When to use the choke

[Dave Dark]

Hi Forum!

I've had my 2010 since April and gone about 3500km. I had hoped to have driven more by this time but there is still plenty of season left if the weather keeps being this good.

I have a question about the choke. As you know it is a new bike and I wasn't expecting to have any problems with it. When I start a day of riding I'll turn the choke on all the way and then start it and it warms up fine. I got used to using the choke all the time, even when I was restarting it after I had only parked it for about 20 minutes. Eventually, if I started the bike with the choke on and I had been riding it an hour before it wouldn't start so I began starting it as the manual said - no choke but an 1/8 of throttle. That worked fine for awhile but I went to a meeting around 7 in the evening and came out around 9 and tried to start the engine without any choke and it didn't turn over. It was strange because earlier in the day I left it for about 3 and 1/2 hours and it started with just a little throttle. I ended up putting on some choke and it worked fine. The temperature has also been fluctuating widely. Some days this month were scorching 35 Celsius plus and some days were downright cool 13 Celsius. That particular evening it was quite cool. Could weather be affecting the bike in this way?

All your expert advice would be appreciated. Is this a common issue with all bikes? Is there something I should be checking out or maintaining an eye on? Am I just being a tad too anal about my bike?

All comments will be appreciated!