more charging.

 

Spannering God you may be but you sure purchase like a muppet

 

Aye, I don't think I'd want to do that. Would definitely be too loud.

Could be sluggish - it turns the engine over, but it never quite
catches. One or two kicks and it fires up. Not a problem.

 

Another thing that may help is that the engine will "loosen up" a bit after
a couple of hundred miles so the electric start won't have to work quite as
hard. You may also find that replacing the spark plug with an NGK (DP8EA
IIRC) will improve starting.

 

Am I missing something here? A brand new bike whose electric start
doesn't do what it's supposed to.......

 

Am I missing something here? A brand new bike whose electric start
doesn't do what it's supposed to.......[/QUOTE]

You've become too used to the perfection known as shite old bikes.
This is a different ball game and you obviously don't understand the
rules.

 

[/QUOTE]

Any completely new bike will be a bit stiffer to turn over than one that has
done a couple of hundred miles. If the battery is less than fully charged
it will have more difficulty with a new engine than with a looser one. FWIW
mine started OK on the electric start from the outset. The plug swap is a
recommendation but is not essential - I didn't bother.

 

How so?

It won't last


--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
Alfa 116 Giulietta 3.0l (Really) Sprint 1.7 75 TS 156 TS S2
Triumph Speed Triple: Black with extra black bits
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

Looking at the battery, I'd say that's at fault. I've not seen a battery
like that since I pulled the one out of my mum's Honda Melody to charge
it up.

 

The Older Gentleman wrote:

Errrmmm, don't you own a Trophy? Mine was never good at starting from
new despite numerous trips back to the shop and 'they're all like that'
malarky. Nice German fella eventually sorted it by going over it with a
fine tooth comb and setting *everything*[1] to slap bang in the middle
of the tolerances. Started fine thereafter.

The 'Bird on the other hand starts in less than a turn, first time,
every time, from -5 to +35. But it is Japanese.

[1] I can't remember the list, but anything that had a gap was adjusted
and at the end he had no idea if it was one in particular or a
combination of the lot, but I never had trouble after.

 

Still


--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
Alfa 116 Giulietta 3.0l (Really) Sprint 1.7 75 TS 156 TS S2
Triumph Speed Triple: Black with extra black bits
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

I know you've got it in for the cheap import brigade, but brand new
bikes not starting on the button is actually quite common with off-road
bikes. They typically have *tiny* batteries to save weight, which can
struggle to spin the motor fast enough even when at their best. Add a
bit of under-charge & a tight new motor, & you can guess the rest.

It's quite common with KTMs, & the latest 525s are known to lunch the
sprag clutch the same way the early Hinkley Triumphs did.

--
Krusty.

http://www.muddystuff.co.uk
http://www.muddystuff.us
Off-road classifieds

'02 MV Senna '03 Tiger (FOYRNB) '96 Tiger '79 Fantic 250

 

<fx: taps finger on nose>
"Honda Melody" indeed.

 

Old W plater, under 800 miles from new. Shame it was stolen and
recovered a few years ago, or it would have been an easy job to get it
back to showroom condition. If I could get it down here, and had the
room, I might still give it a go.

http://www.italiancar.co.uk/Holiday/Images/1.jpg
http://www.italiancar.co.uk/Holiday/Images/2.jpg
http://www.italiancar.co.uk/Holiday/Images/3.jpg
http://www.italiancar.co.uk/Holiday/Images/4.jpg

 

snip>

"It's pointless having a bike with more power than I can use."

 

Look, I'm sorry, this is still a bullshit excuse. Every brand new bike
I've ever come across has always started on the button. The days of
electric starters struggling to turn over engines hark back to Mark
Three Norton Commandos.

 

Fairish comment. Actually, my Trophy only got hard to start when the
valve clearances started tightening up.

A re-shim sorted it.

 

Hmmm..... well, the CD200 Benly has an all-but-useless electric start,
but that's still a 1970s design.

I'd just expect a bike, in the 21st century, to start on the button.

 

As you were saying..... 'a 70s design'.

I've been out to the garage a few times this afternoon - all the
electric boot does is churn neat petrol out of the exhaust - leading,
eventually, to a nice backfire and flame.

Switching to the kickstart sees it start first time.