walking the bike- no throttle

[chamil]

Hello- I'm a new owner of a 1974 cb750 four (my first road bike). I've ridden dirt bikes for several years and I recently took the MSF course. Upon picking up the bike, I found it difficult to take off from a stopped position without giving it at least 2500 rpms-- and even then the bike takes off so quick it's nearly impossible to slowly walk the bike. Without the use of the throttle, the bike does not move and the engine dies no matter how slowly I let the clutch out. In the MSF course we used little 250 nighthawks, and they were able to do this very easily.

I am wondering if this is common among cb750's / motorcycles in general? Or do I just suck at using a clutch?

[cdaiscool]

Either something's up with the clutch, or you just need more practice.

The clutch is a wet clutch, so it can be ridden while held in - just like the 250 you rode in the MSF.

Get to a dead parking lot and spend 30 minutes mastering the skill on the bike!

[Beekeeper]

If you want idle away torque, get a single or twin.  These beasts aren't happy lugging, and will buck a little if you try to roll the throttle on from low rpms.  You'll learn to finess it after a while, but the old girls want to run.  When you get comfortable, and have some room, drop a gear, maybe two, and roll on the throttle.  These are old bikes, but only take a second to get on step and put a big smile on your face.

[shinyribs]

The clutches on these bikes are pretty much an on-off switch. They dont have nearly the same amount of friction zone as other bikes.Some,but very little.  So yes, taking off is pretty much a ready,set-go! type of affair.

And Beekeeper is right. Not a bunch of torque here. Just give her some gas and let her rip. It's what they like!

What I do on mine is I give her a little rev right when I take off. Just a quick blip off the throttle. As the rpms just start to drop I let off the clutch and she takes right off. I'm not really holding the throttle in one particular position and easing off the clutch at the same time. Like I said,give her some gas and let her rip.

Cdaiscool,gave the best advice,though. Find an empty parking lot and just practice. Starting,stopping and slow speed turns are the most important things ever. Master those and you're golden.


BTW,welcome to the forum. That's a beautiful bike you have there!

[Hoosier Daddy]

Does the bike roll easily? just want to determine you don't have a brake binding and hanging up.

[chamil]

Thanks for the input everyone- I've finally gotten the hang of it!

I just wasn't giving it enough power... bringing it up to about 3500 does the trick. Just took some getting used to I suppose.

Ride on!

[seestheday]

For what it's worth, I can make my dohc cb750 start and walk around at 1,500 rpm, but I've done a lot of work to it to make sure it's running really well.  My carbs are also sync'd really well.  I've found that without them sync'd well it would stall at low idle and not lug well.  Right now it I can get it to idle at 900.

Of course the bike loves to rev.  

[seestheday]

Oh, but I always need to give it just a little throttle, even just to keep it at 1,500 rpm when starting.

[MarkPBG]

I agree. I finally got mine tuned superbly, and I barely need to give it any throttle while letting up on the clutch for it to smoothly "walk" without bogging or stumbling. It just idles smoothly down the street. (I had to learn how much to let up on the clutch...the trick was to slip the clutch but not fully release it) I know that will shorten the life of the clutch, but I plan on a regular maintenance schedule with replacement at the recommended intervals. I'm not going to try and get my original clutch to last 200,000 miles. lol