Cold Start Post Rebuild Help

I'm having a really hard time kicking the bike over . . . . as in it wont start.

A little background: The bike was broken down to the frame & rebuilt. The primary was removed from the block, but the transmission & timing was left in-tact.

I have a single Mikuni on the bike. I know I am getting a spark & fuel is in the cup of the Mikuni. The plugs however, seem dry, even after 10-15 kicks.

I am likely in over my head . . . but any ideas?

Pour a thimble of fuel in each plug hole and see if you get it to pop. If so, then maybe clean (or reclean) the carb.
Also validate that the choke is enabled and give it a little throttle. If it's dry, don't be shy.
Battery voltage?

Check trigger leads if points and also if electro trigger unit.

Really, you want me to answer this? :mrgreen:

Of course you have spark, right?

Raising the plunger, with the lever or a cable, opens up the enrichment circuit. This is the 'choke'. Leave the throttle closed, it's important. No matter how far off the setup is on the carb, it should start. Verify that the timing is in the ballpark.

Make sure you Carby is clean and all Jets and holes are clean.
On the back of your Mikuni, you should see 4 holes... The one to the right of 6 o'clock should be plugged. ( Flat slides are opp )
The one at 3 o'clock = Starter air inlet... Make sure it is clean. If air can't get through here, she probably won't start cold.
Also remember...Mikuni carbs don't choke the amount of air going in to the carby for cold starts, they have an Enricher circuit.
The slide needs to be no more than idle height for this to work, If you snap the throtle open when you kick,
or have the Idle set too high, that small inlet tube won't suck anything and the circuit won't work.
One of the problems many people have with Mik's Is that they have them idleing too fast and then when the engine gets cold,
the enricher circuit doesn't want to work properly.
When the engine has warmed you may need a bit of throtle.
Mikuni carbs don't need throtle to start cold. If they do, they're not set up correctly... How ever they will work pretty well even when not set up correctly.
Also low float level makes it harder to suck fuel up to the body on low throtle openings, just check that it's right.
IN OTHER WORDS... WHAT THE OTHER GUYS SAID.
AC.

yeah i am getting spark for sure & the pull feels good.

Definitely going to look a little more closely at the carb situation. She ran very well when we took it all apart & did not change any settings on the carb.

I definitely could have flubbed up the timing when i put the primary back together though. I think i need to investigate that a bit too?

There are two marks on the rotor make sure you've used the correct one.

Cash

Its easy to wire points to fire on wrong side or Boyer leads reversed so everything checks fine but no go or only teasing hits that wear ya out.

I set timing best I can then move time plate a tad adv till starts and diddle to good start w/o back fire or retard a tiny tad each kick till its starts and diddle to best start idle and response, then may put on time light to see where it lands and mark for future. I wasted too much time trying to start on brand new plugs till I tried the old worn out set before burning up the Commando to get perfect function immediately - ugh.

Miki enricher works best if no throttle lift at all which does make for a bit harder kick sucking air through compared to Amals tickled with throttle cracked 1/4-1/3. If it starts well w/o enricher, tickle or choke then set too rich for old pure gasoline, but maybe just rich for leaner booze gas once warmed to ride.