How do you Adjust Honda shadow idle?

Answer 1

On most motorcycles, there is a small plastic knob (sometimes metal) near the carburetor. I have a 1986 Honda Shadow VT700C and the idle adjustment is a white screw knob just next to the air intake on the left side. If you tighten this knob (or turn it clockwise) it will increase the idle. If you loosen it or turn it counter clockwise, you will lower the idle. On my motorcycle I try to keep the RPM just below 1000.

The way the idle adjustment works is as follows. When you let go of the throttle on the motorcycle, the throttle resets to its idle position. This is most often a pin that the throttle rests on. Screwing this pin in further causes the idle to rest at a higher position, and thus a higher RPM and vice versa.

A word of warning though, if your bike is having engine trouble and doesn't want to keep running in idle, don't just adjust the idle position. Check to make sure you don't have any other more serious problems with your motorcycle.

I've also included a link to a picture of what the assembly looks like. (picture from a Honda rebel)