Thumpers and Single Bangers - What is your kicking secret

[2StrokeDan]

XT500; select neutral. Swing out kickstart lever. Take piston to just over TDC, kick firmly. If it now is not idling, do not carry on kicking, search for the fault. They really are that dependable.
KTM495; position yourself and 2 mates on the bike, now let a 3rd frien tow the bike behind his car until it takes.

[domstes]

cold or hot same except for choke
find TDC (where kick start lever has resistance) | decomp in | press down just past TDC | let lever come up | kick through (more of a push through, not a short hard kick like a 2 stroke)

after fall keep throttle wide open and decomp in, kick 7 times and then follow normal start procedure

when it is cold I turn the idle up a bit before I start

edit: and NO throttle until it goes

This worked on the my XT500 and XTZ600 everytime.

[domstes]

KTM495; position yourself and 2 mates on the bike, now let a 3rd frien tow the bike behind his car until it takes.

After you did the jetting and setup of the carb on the KTM... 

[2StrokeDan]

 

[Goose]

Both our XT550's can now start with the greatest of ease. Once the auto-decomp on the one was setup, you can actually start it with your hand..!   

The one that came from PE needs 2 kicks when cold.... no throttle only choke and it starts every time. Once warm a single kick will do it!

[blazes]

KTM495; position yourself and 2 mates on the bike, now let a 3rd frien tow the bike behind his car until it takes.

After you did the jetting and setup of the carb on the KTM... 

Never struggled with teh XT 500 was my very first bike --loved it to bits --

The XR 650 was very tempramental bitch --but follow the procedure Dux explained and it would work 90% of the time-- as for a KTM 495 lets rather NOT go there  

[witblitz]

KTM 640
1 - TDC
2 - One good full length kick.

They are a bit more difficult to kick start when they are cold. That's when I stand next to the bike and do it. (I have done it wearing plakkies before).

When it is warm, it kicks very easy when it is kicked from TDC. I advice wearing boots when kicking with the left foot if you are not used to it.

KTM 504
1- Fuel on and let it fill the carb
2- Two slow kicks right through
3- Fuel off
4- TDC (Yellow mark can be seen through the eye.
5- Kick and hope for the best
6- After the 8th kick if it has not fired up. Then fuel on, fuel off, and kick again.
7- After 30 minutes go have a beer if the bike has not showed any signs of starting.

I see everyone has their method with flooded bikes. I found when a bike floods, close the fuel tap en skop dat die kak wit sit. Sometimes you will find a point of perfect mixture of fuel to air and the bike fires up. Then fuel tap on again.

I have occasionally found that when a bike floods and the fuel tap is left on, it just won't start and the carbs are overflowing. This happens when the floats hook and with you being on the bike you do not see it, therefore, close the fuel tap.

[subie]

Ek wonder of daar n bike op die planeet is wat meer temperamental was as dit by start kom  as my YZ490 gewees.
Ek het die fokker paar keer by die huis opgestart,alles reggekry en op die bakkie na ry area. Daar gekom my moer af geskop,sleep, smeek en tou. My vriende so n ruk gekyk en net so weer huistoe gery en afgepak. Die fiets was soos n wilde slet wat jy weet is moeilikheid maar so nou en dan weer wil try ry. Maar Ai as sy geloop het het sy geloop 

[DeepBass9]

If a bike is flooded I usually drain the carb and wait a bit and then start from scratch.

[ahlbebuck]

Subie ek ken daai gevoel! Het eenkeer saam met vrou en laaitie vir 'n week in Drakensberge by 'n off-road plek gaan kuier. Hulle het vir 10 dae elke dag gery en my XR600R het vir 10 dae op die treiler bly staan omdat NIEMAND hom kon kry om te start nie. Die enigste keer wat hy geloop het was een aand by 'n braai, wat hy eerste slag gestart het - toe kon ek nerens ry nie! Het toe maar elke dag na 'n halfuur van skop en vloek gaan fly fish om my bloeddruk af te bring. Terug in Nelspruit het ek binne 'n paar dae van hom ontslae geraak en dit nog nooit regret nie! VIVA happy button!

[CGAF]

Everyone already gave the correct ways to kick it... Just sitting here looking at the comments made me laugh... Man I DO NOT miss kicking early on a cold morning before work. Looking at my messed up shin makes me kind of sad though... I loved the bike when it rode and hated all the other times Smiley The thing I hated most about the XR600R though was when you drop it while going up a mountain side... The bike is hot, your hot, tired, and there is no place to properly put the bike on the stand to kick it. That's exactly what happened to me as I was turning the bike around, the  bike hit on the stand and tipped the bike over dropping it onto the tank and spilling all my petrol over the mountain side. Left the bike there and phoned some one to come fetch me while I walked down the mountain... Few hours later I calmed down and fetched the bike. Sold it two days later.

[CGAF]

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[CGAF]

FML, sorry my brain is toast today... Spelling and grammar sucks! and I am posting on the wrong things etc... sorry 

[Roxtar]

Not scared of kick starters. I must admit I have an unfair advantage having started my two wheeled life on an SR500

I still have my dads SR500 which he bought new in '78, if you can master that thing you can kick ANYTHING lol........
It can be a bitch if you get it wrong........