I've been trying for a few days, and today was the first day that she fired up and idled for a little while.

It's been above forty degrees Fahrenheit most days this week, and it's been giving me the motorcycle itch. There's still plenty of snow, sand, salt, and other winter-related debris on the ground, so riding right now might not be the best, but I still want to go.

Each day as I prepare to leave for work, I give the bike a couple of tries on the starter. It usually turns over pretty good for a bit, every once-in-a-while sputtering like the gas is firing. I added a quart of motorcycle oil on Tuesday, letting it spin a little better. I repeat the process, sometimes for a little longer, in the evening when I return from work. No go on the start and run yet.

Tonight, though, I gave it a second try, this time with my pal watching on, and on the third grind she started right up. A little choke, turn the ignition on, turn the switch to "run," and hit the starter. Crank. Crank. Rumble!

It shortly sputtered out, but it was exciting none the less. A few more tries with varying degrees of choke and precarious twists of the throttle, and she started running like normal.

Usually she requires full choke to start, and then after she settles in about 3000RPM a drop to half-choke with a few catches on the throttle will keep it going. Let it idle (or even ride for a while) until the choked carbs start running the idle up past 2000RPM, and I can take the choke off for the rest of my ride. On warmer days, or on second and later close-together rides, and the process is shorter than on colder days.

We stood around the rumbler until I was able to take the choke off. A quick check of everything else showed the tires were still inflated, the turn signals and brake light work, but the headlamp is off. The fuse looked OK, so it's probably related to whatever voltage problem keeps it from recharging the battery.

I still need to find a fair mechanic to take a look at that one, but at least I'll probably be able to ride the bike to the mechanic, instead of trying to trailer it around again.