Here's another noob question:

Yesterday I was warming up my bike before leaving work. The bike would keep stalling on me and after a couple of attempts it started up. As I was waiting this guy came up to me and told me that it was running rich. I'm new to bikes so I really don't know what that means. Any help? How can I fix this problem?

 

I just finished my bike's running rich problem. Check operation of the choke lever and your pilot jet settings, it may even be something more simple. I rebuilt my carbs, re-jetted them and spent three weeks tweaking only to find that the Previous Owner has connected the coil wires backwards giving it a weak spark, put those in order and it started running lean! went back to original jets and its a beast now.

Another thing to take into consideration is that that guy might be used to fuel injected bikes. Carbs will always seem rich compared to fuel injection.

 

He told me he had a harley so he knows and he smelled that it was running rich

 

unless it smells like pure gasoline (mine did for a while) i wouldn't be extremely concerned. maybe try re-tuning the pilot jets. they are a pain to get to but i used a piece of brass pipe from the hardware store bent one side with needle nose pliers to make a "D" shape, much cheaper than buying the tool from honda.

 

Rich: Too much gas in the fuel / air mixture in the engine
Lean: Too much air in the fuel / air mixture in the engine

Guys who've been working on engines a while can smell the condition of the F/A mix. The condition of your spark plugs will be the best indicator for a new mechanic. Google 'fouled spark plugs' and you'll usually find a pic showing how different engine conditions will make the plugs appear

 

Well It doesn't smell like gas that much maybe for like 5 seconds it will smell like gas. I've noticed that in the mornings when I warm up my bike, It stalls maybe 1 or 2 times then It starts fine and it rides fine. But when I get off work I try to start it and it stalls more, it will take me like 5 times to get it start to warm up. What if I throw in some Seafoam, will that help? I'm gonna take a look at the spark plugs and see what's up.

 

Sea foam never hurts, are you using the choke when you start it to warm up? if you are, try putting the choke at 1/4, 1/2, 1/3, and full open, the choke essentially just creates a lean mixture to help the bike start when cold. See if it starts more reliably in each position. that way. When I cleaned my plugs with a wire brush it didn't help at all, I ended up getting a local machine shop to sand blast them for $5. perfectly new. ha ha

 

I have to play around with the choke, some times it will start with it 1/2 or somethimes full open. I'm gonna throw some sea foam in there and see what happens.