Kickstarting a commando

If we was all Tarzans, All the Time, In decent conditions, then no question he man stomp or kick down balanced on tires is the normal ideal but not everyone has full lower limb use so just accept there is no sense to ride nor any one way to get going. I have often thought to carry a cordless drill with a skate board wheel to spin up rear on center stand then drop clutch in sencod. I figured out how to kick my 1st Combat off 160 m away after the drag launch wheelie took out R knee so could kick my own R hip on the side with it. I could not put any weight on R leg so try to kick start with R knee folded up. Where there is a will there is a Commando way testing it.

I went from a Suzuki Trail 80 right to a G80cs. At 14, I wasn't big enough to pick it up when lying down, nor could I push it through without the compression release ( that 's not saying anything cause nobody can), but believe you me, firing up that son of a bitch was a right of passage for me. Anything else, and I mean anything, is a piece of cake.

It may be a bit personal for me and my Red Hot Norton, but it's romance, nostalgia, mochismo and starting it cold with one kick is a testament of achivement every single time. And who can argue with the simplicity of it all.

I won't disagree with those who wish to have E starts as long as they offer the same in return. Like I saud, for me it goes fairly deep in my personal makeup.

Hehehe a mean rally contest would see who left standing after kick starts on increasing degrees of spark advance till crying uncle, carried away or ride off screaming like Tarzan at a Harley rally. I have seen kick levers and side stand attached to semi trucks just for kix.

How is a real man supposed to feel behave when stopping on a unpave crest to clear a tree fall in the dark cold rain and bike stalls from low battery idle to see and boot just slips off kicker brusing bones each time d/t water/mud, so push off down a few dozen yd long slope but nil traction so just grinds to a halt at the bottom... Scream like Tarzan at a Harley Party.

Or , you can slip off the wet cold kicker rubber after a weak battery cold start attempt , in the rain , and wreck your upper R. tibia and destroy your tendons , hitting the ground instead . . . 7 1/2 mos. later. Still healing , not 100 %. Try that startup ? Wife demanding sell or e- start. :roll:

First attempt this morning to start the norton on it's wheels.

Yeah... easy actually. It needs some getting used to. It feels like hitting an uninflated tyre with a hammer. Impact is the same, but it feels dampened. The compression of the engine is partly absorbed by the suspension, so it feels less direct.

I'll make it my new habit!

Its got nothing to do about how big you are or how much weight you are or how old you are its got to do with how you kick start your Norton, when I first brought my Norton new I was a 17 year old skinny as shit (9 stone nothing), yes it took me some time to get use to kicking my Norton, but once mastered, no problems, yes I used the stands at first but found out not using the side stand or centre stand it was easier to start without, when I brought my Norton in 76 I could have brought a new electric start Norton, but the last kick start model was $450 cheaper and about 60 lbs lighter, when your only young and not erning that much money it was a good move as well in them days you were classed as a wimp if you needed a electric start, but who cares I love my kick start Norton and even better when I don't need a big battery, less weight to me means better handling and more speed and that was my thinking when I was 17 years old and even better as I got older.

Ashley

When the kids came along the Commando had to go on the back burner, but once a year, and on a buggered battery, I would get it out and kick like hell till it started. I would then zoom up the hills and back home before I got stopped by the "snakes". One day, during this drama, the kick start pawl broke. My leg bent back further than it should have, and I collapsed into a heap on the ground with the 750 on top of me. I was fkeucd. Luckily the next door neighbour saw it happen and came to my rescue. Needles to say, I have always started my commando's on the centre stand since then.
my 850 HAS ALWAYS REQUIRED A GOOD KICK, ESPECIALLY JUST BEFORE THE PISTON RINGs BROKE UP WHEN IT HAD STUFF ALL COMPRESSIONS. After fitting new pistons and grinding the valves, I could then virtually stand on the starter and not move it down.

I have been amused by the comments here about just pushing the lever down. Well, since the engine rebuild and the Boyer packed up, I have started the engine 3 nights now and it has fired up easily. I have also just realised the lever now only needs pushing down like you have mentioned above. That Pazon certainly has made a difference.

Time to go for a test ride now. Its 9;35 at night here, cold but clear. Here goes.
All the best.
Dereck

I kickstart it on the center stand by standing beside it and using my left leg. Reason being I had a hip replacement on my right side and don't want a kickback ruining the good job the surgeon did. Also it keeps my full weight off the center stand.

kohlerb, good on your to adapt to keep kicking but caution ya about the lasting success of hip or other major joint replacements I deal with when no more bigger sizes available to replace hip a 3rd time or bone left to implant into, then its back to the neurological factors that cause the joint failure in first place >>> of muscle tone/balance keeping the joint in alignment as its only the muscles that keep the joint stable as artificial hip joints are not stable by themselves like a full ball trapped in socket. Might consider a hair analysis to measure heavy metal releases and maybe the detox of them to stay ahead of the poisoning. Only long term solution I know of is traction and decompression - regrowing of spinal segment postures to dissolve spurs and increase disc spaces so nerves can function - more so on neck than lumbar though both at once is the more common fault to regrow. One triple hip implant case has blue stain coming out sweaty areas, especially bra area which is a color associated with cobalt leaching out. Got this 77 yr old waling and functional enough again to buy new car and active life on their own again - Mostly by attention to upper neck. Main injury in this case was @ age 27 motorcycle crash into a rock pit 2-3 stories drop to awake in hospital after comma a few days...
Another thing is few of us eat like cavemen or indians so taking full range of macro minerals with manganese sure pays off so not dissolving bones to save life each night as pH goes acidic and alkaline minerals released to prevent leg cramps to heart attack or stroke, so bones get shrunken and weaker.

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=hi ... 0poisoning

If you fit a belt drive with a large front pulley kickstarting becomes much easier and the gearbox gets an easier life too.

I just don't know. I've tried lots of variations and I just can't 'push' it through compression, much less get it through the second compression unless I put my weight into it and that's when mine starts, on the second compression stroke. And I've even gone from SAE50 to V-Twin 20W50. There have been a few times on the road when the bike is good and hot and all I have to do is just push it through, without any stand, it almost starts itself, but cold, no way. I guess I'm a whimp. But when I can't start it, I'm selling. Pazon too.

Then there's that old video of the Italians starting their Norton's with their loafers on. Go figure.

True, the lightweight design of the centerstand and its tiny little lugs that stop it against the transmission plates are an inadequate design - if you are going to start it on the stand.

That said, I admit to starting it on the stand in the past. Further, I weigh more than 250 lbs and so starting it, forced me to repair and reweld my stand several times, including re-bushing it and re-bolting it and re-welding it and re-reinforcing it.

Nowadays however I can start it off the stand and do so - easy peezy, cold or hot, I have no trouble in starting at all - TriSpark.

The Amal Concentrics are fine at idle/starting, always were so long as you don't overdo the tickling. Nowadays I am running Jim Schmidt's PWKs which have enricheners that work great for cold starts.

For me, it is almost always a one kick affair.

DogT said:

I just don't know. I've tried lots of variations and I just can't 'push' it through compression, much less get it through the second compression unless I put my weight into it and that's when mine starts, on the second compression stroke. And I've even gone from SAE50 to V-Twin 20W50. There have been a few times on the road when the bike is good and hot and all I have to do is just push it through, without any stand, it almost starts itself, but cold, no way. I guess I'm a whimp. But when I can't start it, I'm selling. Pazon too.

Then there's that old video of the Italians starting their Norton's with their loafers on. Go figure.

Click to expand...

...probably a worn-out old crock with no compression.
and maybe a mag.

Torontonian said:

Or , you can slip off the wet cold kicker rubber after a weak battery cold start attempt , in the rain , and wreck your upper R. tibia and destroy your tendons , hitting the ground instead . . . 7 1/2 mos. later. Still healing , not 100 %. Try that startup ? Wife demanding sell or e- start. :roll:

Click to expand...

Did the kicker rubber slide off the shaft? Mine used to do that. Now I have 2 wraps of 1/16 welding wire twitched round just inboard of the larger diameter. The rubber just cant expand now and come off.
Dereck

johntickle said:

If you fit a belt drive with a large front pulley kickstarting becomes much easier and the gearbox gets an easier life too.

Click to expand...

Probably the longer kick lever will do a similar thing. [ and cost less for us not so affluent ]
Dereck

kerinorton said:

Torontonian said:

Or , you can slip off the wet cold kicker rubber after a weak battery cold start attempt , in the rain , and wreck your upper R. tibia and destroy your tendons , hitting the ground instead . . . 7 1/2 mos. later. Still healing , not 100 %. Try that startup ? Wife demanding sell or e- start. :roll:

Click to expand...

Did the kicker rubber slide off the shaft? Mine used to do that. Now I have 2 wraps of 1/16 welding wire twitched round just inboard of the larger diameter. The rubber just cant expand now and come off.
Dereck

Click to expand...

Circlip works well too.
Ta.

needing said:

kerinorton said:

Torontonian said:

Or , you can slip off the wet cold kicker rubber after a weak battery cold start attempt , in the rain , and wreck your upper R. tibia and destroy your tendons , hitting the ground instead . . . 7 1/2 mos. later. Still healing , not 100 %. Try that startup ? Wife demanding sell or e- start. :roll:

Click to expand...

Did the kicker rubber slide off the shaft? Mine used to do that. Now I have 2 wraps of 1/16 welding wire twitched round just inboard of the larger diameter. The rubber just cant expand now and come off.
Dereck

Click to expand...

Circlip works well too.
Ta.

Click to expand...

Not a bad idea never throught about it before as I tie wire my throttle grip to stop it slipping, nothing worst then slipping off the kick start lever, I love my long T160 long kick start lever, just that extra levege makes it so much easier when you run higher compression engines.

Ashley

Hi Ashley.
Off topic - oops.
Try a peice of plasterer's sanding mesh wrapped almost around the plastic throttle tube then push the grip on. They never slip again.
Ta.

ashman said:

Not a bad idea never throught about it before as I tie wire my throttle grip to stop it slipping, nothing worst then slipping off the kick start lever, I love my long T160 long kick start lever, just that extra levege makes it so much easier when you run higher compression engines.

Ashley

Click to expand...

I used a zip tie for years before I fixed it proper.

I really dont understand all the nonsense about kick starting.
Grab the thing and kick it.
Come on you, guys its no big deal.
Im 60 with crummy knees.