My bike has always been hard to start with the engine cold. I have a relatively new battery, and a backup battery too. Everytime I start it up cold, it takes me about 10 minutes of fiddling with the choke and trying to get it to stay firing.
The first few times I hit the switch, it will just turn over. Then it will go to turning over and firing for about 1 sec. After a few minutes of that, it will fire for 2 or 3 seconds before cutting off.
I've tried playing with different choke settings, but everything leads to the same result. Once the bike is warm, it starts on the first try every time. Is there something else I should be checking? Charging system, regulator/rectifier, plugs? I just don't know!
I did notice the other day when I had a battery charger hooked up to it (the charger was set to "start" instead of "charge") that the crank didn't rotate as many times before firing as it normally does.
I'm not sure when the last tune-up was on the bike, but the oil is fresh, and the gas is fresh. Supposedly the carbs are jetted, but I didn't do it myself. Any suggestions are appreciated!!

 

Sounds like a lack of fuel. Your bike needs WAY more fuel when cold, hence the choke, but if it still won't start cold, even w/the choke on full, there is s/thing keeping you from getting enough fuel thru the carbs. You can get bad gas, even tho its "fresh" esp in the winter. I would drain the fuel, get some new gas and add some fuel system cleaner such as seafoam and get it warm enough to run. Run it till it gets to op temp, and try again. Your choke might need to be adjusted too, doesn't sound like full choke is really working, if its been a problem for cold starts.

Another thing to keep in mind is that as your bike gets older, and loses compression, the choke becomes less effective, because of the lack of vacuum. The bike might run ok, and still have a reasonable amount of power, but problems such as it being hard to start cold start to become worse.

 

I agree with the post above. There is also the possiblilty that air is getting in to the card (your drying up) and the trouble you are having would be the same as running it empty and then trying to start once you filled up again. Heat can cause this too.

 

Compression too low maybe, same symptoms

 

So what steps do you suggest I take to correct the problem?

 

Check the compression

 

I would try to get some new gas in it, just to be sure your not dealing w/having gotten some bad gas last time you filled. You don't want to be chasing your tail over a lil bad gas. Also try some fuel system cleaner, such as seafoam. Run at least one tank of treated gas to make sure you have all poss contaminants out that are going to come out w/just an addative. That stuff can take a little time to do its thing, so be patient ! If you run the whole tank of treated gas, and the problem is still there, I would try to check and make sure the choke is adjusted properly (fully closing at full choke setting) If that also fails, I would consider having the carbs cleaned/rebuilt. A compression test isn't a bad idea either, while you have it apart, but some compression loss is normal, and unless it is really low (30-35%) below the factory spec, I wouldn't assume that is your main problem. Start at the cheapest/easiest thing to do first, then go from there. 1-new, treated gas.... at least 1 tank full ran thru, to make sure its not s/thing as simple as bad gas. 2- Check/adjust choke 3- Clean/rebuild carbs, and check compression to make sure your not dealing w/a problem that can't be fixed w/out engine disassembly. My guess is that your probably dealing w/a combination of problems ; lower than new compression, carbon on the valves soaking up some of the fuel on start up, mal-adjusted choke, and maybe worn accelerator pumps in the carbs. (if your model of bike has them, most carb'd bikes do) Another thing you can try is to "pump" the throttle before start, like you would in a car thats carb'd. I had an old nighthawk 700sc that was cold natured, and needed a few "pumps" of the throttle along w/full choke to start on cold mornings. One other thing I would do (altho some say its hard on the engine) is to treat the engine oil w/about 1/3 of a can of the seafoam also. This will help to clean (along w/treating the fuel) deposits from the rings and combustion chamber, possibly restoring some of you lost compression.

 

I do pump the throttle a couple of times when I try to start her. I don't do it every time I hit the switch because I don't want to flood it, but I do it about every 3 times. I don't know if this is important to mention, but after riding for any period of time, it smells like gas pretty bad for a few hours. My wife won't let me put it in the garage for a while after a ride because it makes the house smell like gas.
I'll try the seafoam stuff (I've been reading the posts on it anyway), but it's been too cold here to ride lately. I hope I get all this straightened out before it gets warm again. I really don't want to have to take it to the dealer either...

 

that sounds a lot like the problem i was having with my F2, what i did is I bought a $30 pilot screw wrench and tightened my pilot screws to lower the amount of gas it used and it seems to start better and smell better. But it is kinda tricky because the scews are really hard to reach even with the wrench and it is important you do not overtighten them. But when I start my bike cold i usually put the choke all the way in and press the ignition for about 2 seconds, any longer and it doesnt want to start, while giving it a tiny bit of gas at the same time, i might pull back on the throttle a centemeter, not much at all and i let out the throttle after like a second because then i can hear the engine starting to fire like it should. Hope this helps

 

Make sure the carbs are sychronized before adjusting pilots. After sycn'n and adjusting pilots on my 900, it starts and cold idles like a champ. You may be drawing too much/ too little vaccum at different carbs.