No go baghira

[dozzyd]

Had my baggie a couple of weeks now and finally got round to the 'new to me service'. It has always been a reluctant starter from cold,requiring a good 10 secs on the button,full choke,no throttle and once started i can knock the choke off and it runs fine from there,hot starting is no problem ie instantanious. I also whipped the plug out for inspection and it appears in very good nick. THE PROBLEM, now it won't start at all,not even a hint of starting. Took the plug back to find a healthy fat spark when layed against the engine,no problem there then,tho i noticed there was no 'wetness' or smell of fuel. I'm not convinced the choke is working as it should,do these bikes need lots of choke from cold? The only other solution i can think of is a weak battery,it did finally grind to a halt after three or four 10 sec bursts on the starter so out it came to discover it looks like the original ( 04 reg black panther) with half empty cells. I have a new battery on charge and ready to go on tomorow. In the meantime anyone got any more ideas ? Yours in anticipation, Ian p.s I suspect it was stood for quite a while before i bought it from a dealer as it was last taxed in june 06.

[DAVID THOMPSON]

i have had a problem with my rt125
i call it the dry carb problem
when the bike sets for a few days the carb seems to loose its prime
i inject fuel in to engine ahead of the carb and after it runs for a few seconds
the carb seems to have fuel and work properly
these new bikes run so lean that it causes a problem getting them started
the rt125 uses so little fuel that any interference causes it to not run ....
dave

[el-mar]

How long did the engine not run? if it was a while, the gas in the carb gets old.

[dozzyd]

I've been running the bike for a couple of weeks on and off,with a few fills ups,so it can't be an old fuel problem.I have tried operating the choke leaver whilst running and it makes no noticeable difference ,even at tickover,so i'm leaning towards a choke fault.I put the new battery on this morning and it fired up ,eventually! took about ten secs on tne button and gave a little 'spit' before firing up. As i said ,once it's running it's absolutely fine.

[dozzyd]

Update. New battery and new plug installed,fired up a lot quicker this time,and that was a gap of about five hours since it was last started.,and it's cold today in my shed in yorkshire! That leads me to believe that David might be right with his 'dry carb' theory,the bike is left for days between use and could possibly lose it's prime. Could have been the plug tho... I've quite enjoyed spannering the bike a bit,even though it's cold and raining, it's good to get stuck in and find your way round your bike. So,new oil and filter,plug and some new contiforce sm's and i'm ready to go.I've read some horror stories on tyre wear and that i should be lucky to get 1500 miles out of a rear! What! I bought this bike for some fun and economical commuting so £80 for a rear every two months ain't economical! Still,i'll settle for the fun bit of the equation.. Regards, Ian

[DAVID THOMPSON]

keep the chain adjusted
a loose sloppy chain will wear tires BUT not to tight either

and proper air check regularly


and wind the motor up ...running 60 on the express way at low rpm may sound
cool ..but all the MZ motors i have driven like to be wound up....
in fact both my bikes ..a rt125 and a rotax powered saxon tour 500cc
do not run good till 4000rpm plus

you have not heard sweet music played till you hear a rt125 at 10,000 rpm
on a nice West Virginia back road

dave

[phlat65]

very common for the choke valve to stick in the carb, just remove it from the carb, threads out, and clean it. you should be able to turn the choke on and off very easily, with no binding at the lever. Manual says to start cold, and immediately turn choke off and ride away at medium revs. That is what I do, start cold in 35 deg F, and turn the choke off within 5 seconds. never gives me troubles. if the bike sits for 2 weeks or so, it will take 5 seconds to start and may idle low, but clears right up. mine is 2001 with 15,000 miles on the motor.

[Wonkmeister]

You should get way more than 1500 miles from a rear tyre on your baggy mate. Try running Bridgestone 014's,that's what i run and my bikes got a shed load more power than yours, still hasn't caused excessive wear on the tyre though! Never heard of that before TBH.

[dozzyd]

Thanks for the input ,my info came from one of the supermoto sites,not sure which one, I googled contiforce sm's and found it there,the initial thread was a bloke bemoaning the 800 miles he got from a rear contiforce!, tales of hanging round race meet paddocks to blag cheap,half worn tyres,'pub talk' maybe... I talked to the tyre shop who suggested that the pirelli supercorsas i wanted to fit were over the top,being zr rated and would take too long to warm up,if they ever would,considering the modest power output of a standard baggy,and hence recommended the H rated contiforce sm's. I run 020's on my r1100rs beemer and have always rated them so maybe i'll try the 014's next,ta for the tip.I've seen pictures of your bike Wonky,it's a good job i'm a Yorkshireman with short arms and deep pockets or i'd be down your shop pronto! BTW,what does TBH mean? At the risk of starting the old 'tyre choice' thread,i'd be interested to hear opinions... Ian

[Wonkmeister]

TBH=To Be Honest!

I am a Bridgestone fan BIG time, as such i fortunately get free Bridgestones from time to time and make good use of testing them. The 014's don't take long to heat up, hard acceleration and braking heats up tyres the best.Once up to temperature they make my bike feel awesome. Of course everyone likes different tyres which is why i am a bit dubious about recommending tyres,but, i have to say if you like Bridgestones then you will love 014's in all weathers on the Baggy.I've used them on ALL my bikes since they have come out and find them far superior to other tyres in the sense of feel, wear and of course value for money. Soft compounds are a waste of time unless your doing trackdays,try them and see. Thanks for the comment on the STMZ.If you need any help with the bike then call me any time in the office on 01732 743 248!

[el-mar]

my contiforce also melted away within 6 weeks. I'm driving Avon right now

[DAVID THOMPSON]

i always liked conti on my r90s bmw for the good feel in the wet
it rains a lot here

but the cords in the center showed way to soon
and i am not a tire smoker just lots of miles
ar dave

[pillar33]

i have the same prblem someone told me the battery is to weak to sustain the battery in cold start meaning it eather needs to sit on a battery tender over night or needs a bigerr battery wich im not sure is possible or do like me push start every morning [ service'. It has always been a reluctant starter from cold,requiring a good 10 secs on the button,full choke,no throttle and once started i can knock the choke off and it runs fine from there,hot starting is no problem ie instantanious. I also whipped the plug out for inspection and it appears in very good nick. THE PROBLEM, now it won't start at all,not even a hint of starting. Took the plug back to find a healthy fat spark when layed against the engine,no problem there then,tho i noticed there was no 'wetness' or smell of fuel. I'm not convinced the choke is working as it should,do these bikes need lots of choke from cold? The only other solution i can think of is a weak battery,it did finally grind to a halt after three or four 10 sec bursts on the starter so out it came to discover it looks like the original ( 04 reg black panther) with half empty cells. I have a new battery on charge and ready to go on tomorow. In the meantime anyone got any more ideas ? Yours in anticipation, Ian p.s I suspect it was stood for quite a while before i bought it from a dealer as it was last taxed in june 06.[/quote]

[TS2Fifty]

Wowee, what's that smell? Oh yeah, it's the smell of a thread that's been dead for six months getting dug up!

Seriously though, if you still have no joy with a fresh battery and the bikes been stood for years then pull the carb off & give it a clean out. Unleaded petrol has a nasty habit of rendering itself unusable after about 7/8months standing, gumming up anything it touches in the process so most likely you'll find that the jets are blocked with gum & the float needle sticking.

Needless to say, you need to drain the tank & use fresh fuel no matter how much is left in it. It would also be good practice to strip and clean the tap & rinse out the tank with fresh petrol too.

Just one more thing, when you clean out the carb jets don't -DO NOT- use wire/paperclip or anything like that as it will damage the precision drilled hole making the jet useless. Compressed air is the usual way to go, but I find that MZ's advice of using "a bristle from mother's brush" (it really says that in my TS250 handbook!) can be invaluable for clearing more stubborn gunk, along with an overnight soak in carb cleaning fluid. And remember, where fuel systems are concerned, cleanliness is waaaaay ahead of godliness.

Best of luck, any other problems just start a thread for them.