Im new to what a choke is like on a four stroke. On my 00 RM-250 two-stroke dirtbike i turn on the choke..start the bike... and it runs all by itself, and when the rpm's settle down i turn the choke off and the bike idle's perfectly. Now, i have two honda 2001's we just bought a couple weeks ago(400ex & recon) and this is what happens on both of them. I turn choke on...wont start without giveing it a little gas, if i let off the gas it dies. and that is what happenes on both of the quads ever since the day we bought them. but here's the weird part, they both start right up and idle fine with no choke at all. what use do i have for the choke? is it bad to not use the choke ever???? i live in southern california maybe the choke's will work normal when its really cold, maybe i'll get to use them then.
it wont be here though, the worst of winter temps is over here(40's) sommer like temps are comeing back, its 78 here now,50 at night. as long as im not hurting anything i think its kinda cool to have quads that never need the choke to start.

 

adamwn
Living here in NY every atv I`ve owned would start just fine without the choke above around 45 deg. Below that I would need to choke it to start only and after a minute or so it would idle with no problem. The only time it`s on choke for a long time is when it`s cold (to us anyway) out below 30 say. Obviously it needs to warm up a little before you can give it throttle under load. HTH

98 Scrambler 500
00 Trailblazer 250

 

Hey adamwn. My hubby and I bought both 400ex and Recons last summer. We didn't have to use the choke when it was warm out. I wouldn't worry about it, but I can guarantee you will have to use them if the temps get cold!
http://photos.yahoo.com/lilred300ex

00 400ex
01 300ex (sold the Recon, moving up in the world)