Can’t get a motorbike to start, advice needed!

[big jim]

My lad has a generic Chinese 50cc motorbike that we have had sat undercover for a couple of months inactive due to lockdown 

 

he has his CBT on Sunday and I’ve come to start it up but not having much joy, it turns over but won’t fire up, well I say won’t fire I did get it to fire up earlier and run for about a minute then it cut out and won’t restart, just turns over again, it has a manual choke which was fully open when it fired up (and shut down) trying to restart it with the choke open or closed makes no difference, The throttle is also closed when attempting to start  

 

I’ve got the fuel taps in the right place and there is fuel in the tank, I had the plug out last night and it was wet with fuel (maybe over wet) and I checked it was sparking ok which it is with a strong spark, have I flooded it maybe, if so how do I go about rectifying it or indeed know if it’s flooded? 

 

Any help would be appreciated as I need it to be working properly for Sunday!

 

[Kickstart]

Hiya

 

Modern fuels evaporate quickly, and 50cc bikes have tiny easily blocked jets.

 

I would suggest taking the carb off and giving it a thorough clean including the jets. And drain the fuel from the tank and replace with fresh fuel.

 

All the best

 

Katy

[big jim]

Typical, ask for advice and go outside for one last attempt and the damn thing started! 
 

Took a bit for it to run smoothly but it’s ticking over nicely now so hopefully giving it a start again tomorrow and Saturday should see him good for Sunday

[New Haven Neil]

Modern petrol 'goes off' incredibly quickly, and leave unspeakable gunge behind it!  If you intend to leave the bike standing again (over winter?) drain the carb float bowl.  It is a must nowadays.  Don't ask.....

[big jim]

I’m glad it’s started as I was worried about having to drain the tank on it!

 

he’s never driven a motorbike before other than trying this one outside the house and this one has gears which in hindsight we should have got a twist and go as he’s panicking about Sunday, worried he may not control it, I’m no help as I’ve never driven a motorbike before either, I’m trying to reassure him he’ll be ok and he will be taught it on Sunday but he’s getting worked up, especially when he asked if I would pick him up afterwards and the CBT school said ‘you can ride home’ 

 

the only thing I think he’s going to struggle with is the choke, takes some getting used to to keep it running 

[rab]

44 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

Modern petrol 'goes off' incredibly quickly, and leave unspeakable gunge behind it!  If you intend to leave the bike standing again (over winter?) drain the carb float bowl.  It is a must nowadays.  Don't ask.....

My dad rode motbikes most of his life (14-87)

and had four bikes come the end.

Only one was used regularly and he was

always moaning about unleaded petrol

going hard in the carbs  of the ones

he wasn't using.

[New Haven Neil]

Well, 17-61 for me so far....and he was right!

 

We have 5 bikes currently, the better ones that don't get used once the salt goes down, ,get the carbs drained due to a previous bad experience!

[Kickstart]

2 hours ago, big jim said:

 

he’s never driven a motorbike before other than trying this one outside the house and this one has gears which in hindsight we should have got a twist and go as he’s panicking about Sunday, worried he may not control it, I’m no help as I’ve never driven a motorbike before either, I’m trying to reassure him he’ll be ok and he will be taught it on Sunday

He will be fine. Gears is the easy bit, clutch the difficult bit. Any that just takes some practice. 
 

As to fuel, we have ~25 bikes at the moment, about half of which are running or close. Where possible I tend to turn the petrol off and leave it running for a while to use up fuel in the carb. Getting the carb off varies; some bikes easy, some a nightmare.

 

All the best

 

Katy

[big jim]

I’ve ended up having to cancel his CBT in the end, had no way of getting the bike the couple of miles to the CBT location in town, couldn’t get it on my trailer, my lad isn’t too bothered as he didn’t particularly want to be out on the bike in the winter anyway, unfortunately the next available date is February so he’ll have to wait until then 

 

 

[TheQ]

6 hours ago, big jim said:

I’ve ended up having to cancel his CBT in the end, had no way of getting the bike the couple of miles to the CBT location in town, couldn’t get it on my trailer, my lad isn’t too bothered as he didn’t particularly want to be out on the bike in the winter anyway, unfortunately the next available date is February so he’ll have to wait until then 

 

 

I've done the cbt a couple of times because I've just not had time to do a full test. I'd advise hiring the cbt places bikes. The cbt is really heavy on the clutch, and it took several weeks before the clutch bedded back into it's normal operation on my Yamaha 125.

[ejstubbs]

Plus you don't have the hassle of getting your own bike there.

[big jim]

The issue with hiring the bike is his is a 50cc geared bike whereas the hire bikes are 50cc twist and go, their geared bikes are only 125cc, as he’s 16 he can’t ride a 125 

 

TBH, sat here looking at the rain lashing it down I’m glad we cancelled it! 

Edited December 13, 2020 by big jim

[Kickstart]

Someone I know did their cbt years ago. At the end of it the instructor was checking their licence and realised they were 16. This is after they had done the on road part on a 125......

 

I would suggest that gears are the easy bit, but clutch is the harder part. Might be best to get plenty of practice at moving off. Only need enough space to move forward a foot or 2. Just to get used to the biting point, etc. After that possibly doesn’t matter so much if cbt is done on a twist and go.

 

All the best

 

Katy 

[spikey]

When I took my test in 1963 it was still a case of teach yourself on L plates on anything up to 249cc then book a test, put a crash hat in order to impress the examiner and see how you get on.  I seem to remember a neighbour passing his test on a 500 BSA single not all that long before, but am I mistaken about that?  When did the learner limit of 250 come in?  My Google-fu's too weak to find the answer...

[Phil Traxson]

Took my test on a BSA M21 600 single + sidecar, about 1969, the 250 limit didn't apply if you had a sidecar attached. The examiner sat in the chair for part of the test, I think he passed me because he didn't want to do that again!!

[Mike Bellamy]

6 hours ago, Phil Traxson said:

Took my test on a BSA M21 600 single + sidecar, about 1969, the 250 limit didn't apply if you had a sidecar attached. The examiner sat in the chair for part of the test, I think he passed me because he didn't want to do that again!!

 

. . . . . . and then you progressed to driving a car without taking the car test as it had three wheels . . . . everyone remembers Reliant due to a certain TV series but not so many will recall your Bond 875 with the Hillman Imp engine !

.

[big jim]

Revisiting this thread, we’ve decided to sell the bike as he didn’t get his CBT done before lockdown 2 and turns 17 in 2 months so will be learning to drive so it’s up in ebay

 

anywya went to start it today, nothing again, wouldn’t fire up, so it was spark plug out and discovered no spark, got a multi meter on the battery then did a bit of fault finding only to find only 1V going to the coil pack, had to remove the tank to get to it though, cleaned it up and tidied up the earths all over the bike incase it was that

 

Then i thought about the voltage regulator and maybe that was dodgy, ended up calling my dad who called a friend who is into motorbikes to seek his advice, I also messaged my mini mechanic who’s into motorbikes too for his advice, had been a good 2 hours working on it, was quite pleased with myself that is managed to strip it down to be honest as I’d never done it before, then I noticed a big red switch on the top of the handlebar........

 

 

needless to say I felt a bit stupid when I realised I’d left the engine kill switch active! 
 

put it all back together and it fired up first time (with a bit of easy start) 

[newbryford]

36 minutes ago, big jim said:

R

needless to say I felt a bit stupid when I realised I’d left the engine kill switch active! 
 

put it all back together and it fired up first time (with a bit of easy start) 

 

I bet you don't do that on 37/47/56/66/70 (and a few others) delete as appropriate.....

 

And I'll also bet it takes more than a single can of easy start on a EMD710......

[chris p bacon]

2 hours ago, big jim said:

 

put it all back together and it fired up first time (with a bit of easy start) 

 

You need

 

[gordon s]

9 hours ago, big jim said:

Revisiting this thread, we’ve decided to sell the bike as he didn’t get his CBT done before lockdown 2 and turns 17 in 2 months so will be learning to drive so it’s up in ebay

 

anywya went to start it today, nothing again, wouldn’t fire up, so it was spark plug out and discovered no spark, got a multi meter on the battery then did a bit of fault finding only to find only 1V going to the coil pack, had to remove the tank to get to it though, cleaned it up and tidied up the earths all over the bike incase it was that

 

Then i thought about the voltage regulator and maybe that was dodgy, ended up calling my dad who called a friend who is into motorbikes to seek his advice, I also messaged my mini mechanic who’s into motorbikes too for his advice, had been a good 2 hours working on it, was quite pleased with myself that is managed to strip it down to be honest as I’d never done it before, then I noticed a big red switch on the top of the handlebar........

 

 

needless to say I felt a bit stupid when I realised I’d left the engine kill switch active! 
 

put it all back together and it fired up first time (with a bit of easy start) 

Thanks Jim, we’ve all been there and in the moment, we miss the blindingly obvious. I know I shouldn’t laugh after all those hours you spent stripping things down, but your post should be framed and hung in every garage/workshop to remind us all, not to automatically go for the most obscure things and check the basics first.

 

Really glad you got it going and hope your lad enjoys his freedom, albeit in a car rather than on a bike. I passed my test in 1964 on a 500cc AJS twin and would love another bike, but my wife is convinced it’s far to dangerous for a 72 year old......

[New Haven Neil]

Reminds me of early days with Mrs NHN before we married. 

 

She already had a bike and a full licence pre-NHN, but wanted a bigger bike.  We bought her a Honda 400/4, and after riding it home she put it in the garage (her parents) and we went out for a drink.  When we came back in her 'expert' (as in, ex means used to be, and a spurt is a drip under pressure) step father who was raging (of course he knew all about bikes....) as he had tried to go out on it (without Deb's permission - theft!) and couldn't get it to start. 

 

He laid in to me big time for letting Debs buy a dud, while this was going on she wandered over to the bike, flipped the kill switch and started it first press.  The silence was golden.  Debs left home shortly afterwards, we've been married 37 years now, the 'expert' divorced not long afterwards.  Needless to say neither of us got on very well with him!

[Quarryscapes]

Definitely been there. Removed an Outboard in Stafford for a full engine rebuild, duly accomplished back in my Oswestry workshop. Took one of the normal diesel boys with me to help fit it (big awkward it was). It wouldn't start. Frantically trying everything on the engine, utterly perplexed as it had been running before we delivered it....Diesel boy being unfamiliar with the standard Honda 4 stroke control box hadn't plugged the kill cord in . He'd managed all the "complex" things, like the wiring harness and the control cables, even put the key in the ignition....

[Jonboy]

Helped the father in law change plugs, remove and check carbs, clean leads, charge battery etc etc etc on a ural 750, only to find there was more rainwater than fuel in the tank....

[Jeremy Davison]

Well this thread has given me the impetus to go and see if I can start my bike this afternoon that is little used and has sat in the garage all through lockdown.

We will see if it will start.... it was never one of its strong points.

After a few road bikes, I've stuck to trail/enduro bikes and it's also the fist bike I've had that doesn't have a carb on it! (Fuel injection)

I'll report back as to how I get on.

Cheers 

Jeremy

[Theakerr]

On 10/12/2020 at 13:30, New Haven Neil said:

Modern petrol 'goes off' incredibly quickly, and leave unspeakable gunge behind it!  If you intend to leave the bike standing again (over winter?) drain the carb float bowl.  It is a must nowadays.  Don't ask.....

I have found on my Councourse that adding fuel injector cleaner will clean out the pilot jets without the need for disassembly.    Just leave it to sit for4/5 hours and the bike will start and then as it runs the cleaner cleanes more.  Over here in the Great White North, our premium grade still does not contain any methanol so that is what I use but even then for storage of more than a month i add gas stabiliser and for storage over the winter (6 months) I drain the float bowls as well.