Does yours stick out as much as this ??

[Bill-H]

Keeps rubbing on my leg and sticks out 4 1/2 inches.

The kick-start on my R65GS sticks out and rubs on my leg, so I thought I'd move it round on the spline, only problem is it's not a spline but a cotter holding it on place so I can't move it closer to the engine.
Any thoughts?

 

[Paul Rochdale]

As you probably have electric start anyway, this is surely just a decoration. I gather they are extremely difficult to kickstart too.

 

[Bill-H]

Kickstart starting

Quite easy to start off the kick start, 5-6 kicks cold, and first kick when hot. I seldom use the electric start when the bike is warmed up.

 

[Paul Rochdale]

Yes Bill but the thing is sticking out, rubbing on your leg and clearly irritating you, which is why you brought the subject up. Unbolt it, end the irritation, or am I missing something?

 

[millard]

Take it off, cut it most of the way through with a hacksaw where you want it bent, put it in the vice, whack it into the desired shape wi a big ammer, weld up the resultant V that's opened up, grind smooth, paint it. job done.
I do it all the time to my bikes on levers, footpegs etc.

 

[Kenny]

Yup that is way out ! Your pic shows the position that it should be when you pull it away from the gearbox prior to kickstarting it..the final couple of inches shouyld be spring controlled from inside the gearbox. Don't know how you would repair this but I assume a spring in the gearbox has come adrift/failed etc.

Paul, boxer twins are easy to start on the kick. Just a gentle ( firm but fair ) prod is enough.

 

[(RIP) Proff]

Mine looked like that, till I turned the clevis pin around and put it in from t'other side

 

[Bill-H]

Mine looked like that, till I turned the clevis pin around and put it in from t'other side

Thanks for your replies, tried turning the pin round as Proff sugested, and lever then stuck out even more !!

The spring holding the lever back against the engine works fine, the amount it sticks out is with the spring holding it back !

I don't really want to cut and weld it, I can't weld aluminium, and as the bike is original, I don't want to start cutting it about if it can be avoided, thanks for the sugestion anyway.

Does the kick-start conect using splines inside the gearbox, so that it could be repositioned one tooth to bring it closer to the engine?

 

[(RIP) pastyman]

Mine also stuck out uncomfortably and I also tried the obvious to no avail. I tidied up the slot where the cotter fits, ( it was a bit burred over) and fitted a new cotter. That made quite a bit of improvement but it does still stick out a bit. funny though, the more you ride it the less you notice it. My suggestion then it to ride and forget, you will soon wonder what all the fuss was about

 

[(RIP) pastyman]

Went out on mine yesterday and made a mental note to see what effect the sticky out kickstart had.. .... None really but then it dawned that, no doubt owing to my plod training, I always ride with the footrest in the instep of my foot. (We had to so that we could cover the gear and brakes at all times.) kickstart lever fits in behind the leg comfortably. Try the more modern "sports bike "position with the ball of the foot on the peg and it was a pain in the backside.( well the calf really) so it may just be the way you sit

Hope this is not the start of a whole new thread along the lines of "which foot do you put down"

 

[Spout]

Reminds me of the time I pulled up at some town centre traffic lights, little realising that my kickstart lever was snuggly inserted inside my overtrousers.
I was still trying to work out why I couldn't move my leg when we hit the deck

Cheered the shoppers up anyway

 

[Shep]

Reminds me of the time I pulled up at some town centre traffic lights, little realising that my kickstart lever was snuggly inserted inside my overtrousers.
I was still trying to work out why I couldn't move my leg when we hit the deck

Cheered the shoppers up anyway

Snap

I had an early 70's bonnie with a worn layshaft bearing, when you accelerated the kickstart rotated down, then when you rolled off the throttle the lever popped back up inside the trouser leg, very embarrassing

 

[(RIP) pastyman]

Oh the good old days..... rememb er when my shoe lace wrapped round the brake lever... stopped and fell of in the nick yard.

 

[Bill-H]

It's only taken me 6 1/2 years to getting round to sorting out
I got Phil Hawkesley to strip it, the cutout on the shaft which mates with the kickstart lever cotter had been machined out at the wrong angle. A replacement was found, installed and the lever is now more or less where is should be.
Yippee! no more rubbed leg when I ride it.

 

[Kenny]

I was just about to post up asking how you got on with this?

 

[Fanum]

6 years of aging does tend to make things stick out less, so I've been told

 

[Rob Farmer]

Sounds like the cotter pin was just in the wrong way round - As Proff mentioned in 2008.

 

[Bill-H]

Sounds like the cotter pin was just in the wrong way round - As Proff mentioned in 2008.

Rob, comparing the old and the new one side by side, the slot that the cotter sits in was machined several degrees out of line with the toothed 'cog' when compared to two other shafts which Phil showed to me.
So my original was machined out of line and must have been like it from new, unless of course the box was from a different model bike which needed the lever at another angle
Thought that it may have the wrong lever on it, but it seemed not.

 

[fayeslane]

Sounds like the cotter pin was just in the wrong way round - As Proff mentioned in 2008.

Just fixed this on my recently acquired 100GS by .......... putting the cotter pin in the right way round. There's a cold stubby here for you Proff when you are in the neighbourhood

 

[(RIP) Proff]