Plastic Start Button Broke

[euch]

Okay, I have no idea how it happened, but my start button was just gone when I went out to ride tonight. I literally went to push the button to ride and there was no button, just a spring where it should have been.

I looked in the emptiness that was there and now have absolutely no idea now what to do. I have a spring and an empty hole, what next?

[JayH]

I take it your bike doesn't have a kick starter?

[euch]

I take it your bike doesn't have a kick starter?

Nope, it is an 81 gs850.

[Ridealot]

I had the same thing happen to me back in '82 with my GS1100G. I was 18 years old and about 800 miles from home. This was my first long distance ride. I was going to Redondo Beach because of a Hot Girl I knew had moved there. I stopped at a rest area and when I went to leave, No starter button!

I ended up packing a screw driver around to start the bike. With the key on you can jump the selaniod behind the left side cover with the shaft of the screwdriver.

Oh, and if you fumble around and make a lot of sparks before finally pressing hard enough to make a good enough contact to start the bike I have a word of advice. Don't just take the screwdriver and stick it in your back pocket while you put the side cover back on. It friggin hurts when you have to ride hundreds of miles and you have a welt on your ass.

[euch]

There has to be a fix! I'm not going to take the side cover off every time to start this beast!

[Ridealot]

The fix is to buy another starter button. After I had my problem I always made sure I pressed on the center of the starter button. Just pressing on the edge of the button lets it twist sideways. Thats what breaks the plastic and then you have no button.
I would think you could get a used one for next to nothing off of Fleabay.

[euch]

Well, I've searched high and low for the stupid button, there are none for my bike to be found. I did find other manufacturers that had theirs, but none for my bike.

Radioshack is my next bet?

[Ridealot]

Well mine was replaced under warranty, but I'm pretty sure your out of luck there. You just need to find the whole switch gear assemble for the throttle side. The button itself is not replaceable(I don't think).

[bradleymaynar]

Not that you want to drop the $, but you can replace the entire switch assembly for about $76. Check here. Otherwise, you may have to bump start it until you can find something to replace it.

Brad tt

[Joe Nardy]

Is the button all that is missing? If the internals are okay you could just make a button from some scrap plastic.

Joe

[Can_O_Tuna]

You don't say where you are located, but I bet a bike boneyard has a couple of hundred of them lying around :-D

[bradleymaynar]

Just did another search through BikeBandit and found that they refer to that button as a "horn button" on an '81 750e. It lists at a $1.85. I'm not sure if Suzuki went so far as to make these buttons different on each type of bike. here's the link. You may also need the contact.

Brad tt

[Cajun Cycler]

if the button is a round one it is pretty much the same as all the other Zukes of the era. In fact when I got my bike the headlight on off switch was missing from the left controls on mine. I simply went to a bone yard and found the very same switch off a Yamaha dirt bike and you can't tell the diff. You could even replace both handlebar controls with new units off a late model Honda Nighthawk if you wanted. Just a matter of sorting the wiring and making adaptable plugs for each switch.

[relic-rider]

I replaced the horn button with one from bike bandit. My start button wasn't broke but I had to fix it. It sure looked the same as the horn button. You can fet the spring and contact piece also. It takes some patience but it is not that hard to fix.

[euch]

Well, I went to Ace Hardware and found a button that will work for a while. I want to just switch my Ace Hardware button for the horn button (a simple swap), but I can't figure out how to get the turn signal / high beam selector off the front of the assembly.