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[hagis]

Have you ever poured petrol into a puddle of water and thrown a lighted match into it?, it ignites yes but its the petrol fumes coming off the surface that burn not the liquid petrol, the same rule applies every where.

[TR6P]

Thanks for all of the replies lads, She is running fine today, It was really cold here yesterday so I don't know if that was a contributory factor, Anyway holding the clutch lever in whilst starting did the trick.

[papasmurf]

TR6P it won't start on the electric start unless the clutch is pulled in. My Oilfield won't start on the electric start unless the clutch is pulled in and the side stand is up.

[Rattlebattle]

On the UCE EFI the clutch lever only needs to be pulled in if the bike is in gear; it will start in neutral. That said, I always pull the clutch lever or press the pedal (cars) because it relieves the starter motor of the additional load of turning gear shafts in cold, viscous oil. Maybe it was in gear? Maybe the kill switch was off? Maybe moisture has got into the sidestand switch ( unless a PO has removed it, as I did mine)? It could have been a poor connector on one of the sensors e.g. throttle position sensor. Be aware that what might be a suitable diagnosis for a carb engine could be completely wrong for an EFI one. For example some inlet air leaks cause a rich mixture on an EFI not a weak one. Anyway, glad you got it sorted. Prefer a magneto myself; less mysterious....

[Gaz262]

Papasmurf & Rb; My Electra X EFI will only start with the clutch pulled in but I disconnected the side-stand switch as I like to leave it ticking over while I put on ma helmet & gloves. Once you get into the habit of doing it, it becomes natural.

Oddly my my Kawa W650 will only start with clutch pulled in but doesn't mind the side-stand - until you snick it into gear. The it stops - Guess how I found that out!

[Rattlebattle]

Yes, they're all different. My current and previous Triumph will only start with the clutch pulled in. I would have thought that the EU would have standardised this by now, not that I'm in favour of their meddling, not least because they'd be bound to settle on the worst option...I always lift the clutch anyway.

[Revband]

If it requires the clutch to be pulled in to start then the starter motor won't operate until you do and how do they start on the kick start with the clutch disengaged?.

[ric]

You're not pulling the clutch lever in to disengage the clutch per se, but to operate the clutch lever switch.

[Revband]

Yes Ric I understand that, I think you missed my point?, The OP says the starter was spinning the engine and it was firing and trying to start this indicates on this bike it will start without pulling the clutch, therefore that was not the problem.

[Rattlebattle]

Having reread the original posts he mentions his RE not having a choke, being EFI. Whilst technically this is true, it does have a cold start device, the so-called bi-starter. Given the recent low temperatures could it simply have been that the "choke" needed to be closed? Certainly in the dark days when I still had EFI on mine it needed the "choke" on to start reliably. Having then left it for a while and lifted the clutch, reducing the load, my guess is that there was then enough fuel in for it to catch. Not firing but cranking and sparking clearly suggests a lack of combustible fuel.