Cold weather startup

Hey guys i ride to college as i have a bike pass and when the weather gets gold and stays dry i ride but with my 83 in the mornings the battery sounds almost dead but its a brand new battery and when i jump it with the car it fires right up after a few tries. My question is how do you guys usually start your bikes in 30-40 degree temps? I use full choke i think its just the battery i had it on a trickle charger inside my apartment and woud bring it out but that got tedious after awhile i thought. Any ideas, suggestions? Ps i live in apartment complex and keep carbs covered with a couple towels and use a big bike cover overnight

 

The colder it is, the more choke you need. Gasoline has to be vaporized to burn, and the Vapor Pressure of a liquid is linearly related to the temperature (vapor pressure basically describes how readily the liquid turns to gas).

So as the temperature drops, it takes more fuel (mass) to produce the same mixture of fuel to air (vapor). That's why you have to choke wide open until everything warms up. You will be basically throwing all of the un-vaporized gas out the exhaust.

The battery not turning over the engine really suggests that the cold temperature impedance is high or the self discharge is high (or you have some small load on it that is draining it overnight) or isn't getting fully charged on your ride (either due to charging system issues or too short of a ride to recharge after starting).

If trickle charging overnight works no problem, I'd be looking into why your battery isn't performing like it should.

 

How brand new is it? Check the battery water? Get the levels even and full - that's been something that affected my cold starts.

Also fuses. When I upgraded my fuse block to blades, my newish battery went from 'getting the bike going' in the cold to getting the bike to a f'ing amazing wind up in any temp.

 

I thought jumpimg a bike with a car battery was a bad idea?

 

In addition to the other suggestions I would remove each earth strap from the frame and from the engine and clean all contacting surfaces with abrasive paper. Smear with a little silicon grease on re-fitting.

 

Jumping from a car battery is fine. 12V is 12V, doesn't matter the size of the container.

However, jumping from a running car is a bad idea, and the car's alternator can put out much higher current, and possibly a higher voltage than the bike battery can handle.

 

Okay thats what i thought.