Triumphrat

VTXED

Bike is 2007 SM, no mods yet. Hard starting when cold and even harder when warm. Am I doing something wrong.

Steve

singring

Pull choke out full for each cold start, and allow starter to fully turn engine over before releasing starter button. Once engine is running reduce your choke to half way, and allow engine to warm up. This should work every time.
questions:
1) what octane fuel do you use? lowest octane rating will give best fire.
2) have you removed sparkplugs? Are they wet or sooty? Try brushing them off with a brass fiber brush.
3) have you tried any fuel additives? You shouldn't need them.
4) when starting, do you twist your throttle? DON'T twist throttle until engine is running on it's own. You will blow your airbox, and flood your engine. Just pretend you have EFI when starting.

singring

One more thing...make sure your ignition leads are all properly connected. Check wires to sparkplugs, wires to/from coils. They can be jarred loose. Make sure they are on nice and tight. You can even remove each wire connection, and apply a thin layer of dielectric grease to the contacts. Then reinstall the wires...this should give a good solid connection. I found I had to zip-tie the wires on the coils, as they would wriggle off when riding over bumpy roads.

VTXED

I'm using gas the manuel say's 89 octane or higher, choke is out on cold starts and not touchg the throttle, so I'm not doing anything but what is specified so I'll have it checked out at the 500 mile tomorrow.

Steve