Roadghost
Well-known member
is quite enjoyable.
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This trend to retro motorcycles with kick starters
- Thread starter Roadghost
- Start date
Where the hell did you get that pic of me????
Girls rock
Hehe - One of the reasons I've started to love motorcycles was watching my aunt Jane kick hers in the mid 70's, and then walk over to her little brother's bike and start his. I was 3, she was 14.
Aging sucks tho. I love KS'rs but as I get older things start to get difficult. Had a hard time just starting the lawn mower for the first mow yesterday, just couldn't pull fast enough
Girls rock
Hehe - One of the reasons I've started to love motorcycles was watching my aunt Jane kick hers in the mid 70's, and then walk over to her little brother's bike and start his. I was 3, she was 14.
Aging sucks tho. I love KS'rs but as I get older things start to get difficult. Had a hard time just starting the lawn mower for the first mow yesterday, just couldn't pull fast enough
Roadghost
Well-known member
LOL. I remember my dad telling me his Vincent backfired on him once while he was kicking it over. Threw him for a 180 in the air, landed on his back. Luckily he was a young man.
Vincent Black Shadow was my all time favourite bike. Never could afford one. Even back in the day. I like the luxury of pushing a button to start. Spoilt, yes. Paid my dues. Bump starting, hurt calves, black and blue. Those where the days. I`ll stick with pushing a button. Thanks.
There is usually a " trick" or procedure to kick start a bike. If you know the "trick" it usually isn't that hard... usually. if you search the internet you'll find a video of a 7 year old girl kick starting an old 1200 sportster, or a guy starting his Ducati twin with his hand.
With a single, push the crank just past ignition TDC and have at 'er.
With a normal twin, push it by either TDC and KICK.
On a Ducati twin, push it by the rear cylinder ignition TDC, then kick it through the front cylinder TDC.
The worst starting kick start bike I have ever owned was a Honda XR600, punched out to 660cc. Took everything I had to kick it over. With this bike I learned to park at the top of hills. Still do.
The thing BIT me, slipped off the oily kick starter, wedged my foot between the kick starter and the foot peg... good for 22 stitches.
The Bevelheads forum, a forum for Ducati bevel owners, used to have a contest to see who could do the most damage to themselves while try to start their bikes.
The winner, for the longest time, was a nice fellow that slipped off the kick starter, hit the foot peg and broke a bunch of bones in his foot. He posted a picture of his foot, black and blue, all swold up so bad you couldn't see toes.
The ultimate "winner": After spending much time and money rebuilding a 860, the guy goes to start the bike for the first time, in the garage. He kicks the bike, didn't know the Ducati twin "trick", the bike kicked back, throwing him UP into a steel beam, caving in the top of his head.
Us old guy will usually have an electric or gas powered roller starter to start our old kick start bikes.
With a single, push the crank just past ignition TDC and have at 'er.
With a normal twin, push it by either TDC and KICK.
On a Ducati twin, push it by the rear cylinder ignition TDC, then kick it through the front cylinder TDC.
The worst starting kick start bike I have ever owned was a Honda XR600, punched out to 660cc. Took everything I had to kick it over. With this bike I learned to park at the top of hills. Still do.
The thing BIT me, slipped off the oily kick starter, wedged my foot between the kick starter and the foot peg... good for 22 stitches.
The Bevelheads forum, a forum for Ducati bevel owners, used to have a contest to see who could do the most damage to themselves while try to start their bikes.
The winner, for the longest time, was a nice fellow that slipped off the kick starter, hit the foot peg and broke a bunch of bones in his foot. He posted a picture of his foot, black and blue, all swold up so bad you couldn't see toes.
The ultimate "winner": After spending much time and money rebuilding a 860, the guy goes to start the bike for the first time, in the garage. He kicks the bike, didn't know the Ducati twin "trick", the bike kicked back, throwing him UP into a steel beam, caving in the top of his head.
Us old guy will usually have an electric or gas powered roller starter to start our old kick start bikes.
Iceman
Well-known member
I've got to agree on the xr600. My buddy still rides a 98 xr and it's a bear to start for me. He does ok with it but he's owned it since new.
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kruzuki
Well-known member
I had a ‘78 Suzuki GS550 with a kickstarter. That was back when Suzuki first started using electric starters so the kickstart was used frequently because the electric starters were unreliable. If your battery was any less than 100%, you’d be kicking!
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