South West Bikers | Motorcycle Forum

Hi 30 year old son up in Worcester has just bought his first bike after passing his test on a course in a week how mad is that). He's got a 1998 GSXR600 and he the choke is on a return spring so he has to sit there and hold the choke on until it warms up before he can ride off, at 6am this is really going to piss the neighbours off!!

Does anyone know if this is standard on the GSXR?

Not quite the answer you were hoping for but what about a quieter exhaust or an exhaust bung?

But the sound is important for his street cred!!

My old 1997 gsxr750 had that too, absolute PITA when it's -5C and you have to hold the clutch lever in and the choke down with one hand

does the handlebar mounted choke lever not hold itself? I'v always had the opposite problem with Suzuki chokes, sticking open and not closing. It might be the wrong size spring on the choke assembly at the carbs?

TBH though you should only need the choke on for a minute or so while you fire the bike and let it settle to idle, so holding it open for that short duration shouldn't be a big drama. I do find in the winter it helps to increase the idle revs to aid cold early morning starts, but in Spring an Summer I barely need the choke, so drop the idle revs to suit.

Presumably the choke is bar mounted - try moving the clutch lever clamp and switch gear close together 'jamming' the choke just enough so it stays where it's put.

Used to work on the older ones, not sure if it's the same with newer models.

IIRC there is a spring in where the choke cable goes into the bottom of the switch gear, a little white piece of plastic goes over the top of it and the screw holding the cable gets screwed into that.

Can't find any pics of it in the manual though