Somethings not right.
 

I recently bought a 98 Superhawk. Its kinda hard to start. It has been cold when trying to start though. I will use the choke to start and then after about 20 seconds or so I close the choke and the bike dies. I have to leave it on choke longer to get it to warm up. I took it for a test ride this past Saturday and the bike seemed to not have enough power. Seemed to not be pulling very well in first and second and then in third it starts to stutter really badly with almost no power at all. Ive tried the search engine but I really dont know what to search for. Any help with pointing me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. Its a 98 Superhawk with 8400 miles.

Older bike, low miles...carb passages partly blocked?

Oh, and Welcome to the forum. These guys should be able to help.

What color is it? Cause that may be your problem...if it's not the fastest color black, then you will have problems from now on...lol

Oh, and welcome, the sarcasm starts here!

On cold days I need the choke longer than 20 seconds.... sometimes up to the first few mintues of riding (when it's 40-50 degrees). If the bike runs fine once it's fully warmed up, I wouldn't sweat it too much.... carb'd bikes/cars usually run wierd untill they are up to temp. If it runs bad after it's fully warm, that's a different story.

J.

Most likely gummed up pilot jets and or main jet passage holes.

Will it idle, if not pilots are probably the main issue and carbs will need to be cleaned.

Welcome aboard! Maybe I missed it but does the bike EVER run properly? I mean if you give it say 10 minutes of easy riding does it warm up to the point where it seems to run right? Good throttle response, etc? From my experience with lot's of older carbureted stuff that's pretty normal. If not then yeah maybe it sat for awhile and needs the carbs cleaned up.

First question from me is: Have you or the shop done anything to the bike at all recently? This is usually where things start with the VTR...or most any Honda for that matter. They're usually pretty reliable until you put something together wrong.

Nope I just got the bike a few weeks ago.

Well, considering that it's a '98 with only 8400 miles, I'm apt to say that it's probably gummed up carbs...or even possibly bad gas. Easiest would be to empty the old gas and put some fresh in with carb cleaner (I like Seafoam). If that doesn't work then you're pretty much stuck on removing and cleaning the carbs. Let us know if you plan on doing this yourself. I think I wrote up something about this a few months back.

I just bought a '98 hawk and found the stock air filter was black, the plugs were fouled and the inside of the carb and the surface of the carb sliders were carbon black. Believe it or not, I found out from a mechanic adding 2-3 ounces of acetone to a tank of gas a few tankfuls cleans the carbs/fuel system better than any fuel system cleaner. ( I would recommend this only occasionally as I'm told long term use can degrade some fuel system rubber.) I was broke from buying the bike & paying insurance so I couldn't buy a new air filter just then so I soaked my stock paper air cleaner in a five gallon bucket of water with a cleaner caller Krud Kutter, soaked it for 20 minutes and gently hosed it, drying it overnight. The air filter looked almost new. (I learned this trick from a classic motorcycle site where a guy had obsolete paper air filter elements they don't make anymore that needed cleaning.)

I also changed the plugs. The bike runs great, just had to turn up the idle a little bit. Have you checked any of the carb vacuum lines (tons on the hawk) to see if they are loose or kinked? Maybe the fuel filter?

Yeah Id like to try and do it myself. I didnt your write-up using the search. Is it really that hard to do?

I just took my carbs off for the first time, i cleaned them and jetted it. It was not to bad to do, just take your time and mark hosed so you know where to put them back. I did the jet kit so i ended up taking em out like 4 times to get it to run right. If you got aftermarket pipes you might want to look into a jet kit, (if you dont already have one) WHAT A DIFFERENCE IT MAKES.

I Love seafoam so many uses and thats no joke in oil, gas, cleans but you will need to run it let it sit and then run it again works like machanic in a can.