Procedure for starting bike after pulling carbs

[cavity.]

Quick question, I'm about to try to start my bike and have always had this question. After pulling the carbs and reinstaling them on the bike (float bowls empty), whats the best way get a bike started? Should I just keep kicking (20+ times?), and will using the choke fill up the float bowl faster?

Thanks for any help and happy new year!

 

[AlphaDogChoppers]

It would be sort of useful to have a clue what bike you are talking about. :-\

Procedure depends on what kind of petcock is in it. Many bikes have a vacuum auto shut-off in the petcock. Fuel only flows when there is vacuum from the engine, therefore, if the carbs are dry, it can take a lot of cranking before the carbs fill and the engine will fire. Such petcocks have "On," "Reserve," and "Prime" positions. Put the petcock in the "Prime" position for about 20 seconds, and the carburetors will fill. This feature is to prevent carburetor overflow when a bike is parked if you forget to turn off the fuel petcock. Usually, these auto shut-off petcocks don't even have an "Off" position.

If you have a fully manual petcock, simply turn it on. It will have "Off," "On," and "Reserve" positions. If you only put a small amount of fuel in for initial testing, (good idea,) you may have to put the petcock in the "Reserve" position.

 

[cavity.]

sorry forgot to put that in. It's a cb350 with Mikuni VM30's. The petcocks are aftermarket and it looks like they are just "on" or "off". I had no idea the carbs would just fill up from gravity. I'll check it out in the morning. Thanks for the reply!

 

[TheJester]

Just turn the petcock on, make sure you have plenty of fresh fuel in the tank, put the choke on, let it sit for 30-40 seconds to fill up the float bowls, and kick it over, it should fire up without an issue, like you never had it apart. Nothign special required, other than letting the float bowls fill up with gas for a bit.