dacota

Hi all, I just wanted to say thank you for all the encouraging (and even the less encouraging) support. Paul W's note gave me the optimism to pull it all apart again. I was expecting that I'd done something daft like put the piston in wrong, but no - it was fine. In the end I don't know what the problem was, but its working fine now and sounds great. I'd say the compression is more than I had before and maybe that was what I was worried about, maybe it was hydraulic locked, maybe it was all just over-cautiousness on my part, I'll never know. I'm not a complete novice when it comes to car mechanics and have good quality tools, but I'm not overly well versed on motorbikes and especially 2-strokes, so this was all new to me and I've learnt a great deal from the experience. I accept that diagnosis over the internet is impossible (I should know - I'm in IT), I really just wanted some ideas before going to the stealers as I'd already spent a great deal on parts. Thank you all once again and all the best for your season's riding.

Hi, Please help. I've not done any work like this before, but I've just completed a top end engine rebuild (small end, gudgeon, circlips, piston & rings) and now the bike won't kick - what have I done? I followed the steps in the manual, the bike kicks over fine without the spark plug in, but once the spark plug is in the kick starter is solid and the bike is impossible to kick over. The bike is a Cota 315r.