Sunday, November 23, 2014

Running Again

We woke to 52F degrees this morning and it has stayed that mild all day long.  The deer hunters were here early and it's a good thing.  By mid-day, they never would have been able to drive in the harvested bean fields to gather their harvest.  Our snow is gone except for the piles I created with the Plow Truck.  Everywhere else we have either deep mud or ice and in many places, both conditions seem to exist.

That meant it made my test ride today rather challenging.  I still have to install the side covers and front radiator cover on the other side.  Today's most difficult task was purging the air from the coolant system and that really wasn't a very big problem.


Saturday morning I finished replacing the clutch cover, taking care with the gasket this time to make sure it stayed in place.  New oil, new anti-freeze were added and all related was buttoned up.  The lift was lowered so that the carb was at eye level while on my shop stool and that was wiggled out.  Getting access to the carb was almost more work than removing the lower engine covers.

After stripping the carb parts down, it was into the ultrasonic cleaner for an extensive, hot water bath.  New pilot and main jet (thanks HandKPhil!) were installed this morning after more bathing again today.  Carb put back together and installed on the bike and once the hunters were done outside, the Baby KLR was rolled outside for the big start.



Ben has really been the only other person that has witnessed the impossibly tough starting of this bike when cold.  I was confident enough today to have him around to verify the improved starting but he was far too busy doing something else so you'll have to take my word for it.

Fired on the 4th kick after having a dry float bowl and ran on the 5th kick...... and KEPT running.  Only Ben and I know how nicely different that is; for more than one of our rides he got sweaty watching me work at keeping the KLR alive after rolling it out of the garage.  The biggest news is that it didn't take 20 false starts (40 kicks) to finally keep it running.  The choke/enrichener worked like they are supposed to....a minute of fast idle, back the lever off a bit to slow the idle down and a minute or so later, lever back to "Run" position.

With the radiator cap off, it took a bit for the air bubbles to stop and after adding small amounts of sweet green the level finally settled down.  I had the chance for the first time to see that the electric fan does indeed kick in, I'm going to assume that it did so at the proper time.  Finally the radiator cap was replaced and some more riding.  No more than 5 miles today and up to 60mph once on the pavement but we'll have to make sure next spring that the jetting is where it needs to be under load.

No leaks and an absolutely necessary improvement in cold starting.....a very nice way to ease out of winter next spring.  I'm not sure which one is next in line for some warm time in the shop but there's no time to waste, spring will here before I'm ready for it.

12 comments:

  1. We also woke to unusually warm temperatures, a spring day in November. I was amazed at how so much snow could disappear overnight. Glad you got to test out your KLR (nice colours by the way.) 4 kicks (I remember those days) compared to 40 and no leaks ... BONUS.

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    1. Those 24 hours or whatever they were demolished our snow accumulation. What surprised me the most was how green the grass was in places where it had been shorter and groomed

      I think the bike will be ready for big adventures when milder weather returns.

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  2. 40 kicks to start! I think it would've found a new owner long ago with me...

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    1. Richard, to be completely accurate, 5 kicks to start and way too many more to keep it running. The choke seemed wonky and I kept thinking I'd found a sweet spot. It always seemed lean but with a spot in the middle of the lever's travel, it would sort of keep running but it had to be just exactly right. With everything apart, I couldn't figure out why that was or even possible. As mentioned, once warm it took one kick. You have more cold starts in a week than I had in two months.......and I was more stubborn than the bike was.

      Based on how it worked this weekend, I'm predicting that with fuel in the bowl, a couple of kicks early in the morning should be all that's required until the switch goes off.

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  3. It lives!!!!

    Glad it is easier to kick start. When you have to kick more than a few times it has a tendency to take the fun out of it.

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    1. I just wasn't willing to give up on 'er. I saw and believe this bike has great potential so a little bit of TLC.....

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  4. Kick start after the 4th kick? Sounds like a healthy bike.

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    1. Sonja, I'm willing to go out on a limb and bet that 4/2 will be all it takes from here on out.

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  5. Vroooomm!

    Looks good and glad you got to sneak a ride in!

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    1. Vroooomm is right! :)

      I'm guessing that your riding season is beyond sneaking at this point?

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    2. Pretty much. First day it gets towards 60 and is dry I might sneak one in.

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    3. Good for you Deb and hope that your wait is a short one. Looking outside this morning I'd settle for 40 and dry.

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