I Almost Gave Up by the 80th Kick...
 

Thank God it started on the 81st...

My old Ironhead Sportster has never been "hard to start". *After my just completed tranny rebuild, after having sat for three months, it started on the second kick. *My routine is to lift the enrichener (S&S Super E Shorty carburetor), give it three priming kicks, then turn on the ignition. *Usually starts in a kick or two. *Today, however, after having sat for a week awaiting another break in the weather, she defied me. *My usual routine did nothing, so I went through it a few more times. *Then I lowered the enrichener, gave it three shots of accelerator pump, cracked the throttle a wee bit, and tried again. *Nothing. *I alternated these routines several times to no avail.

Finally, getting more than slightly peeved, I said "screw it" and gave her ten shots on the accelerator pump, held the throttle open a crack, and... she fired right up. *Granted, my accelerator pump is turned way, way down - almost off, so it doesn't really shoot much gas at all - but fer crisakes, she's never given me this much of a fight. I was concerned I had flooded (or was going to flood) it, but apparently I would have to try a lot harder to pull that off. *

Absolutely ran like a champ once started. *Just weird. *She sits in an unheated garage, and we have seen teens and single digit temps overnight lately, but it was darn near 40 degrees out today when I got started.

​​​​​​​Just venting, I guess. *I had a fantastic ride. *Really liking the new "C" gear set. *But, man, at 63 years old, I'm getting too old for that nonsense.

I know it's a motorsickle, but reading your story had me picturing this...

https://s.wsj.net/public/resources/i...0216181455.jpg

Congrats! I have a new-to-me Dirtbike that I have been tinkering with through the cold. No idea if it will start. Glad it finally fired up for you!

Notice he's holding the handle thumb out... not for nothin'.

I'm also getting weary of pull start engines.
My power washer intimidates me. Spring is coming. A showdown looms.

Heh heh. Who will emerge victorious? Time will tell.

Ah, one of the sacred rights of Spring - me vs. the pressure washer. I've learned to not only drain the float bowl and gas tank, but to flush the fuel line as well before putting it away for the winter. Seems to help.

The motorcycle, however, has no excuses. It started easier after it had sat longer. Literally the second "live" kick after sitting for three months. Sits for a week, and wouldn't start for love or money. Nor any of the sweet nothings I began muttering in its ear...

Yeah, your kick start thing hit close to home.

Where I live, it was in the 20's today. Not extremely cold, but I had FOUR different things all go kaput, as if it were negative 20.

It's like everything got spoiled and couldn't cope.

Sounds like you've got a good handle on the bike. 10 shots on the pump 'should' have flooded it. I always think of Jimmy Stewart in "Flight of the Pheonix" when I get to that point.

As for kick starts, my bad leg left me kissing motorcycles goodbye a long time ago. Get some good miles in for me! ;)

Jeff you need one of these for your brick driveway. don't go cheap and buy a plastic one.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/SurfaceMaxx-Pro-4500-PSI-Rotating-Surface-Cleaner-for-Gas-Pressure-Washers/1000382309

My 6 or 7 year old Toro snow thrower literally started on the first pull this winter.

I drain the fuel out and run it dry each spring, fill it with ethanol free fuel just before trying, choke, three pumps of the primer and one pull!

It is a 4 cycle and stored in a 50 degree garage, so that might help it a bit?

I've got a tree that's going to topple in the front yard any minute now. Tell you what, when the time comes, I'm da*mn sure going to pull the Stihl indoors and warm it in front of a space heater before I pull that cord. It's new and hasn't even broken in yet.

+1 on etoh free.

If it starts after three months, it’s obvious you started it 11 weeks too soon! 😂

Hell, I'd bring it to bed with me. Curl a leg over it, whisper in its carburetor...

My method that has worked for years from easily vapor locked XR650 to many two strokes: put it in gear and back it up until high engine resistance, or slow kick to max resistance in neutral. Then a smooth firm kick for success.

Of 13 motorcycles....only 2 of mine are kick start......

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1705810692.JPG

Whenever they give me trouble it's almost always fuel related!:rolleyes:

Yup. In this case, I was worried about flooding her, and was reluctant to give her more fuel. Turns out that's what she wanted.

Which is part of why we refer to our mechanical partners as "she". Totally inexplicable. Last week, almost no fuel at all, starting on whatever she could inhale via the enrichener. No accelerator pump at all. This week, all the gas I could get into her via an epileptic fit on the throttle. Next week (when the weather clears again, after our ten day forecast of 38 degree rain), she will want something else entirely. Women. And motorcycles... :rolleyes:

100%, Jeff. Each machine/carb/fuel system has it's own personality....and you just gotta find out what works.....not easy! ;)

I was out working on my Interceptor fuel tanks this afternoon when my mail carrier arrived with a package.

We know each other pretty good and usually have a brief chat on occasions like this.

Today's chat centered around how working on our cars/motorcycles is such good therapy. His comment....even when it's not going well....it beats the hell out of what's going on in the rest of the world!

LOL .... sleeping with my first virgin Stihl didn't help me one bit ... and the old gal is still a hoot with proper foreplay done EXACTLY to her satisfaction.... or NO "happy start >>> happy ending" is gonna happen ... EVAR!

Weed eatin' beotch .... she's never had a drop of corn squeezins and still hates modern "good gas" .... new Stihl sluts are easy :D

My log splitter Honda motor is my big "foreplay", arm workout.... rode hard, put away wet for months.... she don't like it one bit ... hasn't for decades!

My 40 Knucklehead once took 83 or so tries to get it. This is after smacking me in the shin several times. Now I have a side car attached, which makes it 10X more dangerous!

-Wayne

I sacrificed a chicken and burned a pile of tobacco in honor of the motorcycle gods when the electric leg first came out.

This thread reminded me of Peter Eagans column from December 1998 Cycle World "The Nearly Lost Art of the Kickstart."
How each motorcycle has its own sequence for kick starting. As a motorcycle mechanic over the years it was always a part of the puzzle for me when a Kickstart bike came in for repairs. Wearing Reboks back in the day didnt help much when working on big dualsport thumpers. Suzuki SP600s and Honda XRs with intermittant ignition issues were always sure to induce a limp before they were completed.

+1 Bill. It took me awhile to walk off the lump I got when an AMF Sportster threw me onto the handlebars.

Good chance its just old gas.

It seems every time I need to use my chainsaw or line trimmer I have to take a trip to the gas station for a gallon of fresh gas and then the thing starts right up.

If the gas in your sporty is 4 months old or older I would drain the tank and fill up with new gas and see if it fires up.

I don't have this problem because my R50/5 has an electric start. I don't remember ever starting it with the kick start.

That's always a consideration, Otto. This time, however, I had ridden just one week prior. Put over 80 miles on it which, with its tiny little two gallon "peanut" tank, is more than one tank of gas. The time it started on the second kick, one week ago, it had that three month old gas in it. This time the gas was as fresh as it could be. Weird. Defies all of our usual logic.

So, riding buddies often ask me why I leave the key in it when we stop for coffee, or lunch, or whatever. "So I don't lose it" is my reply. They seem to be worried that someone might steal it... hmm... I think my "anti-theft device" is even more effective than a manual transmission in a car.

Even if one knows, in principle, how to start one of these machines, they still don't know how to start this one. And the procedure varies with temperature, both ambient and engine.

One begins by feeling the front cylinder head (if she has sat for awhile, like over lunch) in an effort to guess her temperature. Don't worry, though, one can be off by as much as five degrees and still have some reasonable chance at success. ;)

Having determined that, one then determines how much, if any, fuel to introduce. There are two ways to do this, via the enrichener (there is no choke) or via the accelerator pump. Too much or too little and it's going to take awhile to get her going.

Then one must manipulate the kicker. Gently push it through, sometimes more than once, until we find a compression stroke. It's when doing this that she will sometimes kick back a bit, or a lot. Not too high on the kicker's stroke, or it will skip over the ratchet on the clutch basket when we go to kick it. When it does that, the kicker free falls with no resistance, the only "stop" being when your shin makes contact with the right foot peg. Not a big deal with big tall motorcycle boots, but the poor schmuck who tries to steal it wearing his Reeboks is going to split his shin open.

Then there is the actual act of kicking. One must show some real commitment here, or she will either just slowly bleed down or she will kick back with a vengeance. She smells fear, believe me, and dearly loves to bite the timid. There is no compression release, no ignition retard, no "starting aids" of any kind. Just you and that kicker.

So, no, I'm not too worried about someone just randomly hopping on and stealing her. I do take the key when at motorcycle events, knowing there are others there who might have a chance. Other than that, though, at some random restaurant out on one of our rural roads? Prolly not.

I think you need to haul it up a hill and bump it. For me kicking went out with 125cc 2-strokes. And talk about fussy.

There is actually a pretty good hill further down our dead end, behind my house. I've used it more times than I can remember for recalcitrant motorcycles. Problem is, if she doesn't start, I get to push her back up.. That's happened more than once.

I use third gear on this particular bike (it's a four speed). One of the issues I face, though, is that she runs a wet clutch that, when cold, drags a good deal. I get her up to speed coasting in neutral, but upshifting with that cold, dragging clutch begins to slow her rather quickly. Once the clutch is let out, and she is running through compression strokes, it quickly becomes "now or never".

I need a bigger hill. I get maybe 100 yards. Twice that would do it every time, but I'd have to push it a mile to find one that long.

What about synching your carbs? Is the sporty a single carb setup or dual? I bought a set of mercury sticks when I was in college and still have them hanging on the wall of my work space. I also was lucky enough to get a Harmonizer when they were available a couple years ago.

What's left? Points, timing, plugs and wires?

Notice I said "haul" up the hill. No way I'm pushing a Harley anywhere. :D

A lot of broken arms were involved, previous to the developement of the electrical starter/ring gear.

I bought my 1970 R50/5 as a "bike in a box" project. It was a rolling frame and 4 or 5 boxes of parts. Sometime in 2005 I started putting it together and found a few parts were missing; a carb, the cam, a couple lifters and some other minor parts.

I rebuilt the motor with new mains and a used cam and got everything together and the bike wouldn't fire up. I sprayed carb cleaner in the carbs and the bike would start and run for a few seconds until all the cleaner was gone. I was stumped for a while and decided to replace all the parts inside the carbs. I went to the BMW microfiche and bought new needles, jets, gaskets, jet holders and a spring loaded thing that acted like an accelerator pump. I went thru both carbs and the bike fired up and ran like it should after that.

I guess the lesson I learned is the carbs age and wear and you can't really tell their condition. I have been temped to replace the old Bings with Mikunis but never got around to it. The Bings are working fine.

It's a single carb, which is a large part of her inherent problem. It's huge, by motorcycle standards, with an 1 7/8" (47.625mm) bore. Not much velocity through it at idle, much less when kicking. That, and the 45 agree cylinder offset results in a very uneven firing split, 315 degrees between front and rear, then 405 degrees between rear and front. That confuses the hell out of the vacuum signal.

I recently installed a full electronic ignition unit, and ran it the last half of last summer. Brand new wires, brand new plugs, 13.7 volts on the volt meter, etc. She absolutely runs like a top, best she ever has in the 45 years I've owned her.

And, like I said, usually a one or two kick starter, even when stone cold and after having sat for weeks, or even months. Just every now and then she gets stubborn. No rhyme or reason.

Heh heh... yup, I see that now. She is actually pretty "light" (for a Harley) at about 470 pounds. Still 100 more than my Ducati 900SS or my Honda XR650L, but an easy 350 pounds lighter than my Road King (hell, I can barely push that thing on my flat garage floor).

But, yeah, pushing her up any kind of hill vs. kicking her 81 times. I chose the latter.

One of the other problems stems from riding her in this colder weather. I know better than to don my jacket before I start trying, but I'm already wearing my long underwear, insulated riding pants, and sweater. I was soon down to my long underwear and pants but, even then, worked up a pretty good sweat. I'm not going to get down to bare chested just to start my bike - my neighbors worry enough about me as it is...

I rode a 1978 Honda 750k through a winter or two in my early years. Slide sideways down some streets hopping on sheet ice getting to work. Froze my hands at 110mph on the highway extended with no gloves. Took 35mph curves at 90mph. Rear tire went sideways a foot popping a wheelie at speed after a rain. Raced a guy on a 2-lane who kicked my ass above three digits. Had the Vetter fairing windshield fall into my lap on a 50mph 2-lane in traffic.

Did it all on that bike in a couple years. Loved it. Gave it to friend or friends who trashed it further and abandoned it at some point. Years later living in another state across country I got a abandoned property compound notice.

Did the same on a Kawi 2 stroke triple al thru college. I used Hippo Hands to save my fingers. And I swapped out A LOT of center spark plugs.

Just finished rebuilding the top end on my 1968 Triumph Daytona. New cylinder, pistons, and completely rebuilt head. Opened up the garage door (heatwave outside:28 degrees). Put some gas in, tickled the carbs, started on the first kick.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1705876410.jpg

Beautiful bike! You know, though, that your story is starting just like mine... We also both know that your day is coming... a beauty like that is going to someday just fold her arms, stamp her foot, and say "no"...