Choke Advice

 

Recently, while I was at a gas station refueling my car, I heard a familiar sound. It was the sound of someone trying to start a two-stroke dirt bike. When I looked in the sound's direction, I noticed a kid in his early teens trying to start a early nineties Honda CR 80. The engine would fire, then the kid would crack the throttle and the it would die. He was doing this repeatedly for quite some time. The temperature outside was in the low 40s and I was pretty sure I knew exactly what this kid was doing wrong. I wanted to scream, "stay off the throttle!"

 

When an engine is cold, the fuel to air ratio entering the combustion chamber needs to be increased to compensate for thermal efficiency being low (there are also other reasons, but this is the main one). In older carbureted engines, a common way to increase this ratio is with a choke. Activating a choke will lower a plate that will block air from entering the carburetor.

 

When the kid was twisting the throttle, he was allowing more air to enter the carburetor. This was negating the choke, which caused the engine to stall. If he had not touched the throttle and allowed the choke to do its job, he'd have been on his way much sooner.

 

I'm telling this story because I used to do the same thing as a young rider. It took some older, more experienced people to tell me my error (I'm sure it took multiple times as I had a habit of ignoring good advice). Hopefully this will help someone remember to let the choke do its job.

 

"The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on. It is never of any use to oneself." - Oscar Wilde