Topic: Kick Starter

[Fuzzball]

I think the Kick Starter is one of the coolest features on my bike even if I do only use it under limited conditions (option 3 & 4  ). The whole act of it, the overtones of aggression, the banged up ankles & shins, the cursing if you have to do it more than 5 times, it kind of encapsulates the whole classic motorcycle experience.

It was the only way I ever started my 69 CL350.

Okay so maybe I'm a geek but I do like to break it out in front of a group of crotch rocketeers (some of them have probably never seen it before) or a pack of hyper-cc mega-cruisers or even a comely femme on occasion. Yeah, just like Brando in the Wild One.  Oh yeah.

You might even say I get a "kick" out of it. 

So am I the only Geek Starter? I'm curious to know. So don't be afraid---all you Kloset Kick Starters---it's coming out time!

[Klark Kent]

i voted for the attractive female option, but I too do it in front of anyone i feel like being a bad ass in front of, and use the 'being nice to my battery' excuse
and I do kick it over a couple times without ignition if its been sitting
i had a pretty weak battery after i got my sickle running at first from a lot of workbench abuse and not enough above 2Krpm riding to compensate, so i got used to using the kicker and must say i prefer it.  our bikes are so easy to kick that its got one of the best impressiveness to effort ratios of anything I do. 

so i must admit klark kent is a kloset kicker
-KK

[nickjtc]

CB650. No kickstarter so no choice.
Norton. Only kickstart, so no choice.
XT500. Only kickstart, so no choice. (Although a choice would be nice.)
Cb175. Electric start didn't work, so had to kickstart.

[angeldeville]

I'm too lazy to buy a new battery for my '76, so if it sits a couple days it needs a kick, but otherwise I only do it to look cool.

[boatsdickson]

sometimes.... Only when the battery is nearing the grave....

Maybe Im missing something with the "cool thing"... Im a little embarrassed when Ive got to kick it over. That means somethings wrong. 

[Spikeybike]

i'm a kick but i do it out in the open , not in the kloset.
it's to look cool, to be nice to your battery , the feel of it , the "overtones of aggression" kinda makes me feel "manly" (insert tim the toolman talor grunt here)

[Fuzzball]

Maybe Im missing something with the "cool thing"... Im a little embarrassed when Ive got to kick it over. That means somethings wrong. 

Spoken like a true mechanic!

Let me try to esplain why it's cool:

Seventeen year old son: "Dad, what's that thing".
"It's a kick starter."
"What?"
"Here, let me show you:...."
"Wow! That's cool!"

Ever try to impresss your seventeen year old kid?
Cool enough. 

[kpier883]

I chose the "other" so let me esplain.  I agree that it is the cool factor.  Plus mine almost always cranks on the first kick.  Most people that have a comment say "it must be tuned just right to crank on the first kick" or somesuch.  There is something satisfying about cranking with the kickstart.  I do have to admint that my battery used to always be low too, so it wouldn't ever crank.  Batteries Plus battery has been much better.  Plus I am riding longer distances these days.

Sometimes at a long redlight I like to turn off the engine and wait for the green light with my foot on the kick lever, give it a kick and drive away.   This keeps the foul gas odor from getting all in my clothes.  I suck at getting mine to idle right.

Correct me if i"m wrong, but The Fonz didn't use no stinkin start button!

[UnCrash]

My 750F is much happier to start with the Kicker.

I can either try the button 3-5 times for a couple of seconds or give it a kick. 

It usually kicks on the second or third try.  ( I think I need new plugs and plug caps)

There's just something satisfying about kicking over the old girl...

[754]

Kick only... no e start..

 Dont think I ever owned a bike without kicker!!

 oh except my Whizzers they are pedal start..

 even my Doodlebug had a kicker

[CrisPDuk]

The H100 doesn't have a starter so I've no choice but to kick it, but it always starts first kick

I lost the button and spring out of my 550's starter switch so have had no choice, when it's cold the fecker takes an absolute age to start

I've now got a full set of switches from a mid '90s CBR600F so my kicking days will soon be over

[SteveD CB500F]

Always - busted starter clutch.

[clarkjh]

Only if I'm feeling ambitious.  bad knees and back .  I tell my Dr that riding is good for my "Core Stability"

James

[dustyc]

Sometimes if the battery is weak.  At bike night, they insist I use the kick when I leave.  They really like the kick for some reason.

[dusterdude]

ive had enough kicking with the panhead,i like the sissy switch.

[Rushoid]

My battery's weak so I kick it all the time now. Only takes 1 kick if it's ran in the last couple of days. There's the coolness factor too.......... except when your pant leg gets caught on the kicker and you almost dump the bike. 

[boatsdickson]

except when your pant leg gets caught on the kicker and you almost dump the bike.

Holey cow what a mental image. Ill look out 4 that next time... 

[edbikerii]

Oh yeah, and you don't even have to be kicking it for your pants leg to slide over the kick starter, either.  It is pretty darned dangerous.  Especially if it slides up your pant leg when you start her up, but you go off riding and don't notice it until you stop for a light or something.  I've been lucky so far, but I worry that someday it will get me.

I used to love kick-starting until one day I stopped to help a guy on an old Triumph-engined chopper who was stuck on the side of the road, kicking away like crazy.  I offered to help him, as I had my tool-kit, but he made some comment about not wanting help from a "rice-burner" or something like that.  I said, "hey buddy, watch this!", and I just barely pressed the electric start button and she fired right up.  I rode away smiling from ear-to-ear like a gigantic fool inside my Shoei!

My battery's weak so I kick it all the time now. Only takes 1 kick if it's ran in the last couple of days. There's the coolness factor too.......... except when your pant leg gets caught on the kicker and you almost dump the bike. 

[Ichiban 4]

Since I started riding before there were options of having a kick starter..or not..I got used to using them.   Actually having no other options (except maybe "bump-starting") required you to keep your bike in pretty good tune.  It's funny how when you're forced to do something (like work on..tune your own bikes) you can get pretty good at it.

There's a real sense of satisfaction in making necessary pre-adjustments (priming carbs, kicking over dead..then w/ignition on) and having the engine fire/start on that first "hot" kick. Doing that on an 80 inch Harley stroker..or an 1100cc Ariel Square 4 can be an accomplishment (or worse).

When the SOHC 4's came out it was a real treat to have the electric starts.  [Harley and lot of British bikes still didn't have electric starts till late 60's] Nowadays..most riders don't even know what it's like to kick start bikes..probably wouldn't be able to anyway with high compression, high displacement engines.  Kinda like a lost art.

With my SOHC 4..I still like to "kick it over" sometimes just for old times sake.  But more than that..it's easier on battery, electricals I feel..to "kick over a little" first..before hitting starter.  Also..after storage..I like to get oil, lubrication spread around by kicking over dead first..then hitting starter.  Having Dyna S ignition though means that battery better be fairly well charged..or it'll never start by kick..or electric start!

If I had choice with today's bikes (other than dirt, off-road) I'd still like option of having kick start..but that seems like more of nostalgic dream rather than reality.  Another reason I like the older SOHC 4's.

[MoTo-BunnY]

Well, you didn't have the option for "only when there is an attractive GUY around"  *sigh* so I will have to say "pretty much always" and why?  "because I CAN!"   lol

I don't want to wear down my battery as my charging system has never been quite 100% anyways, but the main reason is just "old school street cred"   

Geez, its not like its hard at all and I'm just a skinny thang . .. I do have a 500 and I am sure the 750 is probably harder to kick, but still.

I LOVE the look of surprise when peeps see me kick start it. Funny thing is, I thought all bikes still had them until I (finally) started noticing they didn't (and was having other riders tell me)

My starter button is pretty much used only for in case I stall out in traffic or something.. . .

[Fuzzball]

Well, you didn't have the option for "only when there is an attractive GUY around"  *sigh* so I will have to say "pretty much always" and why?  "because I CAN!"

Sorry. All fixed now.

"old school street cred"
That's PERFECT!

-fuzz

[fuzzybutt]

i love showing the harley riders i ride with how easy it is to start with a kick starter

[72 yellow]

66 305 Superhawk: Use both, getting used to the fact the kickstarter moves forward. 

71 BSA Lightning: No choice. 

72 CB750: Still residing in the recycling plastic bin it came in.  No use for either at the moment.