Total Motorcycle Community Forums

Ok , been using my brand new Honda Lead scooter.Great fun.Something i have noticed though is that the bike doesnt often start using the electric starter WITHOUT me giving it a bit of throttle. If i tried it 5 times say, it would start using the electric starter WITHOUT throttle maybe 3 of those times.
If i use the electric starter and give an eigth throttle at the same time the bike starts lovely every single time . This happens wether the engine is hot or stone cold.
For example i hadn't used the bike for a week so today i went and fired it up.It started twice using the electric start WITHOUT throttle. I then left it for half an hour.When i tried a thrid start it would only start using the elcetric starter WITH throttle.
Is this normal ?....or is something wrong?
The handbook says to start without throttle on a cold engine ....and to only use throttle if it won't start when the engine is already warm.
The bike is stored in a cool dry place.
Thanks for any info...i'm a bit worried !

Have you tried using choke? I know at the MSF course I had to choke mine quite a bit if it'd been cold for a while (or just refused to start otherwise).

It sounds normal to me. You are doing what the manual says .. so I don't see a problem there. The amount of time you ride (How long the engine has to get thoroughly warm) will dictate whether or not you will need throttle or not on the startup. It also takes alot longer for the engine to cool down than it does for it to warm up. Hence, if you ride somewhere for 5 minutes and turn the bike off, the engine may not be completely warmed up, and it will start normally. But when you ride for a bit longer and let the engine sit for a while, all the bits warm up inside that cowling - which necessitates using throttle upon startup.

At worst, the bike might be slightly rich when it is warm, but this isn't a terrible problem. No mechanical damage will occur from a slightly rich condition.