Effect of cool weather on idle speed?

[yoda731]

Hey, folks.

I am close to 500 miles around Orlando on the bike in the last three weeks. Riding has taken a hold of me, and I am starting to get cranky on days I don't make time to go for a ride.

Up until last night, all my rides had been in fairly dry 85-degree+ weather. Orlando has had a dry spell the last few months, as witnessed by the recent dearth of brush fires in Central Florida. This past week, yesterday morning especially, we finally got some heavy rains. As such, last night was cool (in the 60s) and damp.

I rode for about three hours, and every time I stopped I had to pull out the clutch to increase the idle in order not to stall. The bike did stall three times while I was taking off from a stop at three different red lights. Even when the engine had been running over an hour, it didn't sound like it had been warmed up.

Is this possibly weather related? I am going to increase my idle speed a hair today (simple screw adjustment). Any other thoughts on what to do or check? Apart from this, the seems to run fine, ALWAYS starts up the first time, etc.

Thanks!
JC

[onlinesmurf]

Could be alot of things. I assume that this was happening before just not as much.

First question are you a new rider? It could just be your clutch control.

More likely could be your low speed circuit. I see you have an old bike, so I'll ask you how long you had it and what condition was it in?

You may just try to dumping in some techron (make sure its for carbs not FI) and run that through a few full tanks and see if the problem stops. If not it could be you need to rebuild/clean your carbs. If your clutch is hydraulic you may need to bleed them. If they are cable check it for wear and adjust/lubricate.

Sounds more like its your low speed circuit, maybe your bike sat around for a long time before you had it.

[yoda731]

Could be alot of things. I assume that this was happening before just not as much.
First question are you a new rider? It could just be your clutch control.
More likely could be your low speed circuit. I see you have an old bike, so I'll ask you how long you had it and what condition was it in?
You may just try to dumping in some techron (make sure its for carbs not FI) and run that through a few full tanks and see if the problem stops. If not it could be you need to rebuild/clean your carbs. If your clutch is hydraulic you may need to bleed them. If they are cable check it for wear and adjust/lubricate.
Sounds more like its your low speed circuit, maybe your bike sat around for a long time before you had it.

Thanks for the feedback. I am new, but until yesterday I haven't had any recurrent issues with throttle control & stalling (well, there were those first few days in the parking lot, but none since then... ).

And yesterday was the first time in 450+ miles that she has stalled on my while I was out riding (three different times), so I am thinking there is some other trigger? She just never sounded like she had warmed up, and was hungry for choke any time I was stopped, even after several hours. Since it was the first time I had ridden in cool, damp weather, I had thought there might be a connection...

I'll check the cables, and perhaps try the Techron. It couldn't hurt...

What is a low speed circuit?

Thanks again!
JC