Hi, I'm new to the forum. After several years away from the bike scene I've recently purchased a 2003 cbr600f which has been fine for about 500 miles yet today it won't start. Engine spins over fine etc but I'm wondering how critical is it to have a fully charged battery? It is spinning over very quickly and can smell unburnt fuel but not firing. Last night I was tinkering trying to sort the bulbs out on the stop/tail and I did have the lights on for about 10 mins altogether and the heated grips to test but without the engine running. Would that be enough to take enough charge out of the battery? I'm going to pick up a charger tomorrow but as its turning over so well I'm not holding much hope. Anyone else had similar experiences?

 

If you are getting the engine to spin over quickly then there is plenty of juice in the battery.

Have you checked for a spark? A common issue is the kill switch on the handlebars or one of the other kill switches (side stand or neutral light) being stuck and stopping the power from getting to the coils.

Step 1 is to check all the fuses carefully (with a multimeter if you have one) then can pull an HT lead and see if you get a spark with a spare spark plug resting against the engine case then this should prove the point.

Should there be no spark, start with spraying electrical contact cleaner in the handlebar switch an flip the switch a load of times then check again for a spark. Repeat for the side stand switch and any elictrical contacts going up from the gearbox.

If you are smelling unburned fuel then I suspect the carbs are not an issue but it won't do any harm to check the drain plugs on your carbs to make sure fuel is getting to them all.

Do you get any pops and bangs at all?