Reminds me of watching my father start his Ford Model A with the hand crank.
It always looked as if done wrong...there was going to be some hurting.

I love those things, Mike. The sidehack wheel is driven as well, isn't it?

I've always thought that out swinging kicker was a really bad idea. It just looks wrong. It looks like some real potential for whacking your shin. Then one day, with those trepidations not yet dispelled, a buddy let me ride his old BMW. I forget, but I'm going to say it was an R65 or something close to that. Once I tried that kicker, I found it to be entirely natural, and pretty darn easy, really. Turns out I had nothing to worry about. Those darn Germans... they tend to get it right...

Actually the hack wheel can be engaged when needed to get out of trouble, but normally there’s only one pusher. I’ve never been deep enough in the muck to need to engage the 2wd. With both wheels driven it’s very difficult to steer...she wants to plow straight ahead.

I had a 54 R25 that had this same kick start arrangement. Of course that bike was only 250cc’s and low comp, so very easy to kick. But yes, the motion is pretty natural after a short time.

There’s just something about kick starting a carbureted bike. A bit of zen perhaps. A shame that riders who follow us old farts in the next few decades won’t know the experience. Their loss I suppose.

I see - more of an emergency "recovery mode", then. My 80 Series Cruiser is like that with regards to the front locker. With it engaged, it pretty much only wants to go straight. And it will slide down the crown of a road, with nothing you can do about it.

You know, the Harley world used to have a pretty high bar for admission. Not socially or morally, of course, but physically. Well, and mechanically. The need to kick start the damn thing, coupled with the need to constantly work on it (and be willing and able to do so anytime, anywhere), really thinned the herd. Once they became - gasp - "reliable", and could be started with a thumb, well, the riff-raff started getting in. The RUBs, the midlife crisis set, the Yuppie weekend warriors, and all of that. Motorcycling used to take a lot more commitment, and not just on Harleys.

Maybe that wasn't really such a good thing. Maybe those "good old days" really weren't so much. It did seem, however, that the community was a bit closer back then. Maybe only because it was so much smaller, I don't know. I do remember, though, that most of the folks I met seemed more "genuine" than today. Like the guy in this video. These were the guys mentoring me as I learned the ropes, not some guy with a walrus mustache yelling, cursing, and throwing things at his kids...

XR650Rs are not much fun to start when cold...unless cursing while out of breath is one's happy place.

that's a good looking bike, unlike all them modern OCC BS chopper nonsense builds