Airhead

I hope they do, it will be great to meet you Pat

Yes, I'm no expert but that's what I think could be happening. I know you never get much room on a bike battery...but can you get a bigger (car) battary connected to it with jump leads? then you can be sure that a new battery is needed.

Could be a duff battery, not enough Oooomph to turn the beast over anymore . The jamming bit would be a symptom of this I think. rocking the bike back and forth would be a good way to try to disengage the starter,

Clever stuff

Welcome Brett Might be wise to check the ignition timing, 1.8mm BTDC fully advanced, you'll need a dial gauge but may get away with it if your flywheel has timing marks scribed on it If you go to the workshop forum, you will see a topic 'Parts manuals for yamaha bikes' Download the one for yours...(DT175A ?) There is useful info in the back 'Service Data' This will tell you things like points gap, timing, coils resistances, oil capacities...all sorts of stuff. ...Paul

Your silencer seems to be blocked up. Is it the original black painted steel one or an after market replacement?

You would lose power with a VM22, It isnnt likely to fit your inlet rubber or manifold either, stick with what's original and you wont regret it

I would repair the VM26 myself, who's to say the jetting of any replacement is going to be spot on? (I doubt it) money is obviously an issue so the cheapest way would be the repair IMO.

Why not fit a new float valve? http://www.motocarb.co.uk/index.php

Might be worth asking Manchester Xtreme it's a moto cross shop, they have a website for contact details, pretty helpful there.

Your honour She only did it for a laugh, she has a 'wicked' sense of humour.

Look at the diagram Em, what you are suggesting sounds like item 16 is not getting hold of the dowels (item8) on the up-stroke. Are all the dowels present and correct? Or possibly Item 12 is not being pulled down on the cam to keep the drum in place (item 5&6) You will notice the two hooks on (item 16) which pull and push on the dowels, all of these bits and pieces have little torsion springs to keep them in place and if a spring breaks or is not in position things dont happen correctly. I think you need the clutch cover off to check it out This drawing is for reference only, I cannot say your bike is the same but it should be similar

or you can get them fangled lenses that a clear until strike up, we have them at work.

Rarely see them on ebay now Lee, NOS are extremely expensive from Yamaha. You could try these, they look a bit short but youre in a fix, and anyway it looks like the seller will accept a return http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Motorcycle-Fork-Gaitors-Yamaha-DT175-Twinshock-/220657603733?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts

Could be a blocked pilot jet in the carb.

You say the compression feels low...you say it kinda makes the effort but just wont catch. Do a compression test then, get the bike hot, take out the plug. Screw in the compression tester. Wide open throttle and kick until the gauge stops climbing...anything less than 90 psi means new rings are needed at best...at worst a re-bore, who knows we cant see the condition of the bore .How many miles has the bike done? Personally I think 10000 miles is enough on one set of rings on a DTR

OK good luck with it. Just check one thing on bikes that were made much later than 1874 there is sometimes an engine kill switch somewhere on the handlebar controls Just check yours isnt in the wrong position as this will kill the spark.

according to some parts lists (that you can access in workshop) xj600 come in various flavours...ie sd to sj now i had a look at the sg one and i can see a plug with an o ring directly under the crank on the left of the engine...could this be for oil draining? see page 16 item 35. I dont know what an sg is or what model yours is

I dont 'know' the bike but usually the oil drain plug is low down, either underneath or at the bottom of the clutch case. How come you overfilled it? couldnt you have cleaned up the glass when you did this? You should get a manual anyway now

Have you tried Granby or Fowlers?

Are you sure you did the kicker conversion correctly? It sounds like your kicker is not turing the crank to me. BTW running with the bike and popping the clutch is a long way of writing 'bump starting'

POT KETTLE BLACK

me too http://www.wheelsofitaly.com/wiki/index.php/Gilera http://www.wheelsofitaly.com/wiki/index.php/File:Gilera_3_001.jpg I can see it's not a 'Touring moped' so it looks to be a 'Touring RS' The seat looks short though? it does have pillion pegs.