I picked up a used XT225 a week or so ago and have only had a couple of day to play on it. I was told when I bought it that there were some cold starting issues and they believed it to be battery related. I've replaced the battery with an OEM battery, maybe I should have snagged with a few more cranking amps.

With the new battery the bike is still hard to cold start. I'm even having trouble starting it after it's warm. I drove it to my brothers house about 20 miles or so away. When I got there and had to run to the store to snag some brake fluid for my jeep I was working on it was hard to start. Actually the battery drained down and I had to push start it. Also the day before I was riding around near the house and had similar issues but it seems that it got worse after the 2nd day. Are the batteries in these things that weak or should I dig into the carburetor. I plan on doing the headlight mod where I can kill it before starting to save power for the starter.

I've been looking up hard start threads on here but haven't found one with this issue yet. I give up on doing any further forensic searching in here to find a similar post. If you are aware of one with the same issue i'll be happy with a link. Thanks in advance.

Did you charge the new battery before fitting it?

Is it a Yuasa?

Yes and yes. I plan on pulling it out tonight when i get home from work and throwing it on a charger again.

I'd suggest servicing the air filter and a new spark plug and of course fresh premium gas to rule those things out before looking at the carb. If it's sat a while the carb likely has varnish buildup and will need to be cleaned.

It did sit for 6 months. I know the previous owner idled the carb dry before parking.

Check out all the simple stuff first as Beaker suggested. Could be a mouse built a nest in there somewhere over that 6 months.

It just sucks. Im stuck at work with a new toy at home and i cant play with it.

If a new battery is draining while your riding it, you may have a charging issue.

By "hard to start" do you mean it cranks quickly, but cranks for more than a few seconds? Or does it crank slowly to begin with?

These bikes are known to be somewhat difficult to start, particularly when they've sat for a couple days (or more). The first thing to do is the "3 turn mod"...

1. Remove the brass plug that covers the mixture screw. You don't have to remove the carb to do this, the carb can typically be rotated in place enough to access the plug.
2. Remove the screw and clean the passage with carb cleaner
3. Put it back in until it GENTLY bottoms.
4. Rotate it 3 complete revolutions out.
5. Done.

I'd also suggest you check the battery voltage before you start, while cranking, while idling, and while running at "normal" rpm.

You should see 12-13V before starting. 10-12V while starting. 12-13 while idling, and 13-14V at rpm.

My son's 2006 used to be a real beast to start - when we first got it a couple years ago, we killed the battery at least twice trying and failing. On these forums, I found the magic answer for him. In addition to the brass plug fix that Peejman mentions, Trevor ALWAYS follows this procedure every ride. At the end of every ride, turn off the gas petcock (lefthand by your knee) and let the engine die off from starvation. At the beginning of every ride, open the gas petcock, slosh bike right and left, open the choke ALL THE WAY, and it now consistently fires right up on the first engine turn.

I also consistently use Seafoam and Stabil additives to keep the gas fresh and carbs clean. Got these precious tips from this forum and I'm certain I owe more than one beer to the kind souls who posted them and saved Trevor and I MUCH grief over starting his little trusty goat.

Give it a try!

We do have a nice group here. Tons of experience with all aspects of bikes from wrenching to riding. Thanks for the recognition.

Closing the petcock helps a lot as well. No real need to let the bowl run dry, just riding the last 1/2 mile home with it closed will give it enough of a splash of fresh gas when opened back up that it'll fire up pretty quickly.

Could be a weak spark caused by faulty stator. My bike would run fine if push started but wouldn't start using the starter. Try starting fluid to see if it is a lean problem. If it starts right up your problem is fuel related. If it doesn't start on starter fluid check the spark. If it looks weak, like hard to see, try a new plug and check the gap. If still weak I bet it is the stator.