My daughter came home for spring break this afternoon and we fired up her 1995 Suzuki Intruder after its long winters nap.
The carbs had been soaked and drained and the battery on a trickle charger. Firing it up for the first time in the spring on a 27 year old carbureted bike is always the toughest.
She cranked a while, in short bursts. Little bit of choke and a tiny glimmer of life. Crank some more and a rumble that appears for a second and then is gone. Finally it started up. Tentative at first and then full-throated roar.
It was running rough and still had bowls full of carb cleaner and a few ounces of stale gas in the tank … so I ran it down to the Marathon and filled it up with premium. The bike liked that a lot and ran a lot smoother after that.
The carbs aren’t right; daughter and I are going to replace the pipes - return to stock - and if necessary dig into the carbs and jets. There is a good chance that the previous owner never changed the jets when the loud pipes were installed. If so, reverting to stock shouldn’t require any further fiddling. Hahaha - Could we be so lucky?
She and I had planned on doing our winter maintenance during Christmas Break. I was knocked flat on my back out of commission, and we sadly had to postpone. She agreed to use her Spring Break to do motorcycle maintenance with her dad.
Of course it’ll be 71 tomorrow before dipping back into the 40s next week.
Maintenance can wait. We’ll do that on a dreary cold day next week. While it’s warm we’re gonna go riding.
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