82 GS1100EZ starting question

[Guest]

For some reason I don't have to pull the clutch in when I start my bike, on my fathers bike (Same model, year, color, same everything) the clutch has to be pulled in before the engine will start to crank. Does anyone know why this is? I'm assuming it's either a bad connection somewhere, or a faulty relay of some sort. I've had the bike almost entirely apart before, and everything seems to be connected. If anyone has any ideas let me know! Thanks!

[JJ]

For some reason I don't have to pull the clutch in when I start my bike, on my fathers bike (Same model, year, color, same everything) the clutch has to be pulled in before the engine will start to crank. Does anyone know why this is? I'm assuming it's either a bad connection somewhere, or a faulty relay of some sort. I've had the bike almost entirely apart before, and everything seems to be connected. If anyone has any ideas let me know! Thanks!

A lot of people disable the clutch safety switch, so they can start their bike with the clutch out. It's a simple mod, and a matter of personal preference.

[kstra17]

Do you know where that switch is?

[bonanzadave]

Do you know where that switch is?

Enter Clutch Switch in the search....

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?234815-clutch-lever-quot-switch-quot&highlight=clutch+switch

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?233270-Clutch-neutral-safety-switch&highlight=clutch+switch

The switch is on the underside of the clutch lever.

It's a very simple (and very badly designed) mechanism -- take off the two little screws, being careful to not lose the pieces, and see if you can clean it up and/or adjust it (if you loosen the screws, there's a little bit of adjustment slop built in). Sometimes it's easier to loosen the clutch lever clamp and rotate the whole thing on the handlebars so you're not working upside-down.

Simplest of all is to trace the wires into the headlight bucket and jumper them together. This switch is dangerously unreliable, so many of us disable it. (Of course, you have to then remember to pull in the clutch before starting, but if you can't remember that you should probably rethink motorcycling anyway.)

You can also replace the switch guts -- less than $10.

[wacky941]

Do you know where that switch is?

At the leverage point for the clutch arm (left handle bar) on the bottom side there is a microswitch that makes contact when the lever is pulled. There is a small cover plate for it, they might have modified it there but, most likely it's been modified inside the headlight bucket.

[Who Dat?]

Chances are, that switch is still functional, but disconnected. The popular mod to disable it merely involves changing a couple of connections inside the headlight bucket.

Making it work again (if you really want to do that) would involve going into the headlight bucket, finding the two yellow/green wires that are connected to each other, then taking them apart and re-connecting them to the two yellow/green wires that come in from the switch on the handlebar.