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Ok, I am a new rider and my bike will be here tomorrow morning. The guy I bought it from has not yet mailed me the owners manual. Are there any tricks to starting it like a choke etc? It is a 2004 Honda Shadow Aero 750.

Thanks

P.S. Ive been reading the forums here for a few days and I have learned a lot from all of you. What a great site.

are you sure the owners manual isn't under a chrome case on the left side of the bike?

Check under the seat too. Didn't someone on here buy a manual to figure out how to take the seat off, just to find the manual under the seat?

I had an 04 Shadow and it was under a fake chrome cover on the left side, along with a cheap tool set.

Ok, thanks for the help. I found the little box with the tools, but no manual. Anyways the bike arrived this morning at eight and when i tried to start it, it wouldnt. It sounded like it wanted to then it started clicking. I guess somehow the battery drained in shipping maybe. I dont know. but anyways I thought i would try and push start it like i have have done many times with a car. Oh yeah did i mention that this is my first bike and the only time i rode a bike before was about fifteen years ago for maybe an hour. Luckily the parking garage where i live has a incline at the end of it and is about a hundred yards long. It took me about five tries and a lot of leg work from duck walking backwards back up the incline to try again.
Since it has been raining today, i was not quite ready to take my first ride on the street in the rain(that would just be dumb). So I let it warm up for a while hoping that it would recharge the battery. And it did. So i did about a dozen back and forth runs in the garage getting used to starting and breaking. Man was that fun! Only stalled it twice!
Tomorrows weather forcast: cloudy no rain!!! Yippeee. However I am just a bit nervous about hitting the road. I want to go to a decent size lot but the closest one is about a mile away and I dont know if i will be ready to venture that far from home yet.

Once again I am so glad I found this site, you guys are awesome!!! I cant beleive it took me about a month to discover it.

Wish me luck tomorrow

I COULN'T WAIT!!!

The sky was clear and stary tonight. I had to go ride. Did i say i didnt think i would be ready to ride a mile. HAH!! I freakin drove all over north seattle and put thirty three miles on my new toy. YEEEE HAAAWWWW!!!!

I had no probs, no stalls. wait, actually i did have an issue with starting on an incline. I had to turn the bike around and go down because i was a bit nervous rolling back and trying to gas it. What is the best way to get going without rolling back to much after letting the brake go?

Wow, cant wait til daylight!!

hammbones wrote:I COULN'T WAIT!!!

The sky was clear and stary tonight. I had to go ride. Did i say i didnt think i would be ready to ride a mile. HAH!! I freakin drove all over north seattle and put thirty three miles on my new toy. YEEEE HAAAWWWW!!!!

I had no probs, no stalls. wait, actually i did have an issue with starting on an incline. I had to turn the bike around and go down because i was a bit nervous rolling back and trying to gas it. What is the best way to get going without rolling back to much after letting the brake go?

Wow, cant wait til daylight!!

1) MSF MSF MSF MSF MSF MSF MSF MSF MSF
2) Now I have that rant out of the way once you've stopped on the incline, put your left foot down, and apply the rear brake with your right foot. now your hands are free to find the biting point, so the bike is trying to move forwards, but is being stopped by the rear brake. and to set off simply slowly release the rear brake and the bike will go.
3) DO THE MSF IT WILL TEACH YOU MORE IN SKILLS AND SURVIVAL TECHNIQUES THAN YOU WOULD EXPECT

Thanks Nib.

I signed up for the msf in Aug. and my class is in Oct.

Today I will go practice on some hills. there are plenty of them up here.

Congratulations on your new bike. The Honda line of Shadows are great bikes. If you are still looking for an owner's manual, Honda sells these through Helm. Here is their link:

http://www.helminc.com/helm/search_serv ... G0V1FHCBA6

Glad to hear you are taking the MSF course, I would just be careful about practicing anything too intricate before you take the course. You might be developing some bad habits. Good luck.

Greg