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Fine bikers all over!!!!

I have a 05 VT1100 Honda Shadow Spirit. It runs fantastic, has a LOT of pull and is just an all around wonderful bike especially for my 60 miles each way commute on SoCal freeways.

However, when I bought it, they told me these bikes need a little more gas then normal when starting it up. Mine certainly does. I need to press the starter and crank it adding gas until it finally starts. Sometimes I have to do this three or four times before it finally roars to life. When it is cold, I simply add a bit of choke and it starts first crank. I am certain this is not right and would like you to opine.

Some helpful info: the bike has Cobra full length pipes on it, I am not sure if they have done anything to the jets or of they had dealt with the air intake. I am STILL waiting for my owners manual to check all of this out. I will be replacing the plugs this weekend so will look to see if the problem is there, however, as I say, it runs like a dream, idles perfectly and evenly and has so much torque that I can't imagine I am having a spark issue.

Any ideas?

By the way, the Cobras have a great sound to them and now my neighbors believe that I really do leave for work at 4:30 am

Start with a little choke every time. A lot of bikes are just cold blooded to start.

Thanks.

I will try that for a few days.

Yeah I agree with starting the bike with choke all the time. It's been pretty hot lately and even then, the bike needs the choke on to start and continue running. If I don't use choke, it'll run for about 30 seconds and then you can hear it start sputtering. If I start with choke, the RPMs will ramp up after 20 seconds or so of running. I'll turn off the choke and the bike runs just fine...

My husband had the same bike and most of the time it'll take some choke to get it going...