So spring has finally come to Wisconsin. It's about 62 degrees. I wanna ride my motorocycle (an 82 suzuki gs300 w/ 9k miles). But in the fall, it got sick and decided not to start anymore. No problem, I said. It's getting cold out, I'll just fix this in the spring.

The carbs were the most likely culprit, but I pulled them and they're spotless. I cleaned them again all the same. Then I pulled the gas tank and checked the petcock (no snickering) valve, and it works like a champ. Next I replaced the plugs and checked for leaks in the gaskets that attach the carbs to the air intakes... nada.

So I call the ONE reputable place in town that does Suzi work, and they say the following: "Anything older than 10 years means a $300 deposit, and we're allowed to work on it at your expense even if we don't wind up fixing the problem." That means I *could* pay $300 for nothing, and still not have a rideable bike.

I'm a crafty little monkey, with a proud, strong, redneck heritage, and it galls me to have to pay someone to work on it even under normal circumstances (as in, we don't take your $ unless we actually fix it). But I know little or nothing about bikes. And remember that I only paid $300 for it in the first place.

DAMMIT!

How different can this be from a carbureted auto engine? I know nothing about bikes, but on my car, I'd check:

Fuel pump
Distributor/points
Starter
Ignition coil

Seems like stuff you should be able to do in the garage. Check MSN groups for any Suzuki or older bike groups, those folks are usually tons o' help.

It's sorta similar, in principle, but much smaller and everything looks different. Imagine that the japanese made a tiny version of 1/4 of a ford 289, and then squeezed it into a bike frame, making it hard to reach. No fuel pump, just the vacuum of each cylinder sucking gas in. Yeah. It's confusingly simple when you're used to car engines.

I'll check out the MSN chats. Thanks!