Ducati Monster Forum

Hi,

My choke lever has been hard to push down for the last year or so and this mornig I went outside to start the bike and I pull the choke lever down to open it and all of a sudden it felt like the cable came free and now the lever moves up and down smoothly and does not engage the choke.  The bike will not start without it because of the cold mornings up here.  So what happened and what can I do to fix it?  Thanks in advance for any input.  Bike is a 2001 m600.

i know this is probably not what you want to hear, but ive been running without a choke cable for 3 years, and my bike will start even on our coldest days (low 40s) if i take and pull the choke on with my hand on the side of the motor.  just find where the cable hooks up, and pull up on that before you start the bike.  it holds itself there pretty well, but it will go back to normal as soon as you give it gas.  it will take some getting used to to remember that, but ive had no problems and i dont feel its necessary.

sounds like the cable may have broken.

That'd be my feeling too, really not a hard fix, your choke mechanism probably needs to be lubed up though, if it was that hard to open.

Justin

The 'choke' mechanism on carbed Monsters is actually two plungers, one in each carb.

Theyy richen the mixture rather than choking off air.

I've seen them get stuck on all kinds of bikes. They can stick open or closed.

Another possibility for the OP is a broken lever assembly at the handlebar.

thats what i was thinking from the description.

to the OP: have you opened up the control box yet?

Thanks for the quick replies guys.  I have not been able to touch anything yet with work and school. I'll be able to look at and open things up tomorrow morning and let you know what I find.  If the cable is broken can it be replaced by any cable of the same length or do I have to get a specific cable from ducati?

It splits in two to go to each carb.

Might be difficult to find a non duc replacement.

Well I had time to tear into it today and fixed the problem. I tore apart the lever assembly on the handlebar and opened it up to see that the little ball on the end of the cable had simply slipped out of place somehow. I popped it back in and put everything back together and all works fine now.  It is still really hard to push the lever down but I'm just going to make sure to be more careful with it from now on.  Thanks for the help  and replies everyone.

Now that you know how it works it might be a good idea to lube that cable.