Techie Bike Question.....

seamus

The idle speed on me bike is tempermental. Some days it's OK, but more often then not, it cuts out as soon as I stop, meaning I have to keep the throttle slighty pulled at the lights, wasting fuel.

There's a little adjustable preset screw underneath the throttle rocker on the side of the engine (forgive me for incorrect terminology ), which you can obviously move to set the normal amount of throttle applied when then bike is idling, but from my days of fixing mountain bikes, stuff like that was always a stopcap solution. Maybe it's different here, but I'd prefer if someone told me before I went tinkering. The engine is fine, it had a full rebuild 2000km ago, and it's performance never changes, so I'm assuming it's a simple thing to fix.

Tx

Beruthiel

you are correct Seamus, it is the little screw thingie (technical term ) which you adjust as required, (same thing happened to me some time back) don't turn it too much as I think* it's bad for the engine


*I haven't a clue really!

Kali

it could be that alright, where your throttle cable is just a bit too loose... one or two clockwise turns should stop that.
if it continues it could be related to an ignition problem

seamus

Cheers....when I worked in a bike shop and didn't know what to do, I just turned a few screws and experimented. I can't really afford to do that with me €3000 motorbike though

Beruthiel

why not Seamus?
(rant) some stupid fool is gonna make you crash it anyway and the price will drop like a lead baloon!
bastids!*

excuse rant, a bastid pedestrian made me crash mine last week!

Kazujo

Might be a bit late but what kind of bike do you have. As far as i know the idle speed adjuster is not just a screw on the throttle cable itself.

On my old virago 125 it was a finger screw between the engine blocks on the left hand side.

On a bandit 600 it's a finger screw on the left hand side near the carbs.

Adjusting the throttle cable is the same as holding it open when you stop. As I said I'm not sure if it makes any difference buts it's the right way to do it. If you check the manual it will tell you where it is. Just make sure you adjust it when the engine is hot or it'll run too fast after a while.

bugs

Use the screw you've mentioned to adjust the idle, but don't turn it much, a tiny amount. Then leave the bike idling for at least 5-8 minutes so it can settle. Depending on the bike, the idle might change slightly again after a ride, its just a matter of adjusting it ever so slightly and running it in.

All that is presuming that the spark is firing properly and theres no real problems