I know every Airhead is different, but is there a standard starting procedure for a 1971 R60/5?
My bike is difficult to start when cold. Sometimes I have to resort to preheating the cylinders and carbs with electric space heaters positioned on either side of the engine before it will fire up.
I tickle the carbs of course, but wonder if I should also use the throttle while starting. Engine is in tune.
What steps should I use to start the bike when its cold?
Long time since I owned an R60, but I don't remember any specific issues.
• Starting any carbureted engine is harder now that the EPA cut back on the free volitiles in the fuel. Back in the 70's, gasoline gave off all sorts of fumes, which is actually what the engine needs to start. These days you're going to need to work harder to get liquid into the intake, since there are fewer fumes voluntarily wafting up from the float bowl.
► You might remove the intake tube and raise the slide to actually watch the effect of tickling. It may simply take a lot more than you think. Tickle until it giggles... so to speak !
► You might also check out the accelerator pumps to make sure they work properly. Then give it a couple of good squirts before starting.
• All my present bikes definitely prefer closed throttle.
Owning an old Airhead is easy.
Keeping an old Airhead running great is the true test.
When I had a bike with ticklers, I would typically count off 5 seconds of flooding as a baseline and adjust accordingly for outside air temperature.
former Airmarshal, IL.
► You might also check out the accelerator pumps to make sure they work properly. Then give it a couple of good squirts before starting.
BemmerBrian -
I assume you know that the R60 carbs, unlike the CV carbs on the larger models, have a tiny fuel accelerator pump built into the slide. Details and repair of this unit have been covered on this forum. Besides the tickle button, those "pumps" would be a key way to get fuel into the intake. As previously explained, raw fuel in the intake is mandatory for cold starting.
Refusal to cold start may mean you need to change your procedure, or that the pumps are simply not working properly.
Hope this helps.
Owning an old Airhead is easy.
Keeping an old Airhead running great is the true test.
Hey there Wobbly, I hate to bust your chops, but the accelerator pump is actually in the main jet stack. There is a little tiny spring that pushes a pump plunger up when the slide needle is lifted by the action of the throttle pulling open the slides. The whole set up is very small. That is why the Type 53 mechanical Bings have the thimble like fitting screwed in to the bottom of the float bowls. It isn't hard to imagine a little bit of crud gumming up the works. It's the sort of thing that could be easily rendered non-functional by a few years of soaking in Gas-a-hol.
I know a guy who went to the Mikuni conversion on a 600. He is very happy with the result.
former Airmarshal, IL.
Hey there Wobbly, I hate to bust your chops, but the accelerator pump is actually in the main jet stack.
I stand corrected. Thank you.
Owning an old Airhead is easy.
Keeping an old Airhead running great is the true test.
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