Buddy of mine carrys a small insulated tarp and a section of dryer hose he slides over the exhaust of the pick up. Tarp the bike and insert the hose and it will fire up in a couple minutes. It works very well. 2018 yz450. same bike i am just about to buy.
does the bike really need a backup kick starter
- Thread starter byeatts
- Start date
I ride a 2016 YZF just for the kickstart. I've had a battery randomly give out on me on my WRF during a play day at a GP track few hours away. Luckily it had kickstart and it was my dirtbike lol. Battery was completely fine going down and started great every morning, it was after a lap I pulled over cuz of arm pump, went to start the bike after a few mins and nothing.. battery was gone completely..
Last weekend we came across a guy on a Yamaha (with Z start clutch) who lost his kick start in the snow. My riding bud had a backup kick start on his YZFX but he did not have a hex we could get the bolt out with. The guy lived rather close so he left the bike in the woods and came back with a kick start the next day. Moral of the story, don't forget to locktite your shiz or even a kick start bike may not get you out!
Also don't be brain washed by the main stream media that you need a button. I've seen a guy start a yz450 with his hand pushing the kicker down. Some kick only bikes are tougher than others but I've been personally amazed how well the kick crf yzf and the ktm rfs bikes start even with carbs. In the summer those same bikes would run hot and rich and vapor lock/flood but not in the snow. All the bikes in my fleet this year are kick only and I have noticed a slight lack of anxiety from not worrying about the battery and extra electrical stuff. It really isn't a big deal though now all the new bikes have a button that's good enough for most if you plan ahead.
Ive started my bike by hand when warm once or twice via the kicker. No other choice in the situation I was in, but it worked. I've never really had trouble starting mine at all except this year with icing pod filter, air leak, and tune problems...
well, no main stream media talked me into the buttom but being 73 and riding motorcycles for 65 years did. Another thing that talked a lot of folks into the button is lean tuned FI bikes, oh boy heating them with truck exhaust, kicking until the kickstarter lever breaks........no good. Cold weather/hard starting.........read: starving for fuel. OH yeah, awkward positions up on a steep sidehill, a button looks darn good. Old stiff legs throwing them up over an illconvieved too tall cobbled snow bike kit, electricity can look like your best friend. Do you need the lever , my snow bike has one, I last used it about 3 years ago. None of my riding partners have them, wished we had one about 4 years ago. We carry a jump box, use it to start the lean HOnda on cold days at the truck. Lever is no help. Sum it up, forget the lever if you have the button.
I’m on a 2012 beta 450 with kick and electric start. Carb model. The electric start usually good Enough except cold mornings. This year it has developed an intermittent short in the start circuit. Sometimes it starts sometimes it doesn’t. My personal opinion is the more you can do to ensure you come home out of the mountains at the end of the day in the dead of winter the better. Having both kick and electric is the best of both worlds. I hope mfgs continue to make bikes with both.
I carry a li-ion jump pack, I have a spare starter in my tool box. On a 20+ yamaha it's enough to be pretty fearless now that i'm kick start free. I suppose some other electrical failure could happen, but I'm pretty confident I'll be able to engineer around most things provided I can get power to the fuel pump and reach the start posts with a jumper... the option to have kick is going away like it or not, I'm just accepting it at this point. in my opinion the 18 yz450fx is the best option to have both kick and e start if you must have both.
