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I don't think that will work. You need to get the positive jumper on the positive battery terminal somehow.( If I'm wrong someone else will jump in I hope  ) If you're jumping from a car don't have the car engine running.  

verslagen1 wrote on 04/12/13 at 10:25:05:


Push starting was my first thought, but when I put it in gear and I could hardly push it with the clutch lever pulled, I gave up on the idea.  Seems oil turns to the consistency of honey when it's 32 degrees.  I just hopped in the truck and headed for work.  I may be able to push start it tonight, but I'm still wondering about the jump start if all else fails.

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32 degrees!! Yer lucky it didn't start. Probably woulda froze to death

Hook it up to a battery charger and wait for the weather to warm up if I was you

Going directly to the starter is fine, you'll get enough current backfeeding through the cable to energize the ignitor and related "modern conveniences" so it will start. Unlike a good old fashioned points system, these need power to the "brain" to start. Push in the starter button, touch the hot lead to the starter post, and then hope.

Another classic example of over thinking... these bikes really needed to be equipped with points, a kicker AND an electrical system that doesn't require a battery to engage a black box of incipient doom in order to run.

It would be interesting and probably helpful for many folks to see a video of someone push-starting a Savage or S40.  So if someone has done it before successfully and would not mind making a demo video of it, I think lots of folks on here would appreciate it very much.  I know I would!  Perhaps your wife or buddy could record it.  I would try making the demo video myself, but I've never push-started a bike and have no way of recording it, anway.

Thank you very much!  

Update: I got lucky.  It was 64 degrees when I got home tonight, so I thought I'd give it a try.  Choke out one notch, and twisting the throttle as I hit the start button, it fired before it had cranked more than half a revolution!  Took it down the freeway on a 10 mile round trip just to charge it, and I'm up and running again.  Now if I can just avoid turning the switch the wrong way.

I like  houstonbofh's idea for jumper cables, but I'm thinking a pigtail on the battery with spade connectors, and then an extension with alligator clips on the end.  I could also hook up a battery tender with the setup.

SALB wrote on 04/12/13 at 19:52:10:



If you're thinkin' about using your added wires for a jump start, here's what I did a few years back:


I modded mine for an easy, no-tools-needed jump start.

I found a used grounding wire from my old '81 GL1100.  I attached one end to the positive battery cable and insulated the bejeezus out of it.  Here is a pic:





FYI, the lower-right portion of the jump start lead is not connected to anything....it just dead-heads to a terminal under the black insulating hose I've got shoved over the end.  Said terminal is easy to hook a positive jumper cable to.

Not pretty, but it works (just like my Savage) - it's the next best thing to having a kick-starter.

Had to use it in anger for the first time a month or so ago, when my 9 year-old battery gave up the ghost.....

IHTH!