Cold starting and Seat recovering

[mattwells]

Okay, my two projects on my bike (a 1982 Nighthawk 450) right now are recovering my seat and fixing my starting problem.

First the seat: experiences recovering? Should I buy a kit, or just try and get some leather and cut it to fit?

Second, my cold starting problem: my bike has issues starting in the morning. Serious issues. I click the starter and (when it does turn over) nothing happens. Choke it, start it, nothing happens. Battery seems dead when the starter stops turning over. In the afternoon when I get back from work, starts up first time when choked - battery definitely not dead. Is it a battery problem? Spark plugs? Any other ideas? It is time for an oil change anyway, so while I am down there, I am going to poke around. But what should I be looking for?

Thanks for any input.
Matt

[flynrider]

I'm not sure from your description what actually happens when you try and start in the morning. Is it that the starter turns slowly or not at all? If that's the case, you might just have a weak battery. This usually shows up more in the cold. When a battery just barely has enough juice to crank the bike, often there is not enough left over to sufficiently power the ignition system. Then you get an engine that turns over, but the spark is so weak it's not firing the charge in the cylinder.

Check your battery voltage with a meter with the bike off, you should see at least 12v from the battery. Optimum is around 12.5v.