kick starting

spd122 · Post by **spd122** » Wed Sep 08, 2010 11:25 pm

OK, so I have put a few hundred miles on her in the first week or so. Today I thought I'd try to kick start it just to get ready for the colder months. Pulled out the choke, gave her a little gas, held in the clutch and kicked. Nothing. Seems like there is no resistance on the kicker, am I missing something? Whenever I have kicked a bike before it has had some resistance to the kick.

tylerhannan · Post by **tylerhannan** » Wed Sep 08, 2010 11:36 pm

You won't be able to kick with the clutch lever pulled in...the opposite of electric start. Try the following:

- Put it in neutral
- let go of clutch lever
- put it on center stand (if you had to roll back or forth for neutral)
- put petcock straight up
- pull choke
- Give it a kick

Success?

Lovelandstella · Post by **Lovelandstella** » Thu Sep 09, 2010 4:55 am

tylerhannan wrote:You won't be able to kick with the clutch lever pulled in...

+1

spd122 · Post by **spd122** » Thu Sep 09, 2010 11:51 am

Yup, totally because the clutch was in. Total newbie question, but you guys saved me a headache on a cold morning. Thanks.

illnoise · Post by **illnoise** » Thu Sep 09, 2010 1:53 pm

Just make sure it's in N, or kicking it will launch it forward!

mlee10018 · Post by **mlee10018** » Fri Jul 08, 2011 3:45 am

Sometimes when I try to kick start, the lever would be stuck and I can not push it down. Is this because the scooter is in gear even though the neutral light is on? It made a rough gear on gear sound once and didn't start other times it would just be stuck, but the electric start worked fine to get it started in both instances. Is there a trick to kick starting? Thanks!

Silver Streak · Post by **Silver Streak** » Fri Jul 08, 2011 5:27 pm

Every 4T bike is a little different as regards the best position of the piston before depressing the lever. Usually it's somewhere near or just before top dead center on the compression stroke. By the way, on a 4-stroke at least, you should actually be pushing firmly down on the lever as opposed to "kicking" it.

My Stella 4T is the easiest kick-starting scoot I've owned. It nearly always starts without effort on the first kick. Big difference from my Vespa LX, which has the crappiest kick starter known to man.

Lovelandstella · Post by **Lovelandstella** » Fri Jul 08, 2011 10:27 pm

mlee10018 wrote:Sometimes when I try to kick start, the lever would be stuck and I can not push it down. Is this because the scooter is in gear even though the neutral light is on? It made a rough gear on gear sound once and didn't start other times it would just be stuck, but the electric start worked fine to get it started in both instances. Is there a trick to kick starting? Thanks!

might be the same thing as mine. what you say happened when you try to kick start while in gear. but how is that possible you ask?
my N light comes on during 1st gear, neutral, and 2nd gear. it's being fixed under warranty, but that could be your issue. you think it's in neutral- you see it's in neutral, but it's not.
Normally it's no big deal- take the time look real close and get the shifter to the right place.
- but if I stall at a light with this super silent engine I've found there is a lot of pressure to get it exactly right the 1st time and uh, yeah, It takes me an embarassing # of tries to "find" neutral while I hop on the starter and look like a fool.
getting fixed though. under warranty.

mg1342mg · Post by **mg1342mg** » Sun Jul 10, 2011 12:06 am

Don't feel bad. I did the exact same thing before it occurred to me to leave the clutch out in neutral.

desmolicious · Post by **desmolicious** » Sun Jul 10, 2011 2:38 am

mg1342mg wrote:Don't feel bad. I did the exact same thing before it occurred to me to leave the clutch out in neutral.

Me too when I first got my PX.

It seems that the rites of passage for new shifter scoots owners are:

1/ Run out of gas cuz we've forgotten to turn the fuel tap on.

2/ Try to kick start it with the clutch pulled in.

We all do it at least once..

mlee10018 · Post by **mlee10018** » Sun Jul 10, 2011 4:11 am

So the gear on gear sound is because it is in gear I am assuming? I feel that its been harder to kick start since, but it could be that I am more timid...

BuddyRaton · Post by **BuddyRaton** » Sun Jul 10, 2011 11:51 am

another tip

When you kick it down don't hold the pedal down...let the pedal come right back up. Keeping it down will wear out the kickstart gear at a faster rate than normal.