[Court93kat]

Ok... by "put the choke up" do you mean pulling the handle towards you (when sitting on the bike) to bring the rpms up, or do you mean pushing it away from you and the lever is in the UP position?

[macgyver]

Let the bike run with the choke on for about 30-35 seconds and remove the choke. If bike still isn't idling right keep the rpms up with the throttle until it does. It seems like you just are not letting the bike warm up all the way. If the bike is definitly warmed up and still does this you may have a carb or fuel problem.

[KarmaChamelon]

oh...what does the "PRI" do?

[macgyver]

The prime should only be used if the bike has been sitting for a long time and the fuel evaporated out of the carbs or if the bike was laying on it's side and fuel leaked out of the carbs. Basically if you feel that there isn't enough fuel in the carbs to start the bike you can turn the PRIME on for a few seconds so that more fuel can enter the carbs.

[steves]

Prime allows (or should allow) fuel to flow into the carb bowls without any vacume.
Also good for draining fuel out of the tank.

[SKNL2]

Most carburated bikes run rough when cold without being choked. It's normal. Use your choke and allow ample time for warm up. It helps your engine life as well.

[VifferJim]

Prime allows (or should allow) fuel to flow into the carb bowls without any vacume.
Also good for draining fuel out of the tank.

Pardon the partial hijack, but a question on Prime...

Leaving my petcock on prime for too long has the effect of flooding the carbs and dripping fuel all over the place. I see a number of posts on here making similar observations. But, the bike shouldn't really flood like that should it??

Once the bowls are full, you'd think that she'd stop running fuel into them.

Am I wrong? is this just a fact of life when you own a Kat?

[Court93kat]

If fuel continues to flow and spill out when in PRI.. you have some stuck floats. If your floats are working properly, it will not overflow and spill out.

The fuel petcock has no idea if the bowls are full or not, that is totally on the bowl floats. If they are stuck open, the fuel will continue to flow. If they work properly, the fuel will stop when full. However, it is best to keep the fuel petcock in the ON position just incase your float valve gets a little trash in there and sticks open. Then when the engine is off, the fuel flow stops at the petcock and not putting pressure on the bowl floats.

[steves]

^What he said. If that happens, it's time to clean the carbs. The floats should stop fuel from getting into the bowl if the bowl is full.

[solidfish]

Most carburated bikes run rough when cold without being choked. It's normal. Use your choke and allow ample time for warm up. It helps your engine life as well.

i have been riding my bike everyday. At the initial startup, I have to keep the chock lever down and the bike idles at about 2k rpm. After a minute of this, i put the choke to normal and the bike stays idle at 1k rpm. Do I need to do this for every initial startup?

Thanks again.

[Court93kat]

Yes, pretty much that is the procedure for starting a Kat. Have to give it a chance to warm up for about 30 seconds.

[KarmaChamelon]

ok...about the "PRI" i ran out of fuel in the tank and my hubby turned it to "pri" not "res" but the bike still started. i switched to on/fuel when i got gas. i was just wondering what the difference was. sorry to jack the thread.

[Court93kat]

Pulled from the bottom of Page 1 of THIS THREAD.....

In a nutshell.... ON only flows when the engine is running. RES only flows when the engine is running, but has a lower pickup for when the tank is low. PRI flows regardless if the engine is running or not, and is used to PRIME the carbs that might be dry or low on fuel from sitting too long.

Now, I will add this to my previous post. I THINK that in the PRI position, it pulls gas from the same tube as the RES position. However, it will just continue to flow when the engine is not running.

In the future, when you are low on gas, place it in the RES position, not the PRI position.

[MeadowHawk]

I thought a bike wouldn't run in PRI, but that it would flood? Are you sure you don't have the little arrow confused on the valve? RES (reserve tank) would do the trick if you're out of gas from your ON.

Sitting on the bike and looking down, twisting the valve to the right (front) should be RES and left (back) should be PRI.

[Court93kat]

Yes, the bike will run on PRI. That is just a position on the fuel petcock. It has nothing to do with the carburetors or the bike running. You can hang a bucket above the bike with no valve at all, hook up the hoses and it will run. The petcock just offers the "safety feature" of closing the internal diaghram when the bike is not running to avoid fuel spilling all over the place IF your floats get stuck open and you don't know it.

If your bike is flooding with the petcock in PRIME.. you have a stuck float!!!!!!!! You need to worry about your carb floats, and get them fixed.