Ninja 250 difficult to start

[dcx4610]

Just a few questions regarding start the 250.

Ever since I purchased the bike, it seems tough to get it started. I turn the choke on full, press the ignition and the bike tries to start but never catches. After waiting a minute, I try again and it still doesn't catch. A couple of more tries and it will eventually catch but I have to constantly mess with the choke to get it to stay running. Eventually it will idle without needing the choke and it's good.

Once fully warmed up, it runs perfectly fine and will start after without any problems. Is this normal and simply the nature of a cold bike and not being fuel injected or is there something I should be looking for?

Thanks

[cuong-nutz]

How many miles are on the bike?
Get the battery tested. It's a cheap and easy thing to do with a voltmeter/multimeter. If you don't have one, take it to an autoparts store and they can have it tested and charged for you for free. A weak or bad battery will give you hard start situations giving you the assumption that the battery is still good since it still can turn the motor over but just not as fast/strong as it needs to.

If it's good, than check fuel, air, and spark.
Is the bike getting fuel?
Is the air filter clean?
Is their spark?

[Motofool]

Originally Posted by dcx4610

.....Is this normal and simply the nature of a cold bike and not being fuel injected or is there something I should be looking for?

If you don't use the bike every day, the fuel that remains in the bowls of the carburetors evaporates.
Those need to be fully refilled for the engine to start up again.
It takes time because the fuel only flows down into the bowls when the vacuum produced by the rotating engine opens the valve in the petcock.

Two things may worsen this:
- Poor vacuum due to leaks in the tubes or intake manifold or open throttle or poorly adjusted or worn valves.
- Clogged fuel filters: there are at least two of these, one inside the fuel tank and one inside the end of the hose connecting the petcock and the carburetors.

The application of choke is normal:
http://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/What_is..._at_startup%3F