How to start a scooter in the cold without a kickstart?

I have a 4 stroke without a kickstart, the other day after work it took nearly 20 minutes to get it started.

How do I start it when it has been sitting outside all day in the cold?

 

If it isn't suitable for a bump start (twist and go) and you don't have suitable jump leads - take the battery off and keep it in the warm overnight. Works a treat.

 

But what about when it's been outside for 12 hours while I'm at work?

 

Take it off and take it into work with you? Or buy a new battery that holds a charge better?

Trouble is that most smaller bikes have small batteries. They hate this time of year, lots of demands from lights on the bike etc and they don't like the cold. It's a common problem but the solution really is to keep the battery warm and it will work fine.

 

Just to explain it a bit more fully, any battery builds up sulphates over time and becomes less efficient. What you often see is a battery will work just fine all summer, then start to play up in the cold weather.

You can buy a new battery, it may solve the problem for a year or two.

Or you can trick the old battery that it is still summer.

When I worked in the trade in unheated railways arches, I use to pop out my battery in the morning and stick it on an Optimate until home time. Always started first time. When I got home, popped it out again and took it indoors.

If it is a purely winter thing it rules out a charging problem, so go for a new battery or keep the old one in the warm with you.

 

For the price of a battery it's buying new for the winter. Chinese scooters need to be found out how to start them, some need no throttle, some like a little roll on the throttle while turning over, some might need a couple of squirts of the throttle to help them. It's like working out how women work but 10000000000000000000000000 times easier !

 

@accyuklad that's called autochoke. its fine. don't muck about with it.

 

Could try covering the bike at night might keep the temperature a few degrees higher and a few extra volts in the battery.