Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

Just thinking the other day how satisfying it used to be swinging a bike into life with the kickstarter, and howling off up the road.... a real pose, and a well practiced knack....not a given by any means, I recall an old BSA single lung, that required the ignition retarding & manually de-compressing, before it would even think about kicking-back!!!!!!!

No skill in pressing a button (less bruises though):rolleyes:

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

No.

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

nope got one on my CG LOL

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

My XR250 has a kick start. Dunno why. It doesn't like starting from it, although it usually gets there in the end.

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

Not really. My old Honda NX650 Dominator was fun to kick start mind, My Bonnie was kick start only. Not a problem really. Would miss one if the battery was low ;)

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

yeah I do. I especially liked the music oh and when the St John's ambulance guys fell down into the hole !

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=sFlmEznsr2w

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

I wondered who was going to post something like that. You didn't disappoint me Vix!! :D:D

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

Always a pleasure, never a chore........

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

nope...

cause my KTM is kick start only...

it's not for girls;)

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

Why are you riding it then? ;)

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

because my doctor says legally i'm a man now...:smt047

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

Oi stop nicking my sayings

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

Yes I do miss it. My first big bike was a Kawa W650, and I had the kick start option.

Boy did I love showing off when Mr Lou and I rode to Stratford upon Avon on a Sunday morning, to the big bike gatherings, when we left I used to kick start it, just to prove to all the blokes there that a girl could kick start a bike. Bliss...

...but at least I still had the electric start option.:p

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

Neither is the SRX..which is why i haven't ever got the knack of kicking it

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

See my last post, kick starts are for girls!

So the KTM has one, perhaps I'll go for that next time instead of the Beemer I've been eyeing up.:rolleyes:

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

does it have a manual decompression lever?

if so just kick it over until you reach Top Dead Centre and the kicker goes hard

pulll in the decomp lever and push the kicker just past TDC

return the kicker to the top and release the decmop lever and then give it a full kick to start

works every time on my KTM

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=9ftGHfl_PQs

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

errrr no. but its a tw4t never the less. And only Im Indoors can do it from cold..or warm...or any time

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

Having been 'kicked back' in the past because of a lack of knowledge about decomp levers, i detest them with a vengance :P

Also stripping the splines and having to drill the shaft for a bolt is a pain too....LOL.

All hail the power of the THUMB!!

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

The ped I had when I was 16 had a kickstart...also had 'leccy start ¬_¬

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

until all you get is click..buuzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

then you look like a reet twonk cause you can't kick it;)

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

got one on my beta

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

Electric starts were an uncommon luxury when I started riding. I lent my mate Ginge my last 350 Powervalve for a quick spin about 6 years ago, he couldnt suss how to start it because all the bikes he'd ridden had electric start only. He spent ages looking for the start button and had to be shown how to use a kickstart.

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

Still got one! my avatar bike is still a resident in ma shed. I occasionally go out to fire it up just for the feeling of satisfaction you get when you kick start a bike as well

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

I've only been riding since 1994, so every bike that I've owned has been electric start. Would have quite liked a kick start, especially when batteries have been flat.

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

Awwwww -great call.

I used to LOVE kickstart on the telly. Probably a subliminal driver for getting a bike- only 25 years in between!

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

The day I collected my SV from the shop it went click. Flat battery, despite claims it had been through a PDI. So shop guy boost started it and it farted and switched off. Rapidly followed by attempts to bump start it.

Would a Kick start have helped? Still, I will never forget that first ride, 120 up the road, holding on to her and feeling that now loved vibration of seven and a half thousand revs...:smt047

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

kickstart only serves to start the engine spinning, same as the starter motor, so if it started with the motor and then stopped (even when jumped from another battery) a kick wouldn't have kept it running

it would have made it possible to start it without the battery though if it had been happy to run once it was spinning

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

Zombie thread. But I can now state I hate kickstarts more than ever.
RD400 fine, nice and easy.
Scorpa 250, fine.

Montesa cota 349 ... absolute TW4T! Need to get a decompressor kit for it.



No, SRX has an automatic decompressor working on a cam and cable.

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

Whenever I say to my dad "i'd love a big trailie for the winter, with a kickstart because then i'll get it running even if the battery is flat from the cold", he goes all misty-eyed and recalls one of his stories. The one about how he came out of boots with baby formula in a back pack in brighton, and walked through a bunch of well suited poeple to get to his big yamaha trailie. He then winces, as he reminds himself of when he kickstarted his big single into life...only for the big single to try its damned hardest to break his leg. He rode off, round the corner, then stopped and tried his hardest from crying. Apparently, its bloody painfull to have kick-back...

Anyway, i'd still like something with a kickstart. My scooter has a kickstart, which i used a few times when the battery was dead.

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

Kickstarting your scooter is a totally different world to starting something with a big motor.

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

Got rid of two bikes last year, including one I'd built from bits in a box, but as I can't kick a bike anymore there was no point in keeping them, although watching a mate turn into a blob of sweat trying to start the Armstrong, then walking over and kicking it into life on the first try, is a memory to saver.

Cheers Mark.

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

i do miss kicking my old kwak up took me ages to get the knack but once youve got it you can do it everytime first kick which was quite satisfying.

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

I do they're brilliant if you don't fancy replacing your battery. Although wouldn't a 650 be difficult to kick?

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

it'd hurt/break your leg if it kicked back i got a kick of my little 125 once hurt like hell and thats tiny :)

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

It is possible to make a kickstart that does not kick back.

Re: Anyone miss the old kickstart?
 

yeah but thats part of the fun/risk.