Topic: Gah!! No starter button!!

[Tugboat]

Ugh... at every turn on this CB500 rebuild it's been something.......

The latest is that when I was hooking up the throttle cables last night, I found that the starter BUTTON is missing from the RH switch (which is in otherwise good shape). How can that be? I carefully checked on the ground to make sure it wasn't ME that lost it. Nope - missing when he brought it in. How did that happen? Seems to me that  they're too "long" to just pop out. The plate behind it in the switch is intact and screwed in. Sorry - left my camera at home so no pix.

SOOO..... no way in h3ll I'm gonna try to start this thing for the first time after rebuild by just kicking it!! And before I go and replace the whole switch, does anyone have an old broken RH switch that I can have the button out of?

[Gordon]

Those starter buttons get very brittle with age and often just shatter and fall out. 

Not sure why you're so against kick-starting after a rebuild, though.  If the work was done right it should kick-start just fine.  If it wasn't done right you'll kill the battery trying to use the electric start. 

[Tugboat]

Just hedging my bets, you know

[Gordon]

But how satisfying would it be to kick-start an engine you rebuilt yourself?

[phil71]

just ground the yellow/red with a jumper wire for now

[Gordon]

just ground the yellow/red with a jumper wire for now

Or bridge the terminals on top of the solenoid with a screwdriver.  Sparks make for better dramatic effect.

[phil71]

someone likes frankenstein movies.....

[Gordon]

someone likes frankenstein movies.....

It makes for a good Halloween-themed rebuilt bike start-up.

Turn down the lights, play spooky music, bridge the terminals to turn the starter and make sparks, and scream "It's alive!  It's alive!!!!!".

[WhyNot2]

  ......laughing @ gordon not you tug..............feel your pain on the switch.

[johnrdupree]

I bought my 550 without the starter button.  When it came time to start it for the first time I crammed the end of a plastic pen in the hole.  Worked fine.  After all the carb cleaning and valve adjusting and cam chain tensioning and timing and carb syncing it starts on the kicker without fail (Well, almost. Now that the weather is cooling down I'm having to puzzle out the 50 degree starting procedure.)  So, don't let a missing starter button stop you, grab the nearest Bic and crank that thing up.

Good Luck,
~john

[Tugboat]

This wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't for a customer. Granted, he probably brought the thing in with the button missing. But I can guarantee you that this dude is an electric start kinda guy. So...... anyone got a busted old switch that I can have the button out of?

[Hush]

I feel your frustration dude, used my horn to hail a guy the other day and when I got home realised that somewhere along the way half of the little black button fell off!
Like Gordon says they get brittle and disolve.

[johnrdupree]

While researching Yamaha XS750s (for a bike I'm already regretting not buying) I ran across this vendor:

http://www.freewebs.com/kibokojoe/

I don't know if it will work on a Honda, but it wouldn't hurt to ask them.  Or see if they would willing be to add a Honda button to their lineup.

Good Luck,
~john

[bollingball]

Tug scroll down to starter/horn button This worked on my 750. don't know about the 500. I did have to do some filing for it to work.

http://www.partsnmore.com/parts/honda/cb750/?filters[fitting]=custom&filters[category]=electrical