Sorry to resurrect an old thread but this is the first chance I've had to look at the bike since all your replies. I've been working away recently and have a short time at home so thought this was the the ideal opportunity to get the damn bike running again.
So, I have a new battery which has been charged up fully in the house using a trickle charger. I put the battery in the bike, turned the ignition on (light switch set to off), choke set to full, throttle at off position, clutch in and press the starter button. The result is the bike turns over nicely but won't start.
The starter sounds to be running and I'm getting the whump whump of ignition (and some air flow exiting exhaust). I can smell petrol from the exhaust so it looks like there is fuel getting through. I took out the rear spark plug (easiest one to get to) to check the state of that. Plugs are only 6 months old and looks to be in quite good condition and had some unburnt fuel on it. The battery voltage does drop off from the repeated start attempts but is still holding up pretty strongly. The voltage is still about 13V after my start attempts.
I've also tried starting with combinations of choke on/off, throttle closed/half/full. One possible problem I've found is that my throttle is extremely tight. The throttle doesn't even return to the off position when I let go. I have to use some might to get the throttle to open all the way. I think it may be time for a new throttle cable.
Any ideas folks?
