Was teaching my friend how to ride, when he dropped it on the right side doing 5mph. Some gas leaked out the small tube, but otherwise just very small scratches. Now the bike won't start. The starter is turning the engine fast enough, but it won't ignite. Any suggestions?

 

How long ago was it? It could just be flooded...

 

Just now, 15 minutes ago. If its flooded, what do I do/how do I know?

 

It's just one of those things that you have to wait out, it shouldn't take that long. Just like if you were to wreck on a dirtbike, it would flood the engine if it gets sideways or upside down. That's why racing dirtbikes have an extra lever above the clutch to help flash start it if you take it down. There's most likely no damage, but if you spent a lot of time trying to crank it over, it'll most likely just flood it more. Just wait it out and should fire up just fine.

 

Check your switches- could have bumped the killswitch without realizing it (you would be far from the first)

 

Switches are fine, probably tried starting it 4 times. How long could this take to settle?

 

Just read that holding the throttle wide open while cranking can help clear the engine. Anyone have experience with this?

 

Yes- that has worked for me. It's given me a pretty good pop when it did that too.

If that doesn't work, I would go through the fuses to make sure they are good (specifically the ignition one- all of them are located in tail of your bike). Then, if you can pull the plug, I'd make sure that you're getting spark. Pull the plug, re-attach it to the harness, put the killswitch on, and touch the threads of the plug to your engine while you turn the motor over. Then go from there...

 

May just want to let it wait another 15 minutes, too. And keep the choke off... that'll flood it more if that's the issue...

 

Thats exactly what you need to do when you flood out the motor. It was a regular ritual for me. When I raced Supermoto several years ago I would consistently dump my bike in the dirt.

<pull in compression release lever and wide open throttle>
<kick it about 5-10 times>
<release the lever and throttle>
<kick it again and race!>

Basically, what you are doing is introducing fresh air into the combustion chamber. It will blow out the excess fuel and clear the chamber for a proper ignition mixture.

Of course the VTR doesnt have a compression release or a kicker. But you get the idea. It works on lawn mowers, chainsaws, dirtbikes, old cars....

Miguel