bogging down

[Artie57]

Hi All I have a problem with my 2000 Honda Shadow Spirit 1100. I have 10,000 miles on it and keep it garaged all the time. I start it the normal way with full choke then after a few min release the choke and it seems to idle fine allbeit a little slow to me. As I begin to throttle up in first gear it starts to bogg down and die unless I leave the choke open. There is some backfiring especially as I let off the throttle and when I come to a stop if the throttle is not still at least half way open it will die and need to be restarted with an open choke even after it is warmed up. I have used stabilizer correctly and have it serviced at the dealer each year. They did clean the carbs last year as well as an oil change and reported no problems that they could see. Is there something I can do on my own rather than spending another couple hundred for carb cleaning again this year? Thanks for any help.

[Dodsfall]

When you say "choke open" does that mean applying the choke or turning the choke "Off- no choke"?

When you apply the choke (Choke on), you are cutting off the air supply to the carb, therefore actually closing the choke.

If you have to apply the choke to keep the bike running, it usually means the bike is running too lean and getting too much air to run correctly. Do a read of the plugs and look for signs of overheating/lean condition. It's also possible that air is being leaked in to the combustion chamber, bypassing the carbs through the engine intake or vacuum lines (if your bike has these).

Does this bike have a non-stock intake or pipes by chance?

[Artie57]

Hi Dosfall
When I say open I mean the choke is on. My bike has stock exhaust. The only non stock things are cosmetic nothing to do with the engine. I will take a look at the plugs and see if that seems to be it. Is it an easy thing to adjust the mixture so that it is not as lean if that turns out to be the problem?
Thanks,
Artie

[Dodsfall]

I'd do the leak check before cleaning if there is a lean condition.

Did this start acting up all of a sudden or start to get worse over time? Have there been any changes to the bike recently?

You could try running some Seafoam through a few tanks of fuel before having the carbs torn apart and see if that helps. It won't replace a proper cleaning if that is needed, but may clean out some minor gunk.

[Artie57]

I have seen that seafoam mentioned before and I will give it a try this coming weekend thanks for the advice Dodsfall I will let you know how I make out.