You do realize that plugs are easily accessible, right? You don't need to remove the fairings, just the access panels and reach in with your hands (if you have big hands you might want the girl/wife to help). Plugs aren't that expensive and changing them should only take 20min MAX.

I ride my F2 year round and there are plenty of days that the temp is about 4C and the F2 starts easily. You shouldn't need to get a heater on the engine for it to start.

 

I meant me, not the bike.

 

O.k. an update on my bikes situation. Most of you know by now, my bike suddenly did not want to start a couple weeks ago, after running perfectly fine after getting it back from the shop. Would crank and barely turn over, then backfire like a pistol after a few attempts. Thought it could be fuel strain clogged, nope, bad gas, nope, although I replaced old premium with regular. So I took the advice of Wranghondo and changed the spark plugs. Actually very easy, just tricky. The plugs were basically black up to the threads, and were very saturated with oil although I don't think the plugs were the entire problem, because by the time I got to the 4th cylinder, the wire was almost detatched from the plug thread. At some point, i'm thinking the mechanic may have accidentally yanked the wire slightly loose. I noticed those plugs have a tendancy to "Jump" off the plug threads at times, if pulled even slightly. So never rule out loose wires. She fires up just great now!!!

 

Actually, assuming the leads on your plug wires are good, and the plugs are indeed the correct replacements, those leads should be pretty difficult to get pulled off, if they are not, then they might not be fully seated.
Those things could surprise you - you here a bit of that "zip" sound, and feel that your getting the leads over the ridges on the plug's connectors, and then if you keep pushing down hard (it can be an awkward position, depending on what all items you took off to get to the plugs), you'll find that there might be further they can go down.
Mine fit really tight, and it's usually a "knuckle buster" when I pull the leads for changing the plugs - I cannot imagine accidentally yanking those things loose - they're really snug if installed properly!

Anyway, I'm glad you got it running, the plugs seemed to be a likely candidate, and definitely the next step, if you weren't positive of their condition... time to ride!! It's 62º in Kansas right now, how's it today in Nebraska?

 

So I gotted one right?

 

 

+1.... JNS said that the plug leads should fit pretty darn tight.

You may have the same problem next time you hit a bump in the road if you don't have the leads really snugged onto the plugs... They should fit TIGHT.

to make sure you know how it should feel take a spare plug and pull the lead off of cylinder #1 and attach the lead to the spare plug out of the bike (so you can SEE when it is fully ON the plug).

 

Thanks JNS. That's what I noticed when trying to wrestle the wires loose. They are seated TIGHT!!! And it was a good battle getting them loose. I removed the access panel on the right side, that's it. I am familiar with the "zip" sound, and always use that to tell how well seated the wires are. But for some reason (and they are the oem replacement plugs, specific to the bike, NGK) the second cylinder wire was being difficult getting seated down snug. I believe i'm considered a relatively strong guy. I weigh 175 and can do about 20 wide grip pullups, maybe bench press 240 lbs. I used the better half of my arm and grip strength trying to get that wire seated on the 2nd cylinder spark plug and it just didn't give me that satisfying "zip" sound, when you know it's down. It's seated, I'd say about halfway down to where it should be. A couple times, it seemed I got it down to where it sould be, I pulled up lightly to see if it was nice and snug and it "popped" back up. I fought and fought with it, using what space and leverage I could get and it just didn't seem to set down as it should. Wires look in fantastic shape for the age of the bike, so I don't have reason to believe they're the problem. Plugs were made in Japan, so quality control is there. Bike runs fine and I may go back to battle with that 2nd plug sometime.

 

My bike was a track bike for the first portion of its life. Only 8000 miles when I bought her in 2011. Ran like crap when I went and checked it out so I got it for a great deal. One of the first things I noticed was there's aftermarket cams in it and it runs like crap on anything less than 93. Pings a little and likes to bog down. Runs like a champ with premium so that's what she gets. I couldn't tell you what other kind of work was done to it. Perhaps Hondo has a similar situation.

Kid I bought it off of got it from the original owner. Guess it has sat in a shed for 10 years and he thought he'd fix up but he was clueless so he unloaded it to me. He actually had bolts in the bowl vents thinking they where vacuum lines and tried running stock jets in it lolol. Although I think his mechanic screwed him with the wrong jet sizes...
She runs like a champ now and I've pretty much fully restored the bike in the year and a half I've had it. Just have to have my new pilot road 3's put on and install my new chain and sprocket set and f3 passenger rear sets and it'll be complete

 

Interesting. My F2 also was a track bike, not sure how long though. Probably between 8 and 10,000 miles. It too sat for several years until the guy I bought it from acquired it. Good thing is that, mechanically it's been well maintained since the original owner took care of it while racing, then the guy I got it from was a responsible, adult in his 40's. He basically took care of the bike like he would his car. It's nice getting a bike that has a known solid history, but sometimes difficult. Interesting you say your bike doesn't run well on anything below 93 octane. Some people are firm in the belief that regular gas is THE best for the older bikes and there's little difference in performance OR the bike will run better on regular. I'm curious why your bike doesn't like regular octane. Maybe extensive mods or fancy kits affect how a bike responds to octanes different than what it was designed for? I've ran regular and high octane, but I don't think i've ridden the bike enough to notice the subtle differences.