Amal enrichners ...out, in, back out

I removed the enrichners from my Amals 6 years ago because I found them to be useless and, occasionally the control lever would vibrate the enrichers into the "on" position while riding ( a really poor designed failure mode)

However, after installing the Alton e-start I decided to reinstall them, thinking that with the speed of the cranking, the enrichers would act like a choke and eliminate the need to tickle the carbs on cold start. So I put them back in. I was wrong; they don't act anything like a choke. Still have to tickle the carbs to start from cold. If I try to start from cold without tickling, upon hitting the start button the engine will spin and spin without the slightest indication that it's going to start. Tickle them and the bike starts literally instantly. So I'm going to remove them again when I get back up to San Miguel where the bike is located. They may a bit useful AFTER startup but I never needed them. I always just started the bike and frictioned the twistgrip at 1500 RPM for a short period - maybe a minute or two at most - afterward it would idle OK with no assistance at around 800 RPM, increasing to 1000 when warmed up.

So I STILL can't find any use for those enrichners.

Leave 'em out. Plug up the tops tight. Useless pieces of Ka-Ka. Say Ola to all the fine turtle egg poachers and pescadors and ninos and cane alcohol drinkers and la gartihas and mangos snacking iguanas for us. Ride. Next year down there to be sure.

I got a brand new set of Premiers. The first thing I did was pull those brand new parts right out of there. Put some JBweld into the caps. Done!

They made the enrichers fairly complicated , so the carb looked sophisticated & they could charge a lot of money for one .
Outside of that theyre not a lot of good for anything . Haveing Cons Vs Pros in prodigious perplexity .
NOTE , Bonnevilles were seldom equiped with chokes , Standard . There may well be a logical explanation of why this was .

Amal ticklers do more than just mess the floor they flll a chamber to prime it so pilot jet feds good initial rich mix the Norton love and need and must have when cold or its too rich once warmed it can start cold w/o a wee bit of tickle, often only one carb does it unless really freezing below cold. Then can take a few tickles and coughs to warm plug enough to keep fire going.

So I STILL can't find any use for those enrichners.

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Maybe not in a temp climate but mine doesn't like to start below 5C (40F), even with lots of 'tickling'. With the chokes in place it's not a problem but I also pulled mine off to improve (smooth) the throttle action.

"wee bit of tickle, often only one carb does it unless really freezing below cold. "

Yes, I only tickle the left carb - the bike starts right up, running on the left cyl for a few seconds until the right one manages to pull enough fuel and kicks in. I was just hoping to eliminate tickling completely by reinstalling the enrichners.

And I have the opposite opinion to you all. I run the chokes in both bikes and I like them. They're great for that first start of the day in the cooler weather season (which is about 10 months out of the year here in Colorado). They don't replace the ticklers, they supplement them.

Debby

debby said:

And I have the opposite opinion to you all. I run the chokes in both bikes and I like them. They're great for that first start of the day in the cooler weather season (which is about 10 months out of the year here in Colorado). They don't replace the ticklers, they supplement them.

Debby

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+1
If it's rich enough to run when the engine is cold then it's gonna be too rich when it's been warmed up.

Before I removed Peel's Amal chokes and was using her night and day down to low 20'F, I found the choke useful while waiting for oil to warm enough to idle w/o constant blips and stalls till could take some throttle to actually leave. To me the best thing about the choke is the cute chrome lever on bars moderns lack. There may be a slight extra benefit with mass of choke bodies inside the slides as may keep em form vibrating as much to last longer but not significantly compared to the Anodized slides, w/o the choke installed.

"If it's rich enough to run when the engine is cold then it's gonna be too rich when it's been warmed up."

If Idle mixture/speed is set when bike is completely warmed up (as it should be), that's true; it won't idle immediately on cold start (no enrichers). But if you warm it up for 1-2 minutes at 1500 RPM it will then idle on it's own just fine...at least my Norton/Amals will. They all DO seem to be somewhat individual!

Matt Spencer said:

They made the enrichers fairly complicated , so the carb looked sophisticated & they could charge a lot of money for one .
Outside of that theyre not a lot of good for anything . Haveing Cons Vs Pros in prodigious perplexity .
NOTE , Bonnevilles were seldom equiped with chokes , Standard . There may well be a logical explanation of why this was .

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Forgive my ignorance, but exactly which standard Bonnevilles were not equipped with chokes ?

"If it's rich enough to run when the engine is cold then it's gonna be too rich when it's been warmed up."

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That's always been my view especially with my old sets of carbs. Now, I've been running the new bodies with chromed brass slides and getting really good mileage (62-65 per UK gallon), exceptional if I'm just ambling along (70+ per UK g). However, I've always had the feeling that she is a little rich at steady throttle (1/8 to 1/4 +/-). Slides are 3's, std needles lifted right up (bottom notch) and 106 needle jets. In fact with needles in middle slot she almost 8 strokes and is very fluffy when hot. I had a mate witness black smoke on acceleration at 1/4 to 1/2 throttle. I could try some 105's and what I should do is put her on a Dyno. I keep thinking about it, just need to find one near me whose OK with old bikes. She got richer with the PW3 cam which I understand is not unusual.

Keith1069 said:

So I STILL can't find any use for those enrichners.

Click to expand...

Maybe not in a temp climate but mine doesn't like to start below 5C (40F), even with lots of 'tickling'. With the chokes in place it's not a problem but I also pulled mine off to improve (smooth) the throttle action.

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I'm with Keith and Deb. I do not have to use the choke enrichners at all in summer weather of 70+ but when it gets cool like on a brisk October/November day, I use them to start the bike. I keep them on until I get out of my driveway and then raise them up before I shift to second gear. I always use the ticklers to start the bike regardless of temperature. I guess if you live in the southern states then you can probably do away with them. What I like with the standard setup is, if ever the throttle cable breaks I am not stranded at any distance from home. With the basic tools that I carry with the bike I can take that enrichner cable and use it as a temporary throttle cable to get me back.
Cheers.
CNN

" With the basic tools that I carry with the bike I can take that enrichner cable and use it as a temporary throttle cable to get me back."

My basic tool kit consists of whatever change I have in my pocket to use as a screwdriver and that's it! I keep telling myself I should probably make up/carry a real tool kit...