Britbike forum Forums British Motorcycle specific Brands Bsa bulletin board Low miles 1966 A65 hard starter

So I have (as stated) a 66 A65T. The bike fires up immediately whenever I Begin my riding day- but almost every time I shut the bike off it is REALLY hard to start again.

It has barely been ridden it’s whole life, with 5500 some
Miles showing I figure roughly average of 100 miles per annum. That said, I know it sat in a basement for 40 years and after that was ridden only maybe 300 miles from2012 til I bought it a year ago.

It runs like a dream. No smoke, no noises, nothing weird or funny at all.
So help me out please. I feel
Like there must be more than one reason it’s doing this…
Run the possibilities down for me will you please, guys?

Thanks, Tom

If it does it when hot? Tickle the carb till fuel comes out as the fuel may have boiled away due to heat in the carby.

Do you have a micarta insulator between the carburetor and head?

My A65's the same but usually when the bike has been parked up for a while and neither hot nor cold, and it has 9mm Tufnol carb spacers. Those laser guns are handy for checking the float bowl temp.

Tom,

When you know you are going to stop, turn off the fuel and let it run down the fuel in the carb. That allows for expansion after you shut off and prevents flooding.

If it has the original points/condensers, heat gets to the condensers that are mounted on the points plate. Short of upgrading to EI or converting to a later points plate, not much you can do, though a different set of condensers may help.

Thanks guys.

Forgot to add the bike has a Boyer ignition.

Coming off the head there’s what must be an aluminum manifold?
Then the carb with only a gasket. No spacer.

I’ll try tickling it upon restart. The float sometimes sticks so I usually shot off the gas flow when stopped.

Hey Tom...yeah, "heat soaking". The Tufnol gasket will help but I have them and they will still heat soak. Then technique helps the most. Seems worst when shut off about 5 minutes. Try quarter throttle. When longer than 10 minutes or so tickling seems to help.

This might suggest that the carb and/or fuel filters are a bit gummed up from storage, I would take the carb off and give it a good clean, especially the pilot jet which needs a #78 drill or guitar wire to clean out properly. You might need to take the petrol taps off and check the gauze filters are clear.

Then I would also check the battery voltage as Boyers don't work too well at less than around 12v, maybe running the engine is causing a current drain.

The missing Tufnol washer in the inlet manifold won't be helping matters, so I would get that changes asap.

As the bike has been standing, I would also change the plugs and check the HT lines are OK, also check the coils have the correct primary and secondary resistances.

Everyone has chimed in on the usual suspects, but here is one other. Next time it does this feel the coil. If it is hot, you may have a bad coil.

Ed from NJ

Thanks, everyone. Appreciate the replies.

Hey Ricochet, as mentioned by Gunner, check for a voltage drain somewhere in the system. Next time you go out for a ride and get back home, check the battery voltage with your meter after you shut the ignition off. You should be seeing at least 12.6 volts. If you are seeing less than that, either the charging system is weak, or you have a demand on the battery that is drawing it down. Halogen headlamp bulbs can be hard on a weak charging system and battery. Check the brake light switch to make sure it is not out of adjustment and sticking 'on'. When the Boyer ignition module senses low voltage it defaults to full advance, which is why it is hard to start on a low battery. Best of luck.
-Dave

With everything right, the A65 is a very easy staring motorbike. Never had to worry if it would start for me.

Mr Mike