TOPIC:

A warm welcome to the forum. Yet another UK member .
Plenty of help and advice on the site by all and take a look at the FAQ section, a must read.

Ta, looks like black is a favorite colour for us here...always been my choice

I have a first question that probably doesn't have a simple answer. My new 13 rides nicely but only ridden 1 mile on it, and its only covered 100 miles in the last 7yrs. It has a split in one of the airbox to carb rubbers and is running different colours on each plug...all weak mix, and the throttle cables feel a bit sticky ,the rest of the bike seems very good. Question is I would like to ride for the next 2 months without spending money and time stripping carbs so would cleaning additive, seal the split rubber and a colour tune/balance be likely to get me riding or would I be pissing in the wind! I know these things are objective but anyones experience is appreciated. July and August are very important where I live!

Charlie - when I bought my Zed13 she was simlar to yours, one owner for 20 years, low use of approx 50 miles a year etc etc.
When purchased she ran rough at start up and low revs - I used Profi Fuel Max (carb cleaner which Ive used on other bike restoration projects) treated her to some good old ethenol free fuel, popped in some iridium plugs and difference was amazing - two years later on, and with some minor fettling she is still running spot on

I would defo give the easy fix a try first - fingers crossed you will get a pleasant surprise.

Can't do it any harm putting a cleaner additive through it. Just don't overdo it. i.e. put in whatever is required for a full tank on gas and not "the whole bottle".

Color-tune is more about the idle/low speed circuit, and if you can tweak it to balance out the carbs it will help.

Definitely lube up the throttle cables. I hate the thought of a runaway 120 hp. bike, but it does have a push/pull cable system. I just like it when you release the throttle and it snaps back to idle.

There's a great article under the FAQ tab called Scotch's carbs which should give you a full run down on cleaning rebuilding your carbs. There's also a reference for buying O-rings under the FAQ tab (carb section) for the carb rebuilding specifying the o-ring dimensions and suggesting using Viton O-rings courtesy of myself. If you cut your own carb bowl gasket and buy the O-rings, you can do the carbs for $20.00 total.

Hope this info is useful.
Kawboy

Random pic but sold my old wing today so all attention and a bit of left over cash will be put into the 13...buzzin