choke usage

How do I properly use my choke. And is it ok to ride. With a little bit of choke. So wen it on Neautral the rpms stays at 1 and a half rpms?

 

This time of year you should only need choke the first couple of minutes or even seconds after starting your bike.

You should not ride with choke on all the time. You can, however, ride with choke on until the bike warms up. If you find you still need choke after the bike is warm, you probably have other issues with the motorcycle that need to be resolved.

Your idle RPM should be at 1 (which is 1000). After the bike is well warmed up, turn off the choke, and adjust the screw between the inner 2 carbs on the bottom of the carbs until ou get to 1000 rpm.

So you don't get confused while reading around the forums, what most people call "choke" on these bikes is actually not a choke, which reduces air (as if you are being choked), but adds more fuel to the engine and is called a "fuel enrichment circuit". That's what we call it here.

 

usually i have about 10 seconds of aggressive enrichment, and as it picks up the rpms i keep backing it down to where it is just cracked, and it stays there about one minute total. after that it idles low but steady with the occasional blip of the throttle until the engine gets some heat in it, where it brings the idle rpms up to its normal purr.

 

By the time I get my gear on it's usually warm enough to ride without the FEC.

 

This time of year, ...

Use the Choke to fire-up and start working-it closed as soon as the rpm's are stabilized.
20 seconds or so and you should just about have the Choke closed.

You Bike will remind you if you leave it on too long.
The Plugs will start to load-up and get you running rough.

 

First off, we need more info here; the 650/750/900 has a lower recommended idle speed than the 550s. (1200rpm for the 550s.)

Secondly, the "choke" is an enrichment circuit, so if you need it to keep the idle up you may very well have other carb problems.

That being said, the overall adjustment is via a large knob under the center of the carbs, you could try simply turning it clockwise just a tad to bring the idle up and see if you can run without "choke."

 

So what I have been doing is starting it up with half choke. Then revving it a few times then bring it to full choke. With usually is around 3 and a half rpms then leaving it tell it get to four rpms. Then almost completely putting the choke down. But I adjust it slightly tell the rpms are at 1 and a half. If I completely put the choke down it will be around 1 rpm. And the bike will either turn off or once I stop. It will chug out and die as soon as I go a few feet with 1 first gear. This technique I am using is working well. But I have a feeling there is a carb Problem. any way for me to know if I am?

 

Did you adjust the idle adjustment screw yet? That could very well solve your problem, or adjusting the pilot/mixture screws, although that takes a little more fine tuning since there's 4 of them.

Also, have the carbs been cleaned recently and are you sure they are synced properly? If you don't know, then they probably haven't been cleaned in a while and may need to be synced. If you are going to clean the carbs bench syncing is a breeze.

Check this out for cleaning:
http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=2908.html

This one has pictures:
http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=18016/highlight=bike+centerstand.html

And don't forget this:
http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=8918/highlight=clean+enrichment.html

To bench sync your carbs follow this guide:
http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=6366/highlight=how-to+bench.html

Or use business card strips like rick mentions here:
http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=6818/highlight=bench+sync.html

And here's some detailed pictures of the 2 types of carbs:
Hitachi: http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=3649.html

Mukuni Part 1:
http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=3633.html
and Part 2:
http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=3690.html

So there's just about everything you should need to get the job done. Don't fret if it seems daunting, I thought it was when I first looked into it, but after taking them off the bike and following the guides I realized it was pretty simple. Now mine are clean and synced and working great, and I had never done anything like this before. Good luck!