Topic: Why did they remove the kick starter?

[RustyStuff]

I wish my 650 had a kicker.

Why did they(honda) remove them? Dident think anyone would want to do it in the future?

And is it possible to add one from another Cb? My dad doesnt understand why i would want to kick it over. But I allways enjoy doing it on my little bikes.

[Hush]

In the late 70's it became fashionable to display the reliability of bikes by not fitting them with kickers, the unspoken statement being that the manufacturers were so confident in the charging and starting systems of their machines that they no longer needed such archiac devices.
Unfortunately the bikes of the late 70's early 80's were not as bullet proof as thought and many failed the power storage and generation tests, where as a bike with a kicker could sit for a long time unused by it's owner and still be expected to start the electric start only model owners soon found that a pair of jumper leads was essential equipment to carry.
No you cannot fit a kickstarter to your 650, the casing was never built to take it, I would recommend a really good sealed battery that you can occasionally boost charge when the bike is not being used.

[RustyStuff]

In the late 70's it became fashionable to display the reliability of bikes by not fitting them with kickers, the unspoken statement being that the manufacturers were so confident in the charging and starting systems of their machines that they no longer needed such archiac devices.
Unfortunately the bikes of the late 70's early 80's were not as bullet proof as thought and many failed the power storage and generation tests, where as a bike with a kicker could sit for a long time unused by it's owner and still be expected to start the electric start only model owners soon found that a pair of jumper leads was essential equipment to carry.
No you cannot fit a kickstarter to your 650, the casing was never built to take it, I would recommend a really good sealed battery that you can occasionally boost charge when the bike is not being used.

  Thats worked out well.  I've got a new good battery, and the chargeing system's been rebuilt once allready, so hopefully it will be ok. I guess I could push start it if I had too.

[Hush]

My 79 CB650 would crash start in about 2 feet, just slap it into second gear and roll her forward, if she's in tune and got spark and gas it will fire up when you drop the clutch.

[nancy]

But would you fast enough (now) to keep up with it once it got started Rick?

[70CB750]

Lol in the east block the electrical starter was considered capitalistic propaganda or something along that line. Jawa I think had a kickertill 90 ties. On the other hand, the 350 two smoke was better off without the starter.

[Terry in Australia]

Everyone knows the guy kick starting his bike has a bigger dick than the one pushing the button. Removing the mechanical device leveled the playing field forming connecting rod equality among all bikers thus increasing sales. Large membered riders with similar sized egos having no kick start available can even today be seen catching their prized ride in gear!

rt

Ha ha, I took my K1 for a ride yesterday and met up with some old bikers at a pub up in the hills. We all left about the same time, but one of the guys with a very nice looking old Triumph Bonneville (kick only) was kicking, and kicking, and kicking, and kicking, and kicking, and kicking, and kicking, and kicking, and kicking, and swearing, and sweating, and letting his mates have a go. I tucked my tiny penis in and pressed the button and rode off.

I didn't notice that he had a big dick, but to the unsympathetic amongst us, he looked like a big sweaty dick! Another reason for removing the kicker was to make the engine more compact. The Suzuki GS1000 (with no kicker) has a smaller engine case than the GS750, which did.

[Hush]

My first bike of any size was a Suzuki T350 and not only did it not have an electric start but for some reason known only to the joksters in the Suzuki design office they put the kicker on the left side! I ripped open many a good pair of Monarch boots when the kicker passed the sidestand and gashed my ankle!
I'd like both options on any bike I owned if that was available.

Saw an amazing sight one Friday night in Napier's main street, one of the local bikers jumped on his Triumph's kicker and as he came down the bike exploded under him throwing him across the road through the handle bars, we never did figure out why it went bang that night but a leaking gas tank and loose spark probably did him in.

[bwaller]

I don't want to sound like an old poop but when I read Terry's response & had the usual laugh (thanks man) and I have to wade in too. When I read the posts about why no kickstart I immediately think about all those many times out with friends and kicking all those friggin things until blue in the face. Having the kick lever bite a chunk out of my calf by some backfiring piece of #$%*e. 

I never felt the CB750 turned the crank over enough in one kick through anyway. When we raced at a time when there were still Lemans starts that little button was golden. I have owned my 750 for nearly 39 years and can probably count on two hands how many times I kicked the thing, I don't feel any less the man.  In that time I never even changed starter motor brushes. If you have one throw the kick lever in the ocean, if you don't have one be happy......you don't need it. 

[nancy]

My first bike of any size was a Suzuki T350 and not only did it not have an electric start but for some reason known only to the joksters in the Suzuki design office they put the kicker on the left side! I ripped open many a good pair of Monarch boots when the kicker passed the sidestand and gashed my ankle!
I'd like both options on any bike I owned if that was available.
Not just Suzikoo Hush,...my Yamihaha RD350 had a leftie kicker...and it was my assumption that all 2-stokers were left handers...is not so? Dunno why it was so..but never have seen a RH one..
Nancy

Saw an amazing sight one Friday night in Napier's main street, one of the local bikers jumped on his Triumph's kicker and as he came down the bike exploded under him throwing him across the road through the handle bars, we never did figure out why it went bang that night but a leaking gas tank and loose spark probably did him in.

[Hush]

Age is a terrible thing mark,  no the T250, T350 had the priviledge of being the only Jappers with a kackhanded kicker!
All my mates with Kwakas and Hondas and Yams used to laugh when I had to flick out the left side kicker, it was just weird using your left leg (cos most people are right legged same as right handed) and you certainly couldn't get as much power when you jumped on it.
Good job the Suzis were extremely easy starters.

[750K]

While I enjoy kicking over my 750, what I enjoy more is watching friends with choppers kick and kick and kick and kick while I just hit the start button and fire it up. Kicker is still nice to have when I feel like using it but I like the electric start more.

[BeSeeingYou]

They started to disappear in the early eighties right?  I think it's because everybody born after about 1964 is a pussy and the bike manufacturers knew it. 

[nancy]

Age is a terrible thing mark,  no the T250, T350 had the priviledge of being the only Jappers with a kackhanded kicker!
All my mates with Kwakas and Hondas and Yams used to laugh when I had to flick out the left side kicker, it was just weird using your left leg (cos most people are right legged same as right handed) and you certainly couldn't get as much power when you jumped on it.
Good job the Suzis were extremely easy starters.

Crikey! No wonder it took me ages to get it started - wrong side......right side on the Yammy...hmmm,..memory gone too.

[RustyStuff]

They started to disappear in the early eighties right?  I think it's because everybody born after about 1964 is a pussy and the bike manufacturers knew it. 

Being born 29 years after that, I would dissagree. ONLY MOST people born after that year are pussys.

[onepieceatatime]

They started to disappear in the early eighties right?  I think it's because everybody born after about 1964 is a pussy and the bike manufacturers knew it. 

Being born 29 years after that, I would dissagree. ONLY MOST people born after that year are pussys.

Agreed. I would also prefer to have kickstart on my 1980 CB650C that is a year older than I am.

[Markcb750]

Being a cynic, I believe the engineers where told to reduce cost and the bucks for the kick lever, support bearings, and engagement clutch where saved for executive bonuses.   

My K6 will start first kick if it has not been sitting more then a few days. If it has sat several days...I am glad it has the AGM battery & that nice little solenoid under the left side cover.

[70CB750]

Age is a terrible thing mark,  no the T250, T350 had the priviledge of being the only Jappers with a kackhanded kicker!
All my mates with Kwakas and Hondas and Yams used to laugh when I had to flick out the left side kicker, it was just weird using your left leg (cos most people are right legged same as right handed) and you certainly couldn't get as much power when you jumped on it.
Good job the Suzis were extremely easy starters.

Jawa and CZ had the kicker combined with the shifter and on the left.  What you did was to start it with your right foot standing next to it - after flooding the carburetor to enrich the air/fuel mix.  I guess it is cooler to kick start while on the bike 

[Terry in Australia]

Age is a terrible thing mark,  no the T250, T350 had the priviledge of being the only Jappers with a kackhanded kicker!
All my mates with Kwakas and Hondas and Yams used to laugh when I had to flick out the left side kicker, it was just weird using your left leg (cos most people are right legged same as right handed) and you certainly couldn't get as much power when you jumped on it.
Good job the Suzis were extremely easy starters.

Jawa and CZ had the kicker combined with the shifter and on the left.  What you did was to start it with your right foot standing next to it - after flooding the carburetor to enrich the air/fuel mix.  I guess it is cooler to kick start while on the bike 

I had a CZ250 Motocrosser, fantastic bike with some interesting race history, it had the kicker on the left and I got used to kicking it whilst standing beside it. I got really used to falling off it as well, but that's another story.............

[strynboen]

think the idea vith that kick on MZ  DKV and JAWA with that dobbel pedal...was to stand beside the bike and kick it..vith right food..desein  and idea vas from germany
mine cb 77kicks forvard...not so tuff..old puch have that same..left over from the bicikel pedals they have on the erly models..they reused the mekanism

[72 yellow]

think the idea vith that kick on MZ  DKV and JAWA with that dobbel pedal...was to stand beside the bike and kick it..vith right food..desein  and idea vas from germany
mine cb 77kicks forvard...not so tuff..old puch have that same..left over from the bicikel pedals they have on the erly models..they reused the mekanism

My 66 CB77 has the foreward kickstarter also.  I learned to ride on a 65 Cb77.  The first time I went to stop I pressed down on the brake pedal only to hear a buzzing sound and no reduction in speed.  After I crossed a intersection in front of a car, I looked down to discover I was pressing down on the back of the kickstarter and that's where the sound was coming from.  I guess the designer figured everyone in the world had small Japanese sized feet.

[754]

 For those of you with cars, think of this.  carry a 750 kicker between seat and door or under seat.. never know when you got to break a window of a burning or submerged car.. hold onto to kick rubber and swing in an arc..

 plus it does not look so much like a weapon..

 But I still use it on my bike.. knee blew out a bit makes it harder to kick, so I use left leg sometimes..

[Dave K]

When was the last time you hand cranked your car? Same thing with a motorcycle, if you maintained the battery and the rest of the bike.

[Terry in Australia]

Hmmnn, I can see some merit in that argument, (although I personally think that Chrysler Newports would be the vehicle of choice for retired pimps and "Goodfella's", but apologies if you've inherited it from your dad.......) the problem, I think, is that most modern bikes with electronic ignitions wouldn't kick start with a flat, or near flat battery, because most of them need 12 volts to create a spark.

I've got a 50 buck "Jump starter" in my garage which I often use for starting bikes that have been sitting for months, and it's also handy if one of the car's batteries craps out. Out on the road I guess "I've always depended on the kindness of strangers" to give me a jump start. I do remember one hilarious occasion where my Suzuki GS1000S conked out and a minivan full of Iranian blokes stopped to give me a push. It was a stinking hot day and they pushed and pushed, and the bloody thing wouldn't fire. We'd just about given up when I noticed that in all the excitement I'd bumped the kill-switch to "off". Ooooops!

They were all dark, sweaty, angry looking men, so I didn't bother to explain what had transpired, rather, I convinced them in my broken Iranian to give it one last go, so they pushed me another 10 feet or so and I dumped the clutch and Varoom! Away it went. I left my sweating pals on the side of the road with a new personal appreciation for folks from faraway places....... 

Regardless, there'll be times when there are no kindly strangers with jumper cables, and no minivans full of Iranian Terrorists, er, I mean tourists, to lend a hand. I bought a little jump start pack (about the size of a 50's pack of cigarettes) that will apparently recharge your battery in a couple of minutes that I carried in the pannier of my Triumph until my 85 year old father was having problems with his car, so I gave it to him to carry in his glove box, just in case. I never needed to use it, but for bikers it's a great device, because it'd be able to be carried on your bikes, or in your jacket pocket, with no issues. It probably won't make your dick any bigger, but it might get you out of a difficult situation. Cheers, Terry.    

[ThomasD883]

I can't find the post but someone did an excellent write up of the interchangibility of the 550 and 650, with some work i believe the cases can be swapped, hopefully somebody knows the post  . I've thought of this as well it happened the first time i kicked over another street bike. Just felt right