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kickstarter add on

  • Thread starter Thread starter DieselDog77
  • Start date Start date
D

DieselDog77

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Is it possible to put a kickstarter on an '81 gs750? I just bought a 1981 Suzuki gs750L engine and noticed it didn't have a kickstart.

I know a lot of people are gonna read this and be like, "why would you want to?" Same reason Harley guys pay thousands for a Baker drive train for their harleys: because it looks and feels awesome when you kick start a bike... well that and it's supposed to enhance performance. but let's get real, a big reason they buy it is for the kickstarter. Hell, every one of their ads shows a tatted up dude kicking over their hog. But enough about american bikes; my first motorcycle was a cb400 and I've only been riding for 3 or 4 years. Since my bike had a kick start I assumed, being new to the game, that all bikes had them. Than I got a suzuki savage and was like "Where the f*&% is the kickstarter?" Might seem petty to some but as a child whenever I saw motorcycles depicted in movies or TV shows it showed guys and gals kick starting there bikes. To me, that's a "real" motorcycle; one that you kick over. I'm a sucker for older bikes mostly for that reason. Is that stupid? Is that petty? I think it sux that suzukis and other jap bikes stopped having them after the early eighties. Why the hell did they ever stop putting them on?
 
Evolution... Customers stopped wanting to kick their bikes, weight savings since you have a starter there is no need to have a kickstart also, fewer parts inside the transmission, fewer parts to go wrong. Kicking a CB 400 and kicking a GS750 are two different things. I guess you could get an earlier engine and put it in so you could have both if you wanted. I don't recall seeing anything to retrofit a kickstart to a bike that didn't have it. I can't imagine it's a big market for japanese bikes like it is for Harley's.
 
Do a search on this subject. It's been discussed many times. You are not alone in wanting to do this. All of the 'old school' cafe fans (like me) prefer a bike to have a kick starter also.

The battery on my 750 gets low (if I don't ride it for a while) and it's very cool to be able to give it a couple of kicks and hear it roar into life.
 
I have to be honest... I really like kick starters also. Lots of times I would kick my SOHC CB750 instead of hitting the button. The bike would almost always start on one kick, cold or not.

Not that I want to convert any of my bikes to have them, but they are cool.:cool:
 
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It'd be virtually impossible to retro-fit a kick starter due to the castings required in your transmission to support the kick starter shaft, and the cases were shortened by an inch or so on the "non-kicker" models. (that's why a GS1000 engine will fit in a GS750 frame but not vice-versa) If you really want a GS bike with a kicker, I think you'll need to buy an earlier GS750. Cheers, Terry.
 
i cant imagine kicked over a 750. imagine the kickback. the kickback on a 2 stroke 250 killed my foot. dont want to know what the kickback feels like on a 750.
 
here is my kiker bike. 1980 yammy custom

xs650.jpg
 
Guys. Kickin a 750 over is no different than kickin any other bike over. They arent that tough. Yes, they have some kickback, but not like a Harley. You gotta think, even a Sporty was 883cc TWIN. Thats massive compression on two cylinders. a 750 is spread across 4 cylinders. Not so much compression to push against. At least thats my theory anyway. I happen to have on hand THREE 750 motors with kickers. If they are RUNNING right, shouldnt only take one, maybe two kicks anyway. There is a skill involved as well. You dont just wack away on the kicker. You push on it gently, feel it catch, then a quick WHOMP, and she should scream to life. Its you guys who think you sit there and wail away on the kicker that end up with busted up and black and blue shins.
 
TheCafeKid said:
busted up and black and blue shins.
Click to expand...

lol that was me the other day when my 3 wheeler, that had been sitting all summer, wouldn't start and the kicker got stuck in the foot peg... Lets just say that it likes to stick just long enough to slam you in the shin.
 
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