Suzuki 2 Strokes

I have a 1969 T 250 still in good working condition. When cold having trouble starting her with choke on. Eventually she will start after too many kicks. I have tried starting fluid but will start but then stats to fade. When I get her started and warm there is no problem. Performance is still good and compression ok. Should I take the carbs off and give a good clean. Any advise. Many thanks. Peter

It should cold start & run on choke without any throttle.
If the bike hasn’t been run in a some time, use prime to fill the float bowls. It takes a lot of kicks to activate the vacuum petcock to fill the float bowl.

The jet for the choke is in the bottom of the float bowl, so it doesn’t take much to plug it up. After cleaning make sure you can see light through the choke jet when using a flashlight.

The T250 has a choke on the left carb that feeds both carbs. Only the left float bowl has a choke jet. If you switch float bowls, then the choke will not work.

If you just got the bike, then the prior owner might have inadvertently switched the float bowls.
If you had the bike for a while & it used to cold start fine, the float bowls were not switched.

+1 to what Jab said. On a Suzi 2-stroke with a vacuum petcock, the cold-start procedure if the bike has not run for a couple days is:

- turn petcock to 'prime', choke on, leave ignition OFF
- with ignition OFF, kick twice and LEAVE THE THROTTLE SHUT
- switch ignition ON, kick, DO NOT open the throttle, the bike will start
- turn petcock from prime to on, ride away

Many thanks will try it. Peter.