Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

Hi guys, new to this forum and indeed to riding as well.

Anyway to cut to the chase I tried starting my bike in the cold today. Now to clarify a few things I did have my bike serviced and tuned and has been idling at 1500rpm or so for the past few weeks. Anyway as it was cold, I decided to give it full choke on start (which I have just found out isn't the best of ideas) but nonetheless I did it and because the choke is quite stiff and unresponsive at times unless I pull it up hard, I gave it a bit of a yank and the idle went up to about 5000-6000 as it normally would with full choke but then after about 10 seconds or so, when I decided to back off on the choke, the choke seemed to have jammed up and the revs wouldn't drop and would sit at about 6000rpm. After some research online, it seems that the choke linkage might have been jammed up. Any advice or help would be much appreciated. I live on the lower north shore of Sydney and wouldn't mind riding it a short distance if any of you living nearby are willing to take a look at it but if not then any advice through this forum would brighten up my day too. Thanks in advance!

Check at the carbies.
The little thingamajig that pulls the choke pin out may have come off.
Mine has done in the past.
WD40 the pin at the carby too.
Oh and welcome to KSRC

Thanks dude. Had the bike looked at by a mechanic as I didn't have the tools to open the bike up and was really keen to get the bike going so I can take advantage of the recent relatively nice weather here in Sydney. All it was was a 'sticky' choke cable and a slightly bent choke pin, 2 mins of work done and the guy charged me $150 . He is a mobile mechanic but I still think he overcharges...hmmm thinking of getting myself a right set of tools and work on the bike myself from now on.

pooljunkie85 wrote:Thanks dude. Had the bike looked at by a mechanic as I didn't have the tools to open the bike up and was really keen to get the bike going so I can take advantage of the recent relatively nice weather here in Sydney. All it was was a 'sticky' choke cable and a slightly bent choke pin, 2 mins of work done and the guy charged me $150 . He is a mobile mechanic but I still think he overcharges...hmmm thinking of getting myself a right set of tools and work on the bike myself from now on.

That's ridiculous!

Yeah tell me about it! Oh well the bike's in good shape now and that's really all I care about. In his defense he does use quality products like motorex oil and K&N filter etc...but yeah I'm still having slight trouble getting around the fact that I paid $150 for a bit of petrol that he used to get to my place, a bit of lube used on the choke and 5 mins of labour.

welcome to KSRC pj, The mobile guys are sort of justified charging prices like that, they have to make a living & do have overheads like insurance WC etc & you might have been his only job for the day was he really only there for 5 mins or longer?

Suggest you get your hands dirty & get into the basic stuff yourself if spending the $$$ worries you.
There are plenty of courses on offer to learn how do basic work on bikes & the best thing about working on the bike yourself is the satisfaction

hang on you paid 150 and he didnt even replace the cable?
Next time buy a set of allen keys, a screw driver and a new cable. Will cost you less than half that. Ive got the service manual for it so if you want it let me know

Haha thanks guys for the advice but yeah, I do understand that the guy has to charge a whole heap to justify what he's doing but then he really did just spend about 5 mins looking at and fixing the bike. Apparently he is one of the best bike mechanic in the state though (again, apparently) but yeah, I do want to get into servicing the bike myself soon enough. It'd be great if you can email me the manual MrWasabi as I have not been able to find one online. My e-mail add is pooljunkie@gmail.com, cheers