My Blown Valkyrie won't start :(

[beetz]

Hey guys, I'm a recent owner of a 1998 Valkyrie 35k miles, with magnacharger setup and single carb.  I've had the bike since March, and been riding it a little here and there.  I ran out of gas in it unexpectedly and calculated 18 MPG. 90 miles on the trip meter. Yikes. Is this normal for a blown valk?  If I let the bike sit for more than a couple weeks, it's very hard to start.  It took about 10 cranks the last time I had it running.  Once it's running, it runs great, and warm starts easily.  I took it for a 75 mile ride on May 1st and got 20 MPG.  That's the last time it's been on a good ride.  I went back to start it a couple weeks later (May 15th) and it was leaking gas as I was cranking it, at the bottom out of the hose, and continued to leak until I turned the gas off.  It fired for a split second before I shut it down because I didn't want to leak fuel onto the pavement (I park the Valk at a storage facility, along with 8 other bikes).  I figured maybe the float was stuck so I went back three weeks later (June 6th) and used back of screwdriver and tapped bowl of carb and turned gas on and it wasn't leaking anymore.  Optimistic, I tried to start it many cranks but it wouldn't fire.  I could smell gas, but honestly I don't know how to cold start this thing (I'm on Kauai so it doesn't get cold here).  The battery started getting low so I stopped and parked it again.  Took the battery home and charged it up.  Checked the plugs.  Four of the plugs looked fine, one plug smelled a little gassy, and one plug was wet with gas.  They looked well used so I replaced them with new NGK's.  Optimistic again with a fully charged battery, I tried again about a week ago, determined to get it going. But same story, no start.  I'm getting very sad, I really want to ride this thing.  It runs so well when it's running.  The choke is a separate cable that hangs to the right of the seat, not stock location.  I don't even know if the choke works.  It has cold started in the past with no choke, maybe a few cranks with half throttle.  Sorry for the long sob story, but I wanted to give as much info as possible.  I don't want to burn out the starter, and losing hope now.  Any input would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you.

[steveB (VRCC UK)]

Beetz - Is the carb the early Keihin (branded Harley Davidson) or the later Mikuni flat slide ? If it's the early Keihin around 20 to 25 mpg is all I ever got. The Mikuni is way better, more like 30 and a clean idle. Short manifold on the Mikuni also cured the manifold icing I had on the earlier set up (we live in cold damp UK) Check out the choke cable. I made a simple car type pull out knob bolted to the engine hanger and extended the idle screw using speedo inner cable.
Usually they will start after 3 or 4 full twists of the throttle before hitting the starter button. Both carbs have accelerator pumps and will squirt neat petrol down her throat negating the need for choke on all but the coldest days. I paid a local race shop to do the final set up on their dyno well worth the days labour and the handful of jets & needles it cost me.

[beetz]

HI steveb, thanks for the reply.  It has the Mikuni HSR 45mm carb set up.  Do you twist throttle while you are pushing the starter button also?  Or only before?  Also it has the dual spal fan set up and one fan is always running when you turn the ignition on. Thanks.

[steveB (VRCC UK)]

Give the throttle 3 or 4 full twists before hitting the starter. Used the twin pusher fans on mine one on the original thermostat switch one manual through a toggle switch - fans should be switched, NOT on permanently. Maybe an electrical fault.