Possible solution on retaining kick starter with rearsets

I had the same issue on my bike - and I don't have a starter. I have Tarozzi rearsets on mine, and the footpegs fold up, like on your Raasks. When I first mounted the rearsets, the kickstart lever would hit the peg in the folded up position. I heated and bent the lever out, it now cleared the folded up peg but would hit the shift lever arm (not the peg/tip) about halfway, but at least I could kickstart it.

I decided to find a different kick lever at the scrap yard, something with a bend in it to clear at least the arm for a fuller stroke.

The problem I ran into was it was I couldn't find a lever with the same spline, so I figured I would try and mate a new lever to my existing clamp. I was looking for something with a bend in the center, kinda like a stretched out Z.

I ended up buying a shorter arm with the bend I wanted(shorter means less leverage, but more action from the same kick).

I took both kickstart arms apart and mated the new lever to the original Z1 clamp. I had to grind down the clamp part a bit but other than that it was pretty painless. Finding the right donor arm was the hard part. Besides the shape/length you want, the pin on the lever that goes into the clamp needs to be the right length and diameter to fit the original clamp.

The hybrid lever works good. I get a near full kick, and it just hits the tip of the brake lever. I'm gonna get me some nice rubber coated ones at some point. I would take a pic but I'm in Amsterdam (I know, poor me).

Sorry, long blurb... hope this helps.

Post edited by: dutchz, at: 2007/01/01 08:12

Early Gold Wings had a emergency plug in kick starter. It was kept in one side of the false gas tank. Of course there is always bump starting!:huh:

I think I would look over some boneyard kickers and see if I could find one with clearance. Might need some modification but solutions are there if one looks hard enough....... grasshopper!:blink: sorry!:whistle:

I'd say remove the kick starter, AND the starter. haha

guitargeek wrote:


Here's the big obvious dumb question: Why not just heat up the kicker lever and bend it out so it clears the Raask bracket?

This would also have the same problem of too much leverage pulling the shaft downward.

Push starting is not all that hard. I did it for an entire summer when I was too cheap to buy a battery. If the bike was warm I could do it in just a few steps walking. My 550 is lighter than a 650, but also has higher compression. The trick is to use 3rd gear. I think in an emergency you could get by.

But, I think it would be cool as hell to have a kickstarter in the wrong place, so I'm all for your idea.

How many degrees does it rotate? That's going to be the problem.

On a normal kicker, your foot changes it's angle of force applied. This allows for rotation larger than 180 degrees. Linkage can't do that. At best you'll be lucky to get 100 degrees with enough torque to turn the shaft without putting too much bending stress on the shaft.

For example, if you try to get 180 degrees with a linkage, initially all of the force will be used in trying to bend the shaft instead of turning it.

What you need is a chain drive system with two sprockets. This allows an infinite amount of rotation, with a constant amount of torque ratio from the new kicker shaft to the motor's kicker shaft. This will allow you to minimize the bending force on the motor's shaft as well.

But that brings up chain-alignment issues.

Sorry, no real solutions here, but just thinking out loud.

Post edited by: loudhvx, at: 2007/01/01 16:47

I like that chain idea Lou, sounds complex, but it would be quite a conversation piece(great for bragging about personal skills:P ) and like you stated, it would allow a full kick. playing with sprocket ratios would also let you get more degrees of rotation at the original shaft than the new shaft. you could get a "kick and a half" out of each kick if you wanted to (if you are strong enough to do it)
a pull start shouldnt be that hard to use after you make it. making it would be the challenge. I can pull over a 660 yamaha griz and singles are a lot harder to turn over than multi pistoned engines with the same displacement
Scott

I changed my mind, I like the pull-start idea better, Scott!

I was just thinking how abought mybe getting an exstended splined tube with a peac like a kick stand for a brace inbetween the kick starter shaft an lever just enough to claer the rear sets