TOPIC:

The bike has been left standing in the garage for a couple of months and now I can't get it to start. Done the obvious, new plug, drained the carbs, refilled the carbs, drained again, charged the battery, recharged the battery, taken the carbs off and cleaned them, jets all look clear, new fuel pipe, refilled the carbs, drained the carbs, refilled and still nothing. The one thing I haven't done is use fresh fuel, are Nordwests super sensitive to stale fuel? Anyway, I'm stuck, any suggestions gratefully received.

Fresh fuel. Trying to start a large single on stale fuel is a one way trip to nowhere. Modern fuel is so full of additives and shit it turns stale within weeks and will gum up your carbs in months. To be on the safe side I'd recommend an ultrasonic clean, it will make a world of difference and even if you think your carbs are clean the residue of years of fuel will have left a layer of muck on them that only an ultrasonic can clean out. Nordwests are also lovers of a big fat spark so the health of your battery is very important, just cos it cranks it over doesn't mean it'll start - check the spark with either the plug out and against the head or a known good spare plug. Nordies can be temperamental and its usually a combination of things but fresh fuel, ultra clean carbs and a fat spark are the first things I'd be doing.
Good luck, and once it starts keep it running......;}

Ah, the saga of Nordwest starting
They could go sulky if left for just a week in cold weather.

My memory dredged up this from GeN#6:

"So, here is what appears to be the best strategy for persuading a reluctant Nordie into life. I shall christen it the Braham-Lishman method:
1 Petrol off.
2 Loosen float bowl drain screw to
release 'stale' fuel.
3 Petrol on for a few seconds to flush
carb.
4 Re-tighten drain screw
5 Petrol on, Choke OFF
6 Try a whiff of throttle , if no go
7 No throttle, pull choke out slowly
while cranking until engine fires
8 Find best choke position to keep
engine running."

So some nice fresh premium (actually 'super' would be worth the extra in this scenario) unleaded is well worth a try. Having said that, as Overbomber points out, you also need a good spark.

I used to have lots of trouble persuading the tuned 604 in to life when cold. That was CDI not Inductive ignition but I found it was sensitive to the air gap between the rotor 'pips' and the ignition sensor - particularly if there was a bit of surface rust on the rotor!

Even then, if it was a cold day the first attempts would sometimes only eventually produce impressive backfires.
This was with Keihin CR33s not a Teikei OEM carb so the dreaded gummed up passage in the standard carb setup wasn't the issue (See 'That Starting Problem' in GeN#7 for David Champion's description of that). So I tried a grade softer plug and that did the trick. OK for hill climbs but I would swap back to standard grade when riding it on the road in the summer.

just wait until it's getting warmer.
Italian bikes don't like this kind of weather we have just now.

Joachim

And that's why there's very few in Scotland. I've been lucky as both my Nordies have been reasonably stress free starters but I've recently had the carbs off mine to replace them with a really mint set and they've been through the ultrasonic as a matter of course.

If you still have problems getting it started send them to me and I'll buzz them thru my ultrasonic at work if you want. That'll give you time to go buy a gallon of super unleaded.

When you have got it running remember to close the fuel tap and run the carbs dry before you put the bike away for a few weeks
John