Hard kicking

i am not a mechanic, but these comes to my mind as possible problems.are your valves adjusted properly?are your cam follower bearings in good shape?is your cam chain worn out?is you decompression system adjusted and working properly?might want to have a look under the clutch cover at the engagement sledge as it might be torn up.this should be enough things for you to check on tonight.good luck.dan. :cry:

t-jet-tim,

I had a similar issue with my kick starter and am almost certain it was something to do with the decomp. My bike would nearly kick me off the saddle when the piston reached TDC and the kick start lever would stay at about the mid stroke point. I would pull the manual decomp in just enough to get the piton moving again and have another kick and would eventually get the bike going and never thought to much about it. Thought it was my kick starting regiment needed some adjusting.

Recently (about three weeks ago) I had a similar mishap and the kick starter made a nasty cracking (as if something snapped internally) but this time no locking up of the kick start lever, went through its normal motion with no resistance.

At first my stomach dropped into me arss and I saw $ $ $ $ everywhere!!! then After a few minutes of looking the bike over I decided to see how the kick start lever motion felt as it returned to its normal starting position without any problem.

*** History ***
Since I purchased the bike I have had to push down on the kick starter an inch or so in order to pull the manual decomp lever in. It would not allow me to pull the lever in with out doing this as something felt like it was binding.
*** History Over ***

After the snapping noise I have had absolutely no problems starting my bike and everything is working the way I believe it is supposed to. I can pull my manual decomp lever in without using the kick start lever. Bike starts on the third (if not first or second) kick almost always. I have not unzipped my bike to see what the issue was and I have not had any problems with her since.

I adjusted my valves, cleaned air filter, changed oil, cleaned carby religiously and it never started this easy before.

Maybe someone could give me a diagnosis as to what my bike was doing as I have not a clue. I like the way it runs now so you know what they say, " If it's not broken, don't fix it".

Regards,
Sandskipper

I'm not sure if this translates to your bike bill? but when I get that feeling on the kick starter, its compression and the bike is telling me she wants to start? and yes the auto compression system makes some very weird clicking noises when it doing it's thing on this 470. Sometimes you need to live by "If it's not broken, ignore it?"

t-jet-tim,

The battery should have no affect on kick starting whatsoever. It is most probable that charging your battery coincided with a "good" period. When eliminating the e-start you would also eliminate the battery.

As Dan suggested above check valve adjustment, then check decompression systems, particularly the decomp. adjustment. It may also be worth checking the throw on your kick-start.

HTH
Simon

I remember Twistie saying something about the decomp occasionally getting kicked to the off position when the follower contacts it and the engine appearing to lock against the next compression. His post was regarding e-start but this would also apply to k-start.

We have a Taffy, a Mitchie, why not a Twistie?

Pretty sure he means twistthethrottle. He has done some auto decompression mods I believe.

Twistthethrottle it is. My apologies.

We have a savoury treat here called Twisties. The chicken flavoured ones are damn good too!

Brad said:

Twistthethrottle it is. My apologies.

We have a savoury treat here called Twisties. The chicken flavoured ones are damn good too!

Click to expand...

Maybe you and Jason can sell them in the "Marketplace" so the rest of the world can have a taste!

I have the same problem about hard kicking.Started doing it all a once.In my case it might be just not broken in yet{less than a hour ride time}.My bike has no decompression cables hooked up but have noticed that the spring behind the decompression lever on the side of the head has no tension on it.I wonder if the two could be related?I think I will leave it alone for now.These bikes are temperamental any way and I think mine is having a mood swing.

I think when a bike has been fairly easy to start for a while and then when it acts up,one would naturally assume the worst.I have owned and been around other bikes that were a real pain to start.I think it is something that is unexpected is what catches one off guard.The last time I started my bike it was in 6 kicks and that is including the stopping half way through and rocking the starter to get it to move.Remember what Benny Hill said about assume? :lol: Take care.

t-jet-tim said:

starter

Every berg needs one of these.

Click to expand...

I got 320 pounds of starting force! :lol: