Too rich choke

My '83 1100 Spectre is difficult to get going when it's cold. It starts perfectly with the choke, but partly because I have richened up the idle mixture to where it is really nice when warm, the addition of choke fuel for too long will knock out a cylinder, and then it goes to 3 cylinders, and then I have to pull that plug and clean it, it will never clear itself up without.
So, is there a way to reduce the fuel to the choke system? I have a couple of bikes with the TM flat slide carbs on them, and those carbs have a removable cold enrichment jet, and that is a perfect way to stop cold flooding like my 1100 has. I know some of you will say, oh, just use half choke, but then the thing will hardly run, and I find the only way around it is to get on it and load the engine right away, to get the throttle opening up so there is less vacuum for less choke fuel. Other side of this, I find these bikes have poor ignition, probably because of the dual lead wasted spark coils, so was going to try some resister plugs, I have non resister right now.

Sounds normal to me, needs choke to start cold then turn off choke. Don't keep the choke on for long. I'll start mine with choke when cold then about 30 seconds later turn it off. And no there is no way to lean out the choke except modulating the choke lever. The OEM IC ignitor ignition system is excellent and durable very rarely causes issues. The coils on the otherhand can breakdown as they age. The wasted spark is not the problem. If the bike runs great once warm I doubt it's the ignition. You could check the voltage at the coils should be 11 volts or higher. Are the plugs new or old, I'd start with a fresh set of non resistor plugs and see if that help.

Bet the plugs are ngk. Denso,s wouldn't do that.
Regarding starting, start with full choke then reduce the amount as the engine warms. I start on full choke bike will rev to 3k rpm, reduce the choke so its ticking over at about 1500rpm, ride off, 30 secs later turn the choke off entirely.

Thanks for the replies. I do all I can to go between just enough choke to keep it running and no more. If I give it enough choke to keep it running, it will then flood and knock out a cylinder. It has had new coils, plug leads and plugs less than 1000 miles ago. I'm tending to think the ignition is more the culprit. When I bought the bike it was only running on one cylinder, it had cheap aftermarket coils that I replaced. On to the part about resister plugs, I know basic understanding is that the less resistance in the high voltage system the hotter the spark, but i'm starting to have doubts that you need NONE, as in zero resistance. My XV750 would have similar problems, and I swapped the nearly new plugs with the exact same plug but in resister types, and the problem almost went away. I've always used NGK, but could try the Densos, what plug would you recommend for a late 1100?

Resistor caps and copper core wires work great on my engine with NON-resistor plugs. Not sure if the Dynatek 2000 ignition is more sensitive than the stock ignition system to varying combinations.

The caps already have the risister in them. Have you checked the voltage to the coil wire. As these bikes get older resistence builds up in all the wiring, switches and connectors. I've had voltage readings of 6 volts from the coil wire, there has to be at least 11 volts. That will lead to very poor performance from the coils. Search this site for coil relay mod.

baldy110 wrote: The caps already have the risister in them. Have you checked the voltage to the coil wire. As these bikes get older resistence builds up in all the wiring, switches and connectors. I've had voltage readings of 6 volts from the coil wire, there has to be at least 11 volts. That will lead to very poor performance from the coils. Search this site for coil relay mod.

Thanks, sounds like something I need to check for.