Kick-Start Bike Needs Charged Battery To Start?

Pegassus

Pegassus

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I have my dual-sport bike mothballed in my balcony since September, and I always have a helluva of a time trying to start it every spring, will it help if I pre-charged the battery before attempting to break my ankle trying to start it with 75+ kick-starts? Doesn't the sparkplug get its spark from the battery?
 
The sparkplug does not get it's spark from the battery. Unless it is fuel injected - which it's not I'm sure - the battery has very little to do with (kick) starting. You could make your job easier by warming the crankcase oil, making the engine turn easier, and make sure the carb(s) is/are primed with gas before starting the kicking procedure.
 
Ritchard said:
The sparkplug does not get it's spark from the battery. Unless it is fuel injected - which it's not I'm sure - the battery has very little to do with (kick) starting. You could make your job easier by warming the crankcase oil, making the engine turn easier, and make sure the carb(s) is/are primed with gas before starting the kicking procedure.
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Depends entirely on the bike. On old hondas if the battery is dead, you wont get spark at the plugs so the first 50-100 kicks are only to charge up the battery, then when the battery is charged enough it will actually start sparking and you can get the bike started.

You can avoid this by bump starting, or just charging the battery.
 
Ooops. Amend my post to say "on most bikes..."
 
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Yes. on some of these bikes, the battery is only there to keep the lights bright and even, so only the lights are wired through the battery, and the ignition is unaffected. On others, the engine's entire electrical output goes through the battery, so the battery must be charged for the ignition to work.
 
On grumpy bikes, I pull the spark plug and heat it with a torch to red hot and quickly screw it back in. It makes things a lot easier to start.
 
Charging the battery and putting in some fresh gas is a great idea to potentially knock 30 or 40 kicks off of the spring ritual.
The bikes I've worked on needed the battery to be charged to give full spark to the ignition, otherwise alternator output goes to charging the battery not the ignition. The exception is a total loss system, it operates on the alternator directly but does not have (need) a battery at all.
 
skapan said:
Charging the battery and putting in some fresh gas is a great idea to potentially knock 30 or 40 kicks off of the spring ritual.
The bikes I've worked on needed the battery to be charged to give full spark to the ignition, otherwise alternator output goes to charging the battery not the ignition. The exception is a total loss system, it operates on the alternator directly but does not have (need) a battery at all.
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I had a suspicion that my bike's spark comes from the battery because if it didn't then why does it start with ONE kick-start all the rest of the year after I waken it every spring? It's only when it has not been used for a long time that I have a hard, very hard time starting it.

My bike is a 2001 Yamaha XT 350cc dual-sport, the pic below is the exact bike I have right down to the color and even color fading.



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2001-yamaha-xt-350_4468046.jpg
 
No bike gets it spark from the battery. The spark is from a voltage dramatically higher than any lead acid battery can produce on its own. Same goes for getting spark from alternator. Now a magneto is different. That can produce the power needed to start a mototcycle without a battery installed. It uses permanent magnets to help generate the power.
For your Yamaha, you have already stated that you know the bike starts a lot easier when the battery is fully charged. Why not just charge the battery and see if perhaps it does indeed start easier this way. For a CDI ignition system, it requires power from an external source, like a battery, for it to work. The battery is not suppling the spark, it is suppling the power to the ignition system, so it can provide the spark.

So, as others have suggesting, charge the battery, ensure the carb fuel bowl has fresh fuel in it, set the choke to the suggested setting for a cold engine, make sure the kill switch is not in the off position, make sure the bike is in neutral, pull the clutch in if your manual says to do that, and kick away.

This is not rocket science, it is simply starting a motorcycle, even girls can do it.
 
basic physics tells us that when a magnet is passed through a coil electricity is formed. On older bikes the alternator uses magnets to create the field which in turn creates the electricity. On modern bikes the battery supplies the power to the alternator coils instead. this is known as an excited field alternator. Simple, reliable and no magnets to become weak. The downside is that with a flat battery the alternator cannot produce a charge. there is usually some amount of charge in the battery even if it is weak. Eventually it will get stronger and charge more but you are far better off charging the battery first to ensure a strong spark and save a lot of effort.
 
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