Just bought a 83 Honda 200

[southside]

Hello new member here and this is the first trike or atv I have ever owned. Bought a 83 200 with an 85 engine put in it. The engine has good compression but will not run. The guy I bought it from today started it up twice for me and I drove it around. Got it home and now it will not start for me. I tried push starting it with some buddys and we got it turn over but as soon as we stop pushing it dies out. If we keep pushing though it will continue running. To me this seems like a spark problem since it is getting gas. Anyone have any suggestions as to what could be wrong? I tried searching and couldnt find anything.

[Ghostv2]

Step one for troubleshooting is start cheap and simple.
Clean carb.
Drain gas and replace it.
Replace spark plug.
Check oil and if your not feeling too lazy you should probably replace it.

[southside]

Thanks for your help, it has brand new premium gas in it. The oil is fresh too. Im gonna pull and check the spark plug. I just dont understand why it would run until we stop pushing it. Is this an electrical issue?

[Latitude42]

Do the simple check for spark.... then on to see of your getting gas... they usually run, but it takes some work to get them to run well.

[southside]

Thanks for the replys. Finally got it running today just had to replace the spark plug. The old one was fouled up with carbon and the gap was about twice as large as it should have been. Also had to rebuild the pull starter about 4 times. The old rope broke and then I replaced it with 550 cord and then my knots were too small... but it's finally working good. The carb seems to need a tune up as it is running rich and back firing. Debating if it's worth fiddling around with or if I should just bite the bullet and go for a new one, any input?