Honda Spree and Elite 50 Forums

With the help of the service manual downloade from this site I have this little red head up and running. Fortunately the gas tank has no internal rust. Actually it looks like new inside. I flushed the fuel lines with new gas then topped it off and added an ounce of Marvel Mystery Oil to help clean the innards. The oil was the factory fill so I replaced it also. Today I removed the carb, took it apart and as expected the bowl was coated with old carmelizes fuel. Not anymore. I discovered that with an electric choke there must be a power source to start, even kick start. Since the 21 year old battery had long ago gone to battery heaven the challenge was to find a new one. Action Motor Sports here in KFalls found a match at Inter-State Batteries (part YT4LBS cost $48) it will be here Friday. In the meantime I'm jump starting Red Head with my boat battery. Happy Trails!!

What year is your spree?

I have a 1986 that I've been running without a battery for awhile (I know, bad for it) since the old one sat for seven years, and it kicks without a problem, with power to the lights.

Mine is an '86 also. The battery was dead dead with no continuity across the poles. Could proably have wired the cables together for a kick start but I used the boat battery. There was no power or spark and yes the rear brake was locked. Honda retails the battery for $68 so I think $48 is a fair price.

If the bike needs a fully charged battery to kick start it whats the point of having kick start? The electric choke unchokes the engine when it recieves power from the stator which only produces power when the engine is running. i can make a video of me starting my spree with no battery and riding it around

No argument from me Kenny, I did'nt mean to imply a full charge was necessary. I'm no authority on these things, but when I tried a kickstart with the old battery there was no power anywhere. When I hooked up a good Battery it did kickstart. Anyway thats all mute now since I'm getting a new battery. Happy Trails!!

An old battery can short the system, which will keep it from starting at all, even with a kickstart.

Hoverbug wrote:Could proably have wired the cables together for a kick start but I used the boat battery.

I didn't wire the cables together either. I just took the battery and battery box out (needed to be cleaned) and kick it to start it. I'm too cheap to actually go buy a battery for a $1 scooter and this works anyway

$1 eh! Some folks are too lucky Mine cost $200 with 2 Bell helmets and a bike carrier that plugs into a 2" reciever. The main use will be when we go camping.