Kickstarting Drill

[Lowflying]

My RZ350 starts within 3 kicks when warm or if it's only been left a couple of days. But more than a few days and it takes a lot of frikkin' boot action to get her going.

I'm wondering if there's something I could do different to make it easier, besides getting another bike or installing a starter motor!

To be specific, here's what I do:

I work right to left:

Kick start lever out
Kill switch on
Ignition on
Choke on full

Then I crack the throttle a centimeter at most, maybe less, and start giving it a boot. When it catches I take off the choke immediately and keep it alive with throttle. After less than 5 seconds, it will idle on it's own.

I leave the petcock in "run" all the time.

Any suggestions as to what I could do different?

Cheers.

[hybrid]

Try it without throttle.
I'm not 100% sure how the choke circuit works on these, but it may need what little engine vacuum we have to pull the fuel through the choke system.

[OzzyElsie]

Your methods sounds right - you are probably down on compression - time for new rings???.

[JonW]

+1 on rings...

[Lowflying]

Hmm. Engine's only been rebuilt for maybe 1000km...

[BRG1200]

It's clearly knackered, I'll give you $300 and a slab for it ;-)

[OzzyElsie]

Hmm. Engine's only been rebuilt for maybe 1000km...

If your engine is fresh your bottom end jetting might be out a fraction. You can either live with it or fiddle a little. Sounds like a small adjustment somewhere. Clean/ right plugs?

My LC starts 2-3 kicks cold and 1/2 - 1 kick hot, always. If it was different I would fiddle. And that's with lots of little mods but pretty OEM.

[Lowflying]

By bottom end jetting do you mean the lower part of the rev range? I do have a jetting issue that I haven't yet sorted because basically I have no idea what I"m doing in that regard.

Bike is strong and smooth revving, but throttle response not the best below about 5 grand and or first half of the throttle. I put that down to the Spec2 pipes i'm running, and have thought about putting the stock pipes back on to see if that is in fact the problem. My motor was rebuilt with a stroker crank so it's now about 400cc. Running the stock carbs with some dyno fiddling done by the shop who rebuilt my engine.

I really want to sort this, but shops who specialize in this are thin on the ground these days and my knowledge in this area is thinner still. It was running good on the stock cigar pipes before the rebuild so maybe I"ll revert to those pipes before I do anything else and see what happens. It's too bad because I love the sound of the spec2's.

[Lowflying]

Ok. I can't believe I fell for this after almost 40 years of driving/riding. It seems I got duped by a slowly failing battery. I finally twigged when my indicators stopped responding, etc.

New MotoBatt MB5.5U for 79 beans and I'm back in business!

[pkay]

I have several 2 strokes that I don't ride that often so I'll share my learnings so you can benefit from my massive right leg, and none of them need new rings. If the bike has a vacum operated fuel cock I'll put the lever of pri for 10 seconds to fill the fuel bowl. Bit of choke (like you generally 100%) and will get a bight after a couple of kicks. If it dies I'll back off the choke a bit to stop flooding - if I do flood it and it wont start easily turn the choke off, crack the throttle full open and kick - when it fires back off the throttle so you don't hit the red line when cold - they will generally be a bit woofly as they fire but clear pretty quickly. I use thgis technique on bikes from RZ500 to a PW50. Battery seems to play a role on my younger 2 strokes especially my NSR250. Fully charged battery and fires in 5 strokes after not having been ridden for 3 months. If the charge is down the kicking effort goes up as does the swearing and cursing. Do yourself a favour and buy a charger and a comfort lead for your new battery - you'll be amazed the difference it makes.

[Lowflying]

"massive right leg". Bwah!

All good stuff mate. I did put one of those leads on this new battery so I can make sure it's topped up if I don't ride for a while. Will try the prime thing too.

Cheers.

[James W.]

I find that a couple of through kicks with the 'choke' on ( actually enrichener)- before turning the key to on,
means that a fairly rich gas mixture is drawn through with no spark, then give 'er a decently quick boot - to fire up.

I live on a hill, so I generally roll down the slope & click it into 2nd, when past the immediate next doors, to avoid noise.

Once warmed up, of course, you can roll start them at walking pace with a couple of leg paddles, - or even hand start 'em!

[Lowflying]

Thanks James. Living on a hill. Luxury. It's uphill everywhere from my house, even on the way home!