Starting troubles

[shooter007]

I recently purchased my first BMW ('99 R1100S) but one thing that's been bugging me is cold starts. I always need to give it a little gas when I start it up in the morning. I called the local dealer, and he said its normal for older BMWs to be a bit cold blooded.

Is he right? Or should I adjust my idle so it's getting enough gas to start up on its own?

[Groceryrun]

Usual suspects:

Bad gas.
Tune up.

You can use the choke for faster warm-ups.

You can clean the starter.

You can replace spark plugs.
You can replace ignition wires.
You can check the battery voltage.

[brentw1]

the choke mechanism on the bars is prone to breaking,
but it is not a choke it is just a throttle opening device,
so it opens the throttle while it is cold, should be warm in a minute or two in the summer.
the newer r1200xx engines have a automatic system to do this.
but check that the idle balance and throttle bodies are synced.
and plugs are good etc, the alternate plugs available also help cold starting

[bimmerphan]

As a newish owner of an r11s, I'm probably not the best source of wisdom, but I can tell you my bike is in pretty good knick (25k, fresh plugs, fuel pump/filter, oil/filter, battery, always 93 octane w/ supplemental ethanol treatment, TB sync, valves adjusted all within the past month) and it behaves much the same. Always needs choke on cold start and even then seems to like a bit of throttle input on cold starts. Fires right up and idles/runs great, but cold starts seem to take more effort than I'd think than new. Warm starts are different and requires no choke or throttle input. I don't sweat it.