About Christopher Expertise I can answer all general maintenance questions, also any general problem questions regarding most emergency problems as well as some uncommon problems regarding most motorcycles but with specific knowledge and experience with older Honda and Yamaha motorcycles. I am also very experienced in field analysis of problems and solutions to get the bike going till you reach a safe spot or home.
Experience For starters, please don't call me Christopher. Chris or "Falcon" will do nicely. That said, I have been riding since 1981 and am licensed in the U.S. and in the UK for motorcycles as well as 3 other classes of vehicles. Since I began riding, I have owned 10 motorcycles of various makes and models, all but 3 of which have been older, second hand machines of questionable servicability. also, I ride 7 days a week, not 2. Rain or shine. but please do not ask me about specific parts and specifications regarding your bike. My expertise is in maintainence and field repair, not parts ordering. I will not be able to answer parts pricing and matching for specific machines. On a final note, I have recently discovered that a Honda V65 Magna will ford water up to nearly 2ft in depth. But you must keep the revs up and the speed down.
Question I just bought a Honda CM200 2cylinder twin star. We had to crank it a lot to get it started when I bought it. I charged the battery and cannot get it to hit a lick. I have no spark, and everything seems to be ok in the electrical and carb system. I live an hour away from a Honda Dealership, so it will be some time before I get the bike to them. It is low on oil. Will being low on oil cause it to not start,(Safety Soleniod on somekind)? I don't know if they had that Technology on those bikes back then.?
Answer Hi Dave.
Are you sure that it is spark and not compression? Have you looked and seen that no spark is hapening? Have you had the carbs properly cleaned as well? It should be done if it hasn't.
The Twinstar is a very old machine and so it doesn't have all of the more advanced systems that modern bikes do. It does have the first generation electronic ignition, so that could be in question, but more likely the ignition coils are bad.
Get the repair manual for the bike, if you haven't already done so, and do the specified tests on the coils. Also do a proper check of the ignition system for shorts as well as other, possibly bad, components. Also make sure that the stop switch has good contact as well.
Also do a compression check on the cylinders. You could have compression loss from any number of possibilities.
