My FZ 600, is old, abussed and done 31k, it was running ok till this past week, now it is reluctant to start and sometimes won't start at all (usually when its needed the most). The charging system was tested and giving right amount of volts. It has also cut out at low speed after trip down the motorway. My friend (not an expert) reckons my carbs may have iced up, it was cold, i have no idea. It appears that i only use my bike in the dark, so i use my lights all the time. Today the bike wouldn't start after i stopped for petrol, i had my lights on, so i turned them off and left it for 30 mins went back and hey presto it started. I don't know whether to go get a new battery or see if it's something else.

Suggestions welcome.

Battery and carb icing by the sound of it.

If you get more than three years out of a batt these days, with electric start, alarms, lights on all the time etc then you've done well.

Carb icing will hit on cold damp mornings. It's less likely on dry freezing ones as there's less moisture in the atmos. It usually appears when you shut off after a stretch of constant throttle riding. There are fuel additives to combat it but I've no personal experience of them so can't recommend anything, sorry.


(Apart from leaving the bike in the shed obviously )

Definitely sounds like carb icing to me too. Exeprienced this on my Gpz305 and was given Silkolene Pro FST to add to the petrol after they fitted carb heaters and that didn't work. The stuff was magic never suffered again except when I had to fill up without being able to add half a bottle per tank.