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XR650R STARTING TIPS

Cold starting: The only difference between cold starting and my regular starting procedure is that when the engine hasn’t been running I’ll use the choke. XRs have two different choke positions—all the way up is full choke, and one notch down is half choke. I use full choke when the bike is cold; the bike will let you know when it wants half choke—it will eventually start running roughly in the full choke position. As the bike is warming, I try to keep the choke in the position that allows the bike to run smoothly, which means in just a few moments you go from full choke, to half choke, to no choke.
As for a typical XR (and most other four strokes), here is what I’ve found works. Push the kickstarter down slowly with your foot until you feel a hard spot. The kickstarter will stop (you may feel a bunch of resistance immediately or you may have to run the kickstarter through its range of motion once or twice before you feel that resistance that stops your foot). Next, pull the compression release lever in and push the kickstarter just past the hard spot—moving the kickstarter about an inch or two—then let the kickstarter come back up to it’s resting position. It’s now ready to be kickstarted. You don’t have to snap at the kickstart lever like you would a two stroke. Think of it as using your foot to shove the lever downward; it doesn’t have to be two-stroke quick but you want to put your weight into it, to get that mass of heavy engine parts—piston, crank, flywheel—in motion. To further decrease the amount of effort necessary to get these parts moving quickly, put the bike in neutral. When you give the bike this first real kick it should start.

Starting a flooded bike: After crashing, I pick up my bike, hold the throttle wide open, compression release in, kill button pushed in, then I kick the bike through four or five times. Next, I go through my normal starting procedure (no choke, the bike is warm). If the bike doesn’t start on the first kick, I repeat the flooded procedure.

Racing start: At the beginning of a race, I use the normal starting procedure. Before the flag drops, I have the kickstarter in the ready-to-be-started position. I put the bike in gear and with the clutch in. I roll the bike back and forth just a little until the rear wheel moves freely, this is an indication that the clutch is completely engaged, so the amount of drag on the engine is minimal. If the bike won’t roll freely with the clutch in, it should be adjusted accordingly. You can’t grab a handful of throttle as you start a four-stroke—if you do it will stall. For this reason, I’m not known for great starts because I have to give up a bike length or two waiting for the bike to be running before I start twisting the throttle and dumping the clutch. I start in first gear.

Common mistakes: Most four strokes I’ve ridden, when jetted properly, don’t want any throttle when being started. It’s habit for most two-stroke riders to twist the throttle as they kick. If I’m helping someone start their bike, I’ll first use no throttle. If it doesn’t start I’ll try using just a fraction of throttle. If it comes to life, that generally means the pilot jet or air screw is too lean or the idle is too low and the engine isn’t getting enough fuel. If the bike had not started I would then go through my flooded procedure to see if it might be getting too much gas, meaning the jetting is too rich.

Four strokes don’t foul spark plugs like two strokes, so don’t jump to the conclusion that this is the problem if the bike won’t start. Spark plugs can get a drop of water on the electrode and stop working, so, if the bike has been around a lot of moisture, you might need to pull the plug out and dry it off. When I know my bike is jetted properly and my starting method is correct, the first thing I do if the bike won’t start immediately is drain the carburetor. It’s easy to get some water in fuel, and fuel does go bad when sitting in a carburetor for a while.