Hey guys, im new to the site and i have to say that it's great!!!  I have an 86 Savage and it has been setting most of the winter,  I started it a couple of times but that was about it.  I tried to start it up the other day because warm weather is starting up around here and couldnt wait to get out and ride a little.  The bike started after a few tries and idled just for a few seconds then died.  I am getting spark at the plug, fuel is coming out of the petcock as it should, i checked the air filter and even tried cranking it with the filter out.....nothing.  After a few minutes of trying to crank it,  it let out a nice little backfire, but the thing wont start up.  Could you please help me out.  Thanks.

Drained the old gas, and filled it up with fresh.  I havent messed with the carb because I dont know a lot about bike mechanics.  If you could give me a few tips it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for the help.  I had talked to a couple of my buddies and they had said the same thing, carb problems, but i thought id look around and see what i could find.  Thanks again for the help.

Add some Sea Foam carb cleaner (available at auto parts) to the gas at the proper ratio. Rap on the float bowl (the bottom of the carb) with the handle of a screwdriver a few times. This will free up sticking floats. Drain the float bowl a few times to flush out the old varnished gas. There's an easily accessable drain screw on the bottom of the carb. You'll have to put the petc0ck in "Prime" to refill the float bowl. Fuel won't flow unless the engine is running in the other two positions.

This may get you going again.

Good luck  

I just pulled the carb and it seems to be pretty clean actually.  I ran a piece of wire through the jets and they seem to be clear.  I am going to try some sea foam tomorrow, im keeping my fingers crossed here.  Thanks for the help everybody.

Well I took the carb apart and cleaned everything with carb cleaner.  Everything ran through the carb, clean, and all of the holes and jets also ran through clean.  Still not starting though.  I put the petcock on prime to re-fill the fuel bowl and everything and im still getting the same thing.  Im getting a little worried here.  Someone help me!!!

Take a volt meter and measure your battery - if it's under 12.3V my '02 will not start - it takes more than that to fire the ign proper.

In looking over my notes I wish I could get more precise on this required voltage business but I just don't the type of adjustable power supply needed to nail it down - so all i have is this - it will spark some and crank some at 12.3V but it will not run - at 12.8v and above it fires up quickly. Of course this .5v spread reps a lot of difference in the condition of the battery.

So after 24hours of no charger to the battery to allow the float to burn off - measure it - if it's on the lower side I'd replace the thing.

Dynobob, at 6 months you may be giving more credit to modern gasoline's quality than it's due - couldn't agree more it will turn fairly quick, drained some out of a boat tank the other day that looked like orange juice- nasty stuff - 6 or 7 months from the fillup - but the dealer may have had it a while.