SuzukiSavage.com - Kicking over a big thumper

jimbrough

Ex Member

Kicking over a big thumper
12/20/05 at 16:57:37

I've heard it would be impossible to kick over a savage so that's why there is just electric start....never questioned it but then talking to old guys from England way back when and heard they had 750's and whatnot long ago but, of course, no electric start. So they must have had to kick start 'em all - what a job that would have been! Doctors must have seen a lot of pulled groins in the day!

Anybody ever had the occasion to kick-start a big thumper? Was it a killer?

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sluggo

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Re: Kicking over a big thumper
Reply #1 - 12/20/05 at 17:53:15

i had a 81 gn400 suzuki that was kick start only thumper

i would hit the kill switch, i never had a key in it, i just left it turned on.. since it ran on a magneto i never even kept a battery in it. i knew no one would ever get it started.

it used a maunuel device (simular to the electric on the savage) to find tdc. on the proper stroke.
heres how it workeded, you pull hand lever, gently kick the kickstart lever, when hand lever clicked in place, jump up and kick the baby over. sometimes again and again.

if you didn't know how to work the lever. it got ugly. i watch it throw several people over the handle bars as the kick start recoiled under compression. of course those were the macho guys who claimed they could start it on the compression stroke. i let em and laffed my butt off.

it can be done, but why.... Grin

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SINGLES RULE, HARLEYS DROOL

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LANCER Serious Thumper Alliance Member Offline Savage Beast Performance Parts Posts: 10661 Oklahoma Gender:	Re: Kicking over a big thumper Reply #2 - 12/20/05 at 18:34:18 My Goldstar had a major performance cam, 11:1 comp. piston, and NO compression release. It provided all the motivation you needed to learn the proper starting technique right away.
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bentwheel Serious Thumper 2005 No Login Offline Ride free, citizen Posts: 658 Sarnia, Ontario, Canada Gender:	Re: Kicking over a big thumper Reply #3 - 12/20/05 at 19:42:20 In the mid seventies I owned a 1949 AJS model 18 500cc single. It had an adjustable lever so you could retard/advance the timing to aid starting and running. It had a racing magneto on it and once you learned the drill it always started easily, but it took a fullbody kick to start it.
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Tim Krantz Guest	Re: Kicking over a big thumper Reply #4 - 12/20/05 at 20:15:16 I had a 78 Yamaha SR500, kick start only. Once you knew the procedure it was a breeze. I actually would opt for that system, at least the manual comp release. as the engine would light on the first kick or second. But it could embarrass you.
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bentwheel Serious Thumper 2005 No Login Offline Ride free, citizen Posts: 658 Sarnia, Ontario, Canada Gender:	Re: Kicking over a big thumper Reply #5 - 12/20/05 at 20:26:11 I had a Yamaha SRX 600 Single, 1986 I believe. If it started on the first 5 kicks, well that was a good thing. If it did not start, then you were in for a work out. Sometimes 20 to 30 kicks is what it took. I remember several times, becoming too exhausted to continue.
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sluggo Serious Thumper ModSquad Offline big singles lead, twins follow the pack Posts: 4744 moses lake washington Gender:	Re: Kicking over a big thumper Reply #6 - 12/20/05 at 20:35:47 bentwheel wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:12: I remember several times, becoming too exhausted to continue. well that and the bruised instep.
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Paladin.

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Re: Kicking over a big thumper
Reply #7 - 12/20/05 at 21:00:14

bentwheel wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:12:

....If it did not start, then you were in for a work out. Sometimes 20 to 30 kicks is what it took. I remember several times, becoming too exhausted to continue.

That can happen with little singles too. We dug my uncle's RV125 out of the shed where it had sat for a year or so. Kick. Kick. Kick. Kick. Push up and down the street. Kick. Kick. I go in the house for a drink, Wendy asks, "Did you remember to turn on the gas?" "What do you think we are, stupid?" Go back out. Bike starts in aq short while. Go back in the house. Wendy has the class to not smirk.

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diesel Full Member 2004 No Login Offline Posts: 181 Watsontown, PA	Re: Kicking over a big thumper Reply #8 - 12/20/05 at 22:18:44 big single no more difficult than 80 cu in Indian, 40 per cylinder, retard spark and have at it. no comp. release either, but the 7 to 1 comp. ratio helped a lot.
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SavagePielk Ex Member	Re: Kicking over a big thumper Reply #9 - 12/20/05 at 22:20:05 there actually is a kickstartkit available for Savage but it's $2500...
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sluggo Serious Thumper ModSquad Offline big singles lead, twins follow the pack Posts: 4744 moses lake washington Gender:	Re: Kicking over a big thumper Reply #10 - 12/20/05 at 23:23:18 SavagePielk wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:12: there actually is a kickstartkit available for Savage but it's $2500... half the price of a new savage just to get that "old time" feel. sorry i'll stick to the electric start. i kicked my last thumper for over 20 years. thank goodness for modern technology.
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SavagePielk Ex Member	Re: Kicking over a big thumper Reply #11 - 12/21/05 at 00:53:06 haha I feel the same about it. Always call the startbutton the lazy-people-button and I love it! Is a Savage that cheap over there? In Europe this would be less than 1/3 of a new Savage, not 1/2... ow and by the way, I prefer pushing a button over breaking a leg
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klx650sm2002 Serious Thumper Offline The more I learn the less I know. Posts: 2041 Cumbria,England Gender:	Re: Kicking over a big thumper Reply #12 - 12/21/05 at 04:29:19 XT 500 I had in S.A. was startable without using the compression release. Clive W
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Ed L.

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Re: Kicking over a big thumper
Reply #13 - 12/21/05 at 06:42:08

I've got a little Ducati 250, the thing will give you a sore ankle for a week when it kicks back. When I first put together the timing was a bit advanced, thought I broke an ankle a couple times trying to get it started. It's backwards with the kicker on the left and shifter on the right. Don't think I would like to take on a big thumper or V twin.

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Silver '02, clubman handle bars, Cobra headlight, Sportster muffler, K+N stock air filter, 152.5 main, Superbrace, oil cooler, 1/2 inch aluminium plate forward controls, spark advance, goes like stink

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rokrover

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Re: Kicking over a big thumper
Reply #14 - 12/21/05 at 07:32:07

I learned the hard way on a Velocette 500. Magneto ignition with manual advance / retard (start fully retarded), Amal carb with no idle circuit (manually prime / flood till gas dripped) and woefully low kickstart gearing that required a full body leap to turn over fast enough. The most critical part was to position the piston just so on the compresion / ignition stroke. The bump-start technique was to put it in gear and roll the bike backwards till it locked on max compression. If you had the luxury of a manual compression release you'd ease the piston over with the kickstart to max compression, then pull the compression release to nudge the piston just a shade past this point then kick. I almost won a Norton International in a bet when the owner said if I could start it it was mine. Of course he'd hope I'd go sailing over the bars when it kicked back! When he saw I was an old timer who knew the drill the offer was promptly retracted. I'm sure the Savage would be easy with a manual compression release and kick start. Probably like Yamaha's SR500 there might be a little window where there was a pointer on the end of the camshaft to indicate the correct kickstart position in the engine cycle. Back in the good old days real men didn't need such steenkin gadgets Wink

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