Total Motorcycle Community Forums

First off I appologize if this has already been asked but I could not find any info. Ok that been said I just got this bike today (1980 GS550) and I am wondering where I should start first. The problem I am having is the bike wont stay idling unless I have to choke pulled, and dies once I push it in. After I get it going if I try and rev it up, it bogs down. Unless of course I increase the throttle in small increments...backing off when it bogs down. I have already flushed the tank because the previous owner said it was pretty old gas, but was wondering if this sounded like a carb problem to anyone out there. Any insight would be really appreciated, but this is not something I am in dire need to handle seeing as how I got the bike for only $350 and it wont be in legal shape until I put on all the lights and whatnot. Ok enough rambling, I just wanted to see if any seasoned bikers might be able to point me in the right direction.

Well if the gas was really old and the guy never drained the carbs, the carbs could be all clogged up. I'm not that mechanical that I know this is the cause, but this could be something you could fix and would help.

Chris8187 wrote:Well if the gas was really old and the guy never drained the carbs, the carbs could be all clogged up. I'm not that mechanical that I know this is the cause, but this could be something you could fix and would help.

I second this. I couldn't get my XR to idle for the life of me until i rebuilt it and cleaned out the jets.