kickstarting street bikes

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I'm looking at Harley Davidsons that are kick started. Does anyone know a good point to find out which were and which weren't? It looks like in the 60s all the bikes were and in the seventies the Sportsters were....just going by eBay.

anyway...

What makes a bike difficult to start? Let's say you have the carb or Fuel injection dialed in. Is it engine displacement or compression ratio? Anything else?
 
Originally Posted By: mjoekingz28
I'm looking at Harley Davidsons that are kick started. Does anyone know a good point to find out which were and which weren't? It looks like in the 60s all the bikes were and in the seventies the Sportsters were....just going by eBay.

anyway...

What makes a bike difficult to start? Let's say you have the carb or Fuel injection dialed in. Is it engine displacement or compression ratio? Anything else?


The last kick start Harleys from the factory were 30 years ago. They were the big twin models, not the sportsters which I believe phased out the kick start in the late 70s. You won't find any fuel injected factory ones with a kick start...I can think of only a couple kick start injected bikes today. The Royal Enfields (have both electric and kick), and the Yamaha SR400.

As for what makes them hard to start...well compression is the big thing. Higher compression engines are harder to kick over. Also engine friction creates physical resistance. You can alleviate the compression with compression releases. Indeed some of the high performance modern engines have them to help the starter wing over the engine. Having the engine in a good state of tune certainly helps it light up (valves set, carb adjusted properly, and ignition in good shape)

If you are not mechanically inclined, I would pass on any Shovelhead or Ironhead Harley. They require much more attention than the later Evolution engines, parts are not hard to find but are harder than evos, and there is much less aftermarket support for them. If you want a kick start Evolution, it would be 84 to 85 and a big twin model, but only some models have them.
 
My 1970 Triumph is a kick start and once i got it dialed in its one good kick. I believe they went with electric start in 1980. The big single cylinder bikes are harder to physically kick over also if they are high compression but then you could always just push start it down a hill.

The weather also plays a big role, once it gets into the 30's and 40's its harder to start and i may have to adjust the carbs for that reason. It may take 5-10 kicks instead of the one. It is much more work maintaining an older bike but well worth it imo.
 
Flywheel weight and kickstarter/primary ratio are the biggest factors. A heavier flywheel will carry the piston over compression much easier, and a kickstarter stroke that will go from just past TDC to just before TDC will maximise the kick. I started riding British bikes as a 7.5 stone (105lb) 16 year old...and was no heavier 10 years later. I had to learn a technique, and it set me up for anything that came my way.
 
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