Honda-SOHC

Hi all,

My bike doesn't get used very often, and I'm finding that when I start it after it's been sat in the garage for a few weeks that one cylinder (no. 2) doesn't fire regularly until the bike's been running for a while.  Once it's all warmed up everything seems fine.  And ideas what might be causing it?

Cheers,

Paul

Hi all,

Ever since I got my bike on the road I've never been entirely happy with a couple of things that my original 500 (back in 1979) didn't suffer with.

The first problem is cold starting, where it takes lots of cranking on the starter to stutter into life, and when it does you have to juggle the throttle & choke for a while before it runs cleanly (initially sounds like it's not running on all 4).

The second problem is overall performance, where it feels less powerful than I think it should (it's certainly not as fast as my old one), and feels a bit "woolly" when you snap the throttle open - a bit like if you were to try to accelerate hard while the choke was still partially on.

Once the bike is warmed-up, it starts on the button instantly, and ticks over just fine.

The bike has Dyna coils, and electronic ignition (it's had two different systems fitted, and ran the same with both).  The carbs have just been fully stripped, ultrasonically cleaned, and re-assembled using all new jets & seals.  Again, this doesn't seem to have made any difference.

The valves clearances are spot-on, as is the timing, and I'm starting to run out of ideas, so any advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers,

Paul

Hi all,
I only joined recently, though have used this forum and others for information on & off for some time. 

I bought a new CB200 in 1976 and traded it in 3 years later with 51000 miles on the clock.  The bike I traded it in for was a P-reg 500/4 that had covered 12000 miles.  In the 2 years I had the 500 we covered a further 34000 miles.  The only problems it ever gave me were related to its reluctance to start in damp weather.  I eventually traded it in for a new Z550 in 1981, then upgraded to a new GT750 in 1984.  When the first (of three) daughters arrived in 1986, the bike had to go.

After many years without a bike, I was yearning for the excitement you get from biking, but without the inherent danger.  This led to me building a Lotus 7-style kit car, which I got on the road around 1998 and kept until 2007, when I sold it & bought a 1998 TVR Chimaera 450 (which I still have).

While all that was happening, I started to get the biking bug again.  Of the bikes I had owned, the only one I had really regretted selling was the 500/4.  A casual look through eBay in 2003 resulted in me winning a "basket case" for