KIck starterS....

[Dink]

I loved the kickstart on my first bike!!! I was the only one who could start it with it 8O My brother was always offering to start it for me, he never was able to I would finish putting my gear on and go over and start by grabbing the kickstart with my hand and start it first time every time the look on my brothers face every time was priceless.
Dink

[Anonymous]

The couple of times I've found myself somewhat stranded without enough juice in the battery to start my bike I've been able to tip toe (sitting on the seat) her into an immediate start. The of course the time my starter button quit working, but that is another story.

[Bert Patterson]

You say that because you're a much younger man, mcycle-nut. I find it hard to look back at the old kickstarting days with any nostalgia. I say good riddance to those days. I never thought it was cool. I couldn't wait to have a bike with electric start and a shaft, so I traded in my RD350 on a MotoGuzzi in 1979.

Chains and kickstarters -- things intelligent people eventually outgrow!

When I was 20, I had a very sweet '71 Commando - no electric start of course, and when they added one in their corporate death-throws in '75 it added something like 40# to the bike and rarely worked. My Norton woul almost always start by the second kick, but if it did take more, it would quickly cause cramps in my leg.

I have no desire to kick-start a bike. But I driving an old British bike anymore either.

If they can make a 916 work and look the same with a shaft, I'm converted.

[Anonymous]

Bert, go to a bike show, look up the MotoGuzzi exhibit, and drool over some of the gorgeous Guzzis available.

The 1978 850 LeMans is still one of the sexiest motorcycles ever made. It's a shaftie.

I had a Guzzi for 7 years (79 to 86). Loved it.

(The GS is better.)

Nick

[MichaelHoward]

[Anonymous]

Gorgeous! Beautiful! Thanks, Michael Howard!

What a motorcycle that 850 LeMans was, with the big 36mm Dellorto carbs and smooth power delivery.

Nick

[satchmo]

They have one of those for sale at a shop near me.

used obviously.....$7500 if I wasn't a poor-a$$ student, I'd be picking it up.


Satch

[MichaelHoward]

[Hap Call]

They have one of those for sale at a shop near me.

used obviously.....$7500 if I wasn't a poor-a$$ student, I'd be picking it up.


Satch

That sounds kind of expensive...but in US dollars that would be about $1.57.

Hap

[Bert Patterson]

Bert, go to a bike show, look up the MotoGuzzi exhibit, and drool over some of the gorgeous Guzzis available.

The 1978 850 LeMans is still one of the sexiest motorcycles ever made. It's a shaftie.

I had a Guzzi for 7 years (79 to 86). Loved it.

(The GS is better.)

Nick

One of the guys I ride with has a '77 LeMans. It's a really sweet handling bike and pretty reliable too. The seating position's a little too cranked for me though.
I think it's the V-11 Sport that I drool over.

[Anonymous]

The V-11 indeed, Bert. Great bike, with the modern engine (as opposed to the old pushrod engine), and fuel injection. Great bike to customize...

...and a sexy Italian shaftie!

Nick

[Bert Patterson]

The V-11 indeed, Bert. Great bike, with the modern engine (as opposed to the old pushrod engine), and fuel injection. Great bike to customize...

...and a sexy Italian shaftie!

Nick

I saw a website last year where a guy described in detail installing an R90s fairing on one - looked real sweet, but I supposee he was irritated once the new LeMans came out. Coulda saved a lot of work.

[frosty5011]

Hap said:

That sounds kind of expensive...but in US dollars that would be about $1.57.

LOL......Good one!

[Planecrazy]

Recent events have caused me to bump this thread back to life ... My weekend of push starting the '83 GS1100G (at the Brown County Rally) after the starter ate itself was a drag (or a push, in this case ), but the fact that waiting for replacement parts is extending the time I must push start the bike leads me to long for the simplicity a kick starter would have provided me in solving the problem...

Soooooooooooooo,

Can a 1983 GS1100G be retrofitted with a kick starter? Is the assembly the same one used on the '79 850's? My rationale is simple ... if I go to the trouble of doing the conversion (assuming it CAN be done), I'll never have another starter failure again (Murphy's law, don't ya know!)!!

That is perhaps the best reason to go ahead and do it!


Regards,
Steve
8)

[crag antler]

Thank you Steve for resurecting (sic) such an old post. Kind of cool to read the wisdom of Nick again. Damn we miss you here Nick.
The higher ups here will have to help you with the retrofitting of a kicker if possible.
Every chance I get to kick start a bike I do, be it my GT250, Scotty's XS 650 or recently Pillage's Honda 750.
If it has a kick start, than by all means, kick it :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: