Modern Buddy

I had a really hard time kick starting today in 20-25f weather. My buddy was knocked over by the wind during the day so after trying for about 10 minutes I changed the spark plug. Then I kicked it for another 20 minutes. No luck.
My questions are:
1.are there any special tricks and techniques to kick starting? Gas, no gas, brake?... The only times that I have kick started it in the past, I considered myself lucky. This is even after it has been running for a while.
2. When is it time for a new battery? I have had this battery on the tender for a week and it still died today. It did die on me a few times last winter and i do have extra lights on it. it also lasted longer last winter.
Thanks.

There is definitely a technique to kick starting. You can try a touch of throttle in cold weather, but generally no throttle.

Sounds like you need a new battery for sure.

Keys' on the mark kick starting technique:

Keys wrote:First; gently push down on the kick-lever until you hit resistance.

Second; bring your foot (and consequently the kick-lever) back up to the top. The engine will stay in the same place, which is the compression stroke.

Third; kick fully downward with a firm and quick motion.

This will have allowed you to kick from the optimum engine position to enable you to kick through a full cycle rather than a partial cycle in which you may or may not catch a firing sequence.

The only thing I'll add is to not give it much—if any—throttle. You can flood the engine if you're not careful.

My procedure for kick starting the Buddy is similar to ericalm and Keys except my procedure has 2 additional steps:

1. Turn the ignition key to the ON position.

2. Squeeze one of the brake levers so that the brake is engaged.

3. While the brake is engaged:

A. - gently push down on the kick-lever until you hit resistance.

B. - bring your foot (and consequently the kick-lever) back up to the top. The engine will stay in the same place, which is the compression stroke.

C. - kick fully downward with a firm and quick motion.

This is the procedure I use to kick start the Buddy but I haven’t experimented with the steps to see if the Buddy will kick start without engaging the brake.

It usually takes me 2 or 3 attempts at kicking before my Buddy starts.

hcstrider wrote:My procedure for kick starting the Buddy is similar to ericalm and Keys except my procedure has 2 additional steps:

1. Turn the ignition key to the ON position.

2. Squeeze one of the brake levers so that the brake is engaged.

3. While the brake is engaged:

A. - gently push down on the kick-lever until you hit resistance.

B. - bring your foot (and consequently the kick-lever) back up to the top. The engine will stay in the same place, which is the compression stroke.

C. - kick fully downward with a firm and quick motion.

This is the procedure I use to kick start the Buddy but I haven’t experimented with the steps to see if the Buddy will kick start without engaging the brake.

It usually takes me 2 or 3 attempts at kicking before my Buddy starts.

You don't need to engage any brakes whilst kickstarting. (But you'd better be sure to have the scoot on the centerstand!)
Also make sure that the ignition key is turned ON! (Prolly the most common error...)

Drumwoulf wrote:Also make sure that the ignition key is turned ON! (Prolly the most common error...)

Heh, yep—and the killswitch, too!

Hmmmmmmmmm - the Buddy dealership told me that when I kick start I have to have one of the brakes engaged. Maybe that's just for safety reasons? I haven't had to do it yet - just have my notes on all my questions

Bethers wrote:Hmmmmmmmmm - the Buddy dealership told me that when I kick start I have to have one of the brakes engaged. Maybe that's just for safety reasons? I haven't had to do it yet - just have my notes on all my questions

Nope, you don't have to but it would be safer.

Bethers wrote:Hmmmmmmmmm - the Buddy dealership told me that when I kick start I have to have one of the brakes engaged. Maybe that's just for safety reasons? I haven't had to do it yet - just have my notes on all my questions

I've always held the rear brake. Maybe it's just habit from needing to have it engaged in order to use the electric start.

I also got the recommendation about kick starting with the brake engaged from my dealer. What can I say, I am a good drone because I never thought to deviate from the brake engaged kick start procedure. I assumed that just like the automatic start, the Buddy would not kick start unless a brake lever was pressed so thank you for clearing up my misconception. As Bethers pointed out maybe engaging the brake is recommended for safety reasons just in case the Buddy falls off of its center stand while kick starting.

Kick starting the Buddy is something that I occasionally practice because I want to know how to do it before my battery dies, in fact I did it on January 1 so that I could take my Buddy for a short spin around my neighborhood.

ok now you've got me wondering! I'm almost certain that I've kickstarted with no brakes applied but I'm going to go test it in an hour when I leave work just to be sure!!!

thanks all, I accidentally pushed the kill switch which is under the muff so that was contributing to it not starting.

When I finally got it back home and plugged it into the charger, the light immediately turned green from red. Does this mean that my battery is not holding much of a charge?

mlee10018 wrote:thanks all, I accidentally pushed the kill switch which is under the muff so that was contributing to it not starting.

That will contribute quite a bit to not starting.

mlee10018 wrote:When I finally got it back home and plugged it into the charger, the light immediately turned green from red. Does this mean that my battery is not holding much of a charge?

A dead battery will not take a charge at all. These red/green indicator lights are not very reliable though. You may want to check the charged voltage with a true voltmeter. It should be up around 13.5 volts or a little higher.

My old battery still charges up fine on the tender. What I can tell you is that once installed, and after sitting for a day, it won't start the scooter.
For the $50-60 it was just worth it to get a new one.

To clear up a number of questions...no, the brakes do NOT need to be applied to kick-start a Buddy. They just need to be applied to use the electric starter.

And about an hour ago I went out to kick mine, but it tried to bite me so I went back in and had some ice cream...

--Keys