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Which do you prefer?

Left-Side
4 (33.3%)
Right-Side
6 (50%)
Pull-Cord
0 (0%)
Electric Start
1 (8.3%)
Clutch + Down-Hill
1 (8.3%)

Total Members Voted: 12

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Author Topic: Kickstarters: Left or Right?  (Read 12434 times)

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Offline JETZcorp

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Kickstarters: Left or Right?
« on: April 30, 2010, 03:28:37 PM »
Welcome to the great kickstarter debate/discussion/thing.  At the veiled recommendation of TMKIWI, I'm making this thread in here because it's come up a couple of times and I'm curious to see what people think.  I think you all know that I'm a left-side kick guy, but I think it's reasonable to say that most riders aren't, considering that just about everything aside from Maico runs right-side.  So, let me know what you think, and hopefully we'll all understand each other and flowers will bloom worldwide, only to be thrown skyward by a fresh Metzler.
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Is this Maico a 440 or only a 400?  Well in all the confusion, I forgot myself.
But considering this is a 1978 Magnum, the best-handling bike in the world, you have to ask yourself one question.
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Offline ford832

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Re: Kickstarters: Left or Right?
« Reply #1 on: April 30, 2010, 04:16:13 PM »
Ok,so I voted left.The main reason is that my Berg had a ls kick and I preferred that simply because of my RM hip.(So called because while riding my rm I had my rt leg out and went down and dislocated it.)If my right hip still worked good,I'd go for rs kick however.
Failing that,foot clutch and hand suicide shift ;)
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Offline JohnN

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Re: Kickstarters: Left or Right?
« Reply #2 on: April 30, 2010, 05:51:48 PM »
I want a mind controlled electric start... just because I'm too lazy to push a button. :P :P :P Yeah I know it'll be complicated and expensive... probably will stop working and no one will be able to fix it... then they'll run a CAT scan and find out that I stopped thinking....

Oh yeah... back to the "debate" who the hell cares what side it's on? As long as the bike starts!! I've had both and did not give it much thought either way.... only takes a couple of times to get used to either one.... unless you stall your bike alot.

I'd imagine that most racers would prefer a right hand kick.. only because if they stall in a race, they can swing out the lever and kick without getting off and then on the bike....

Imagine something along the lines of a Chinese fire drill... how fast can you start your bike with the least amount of movement?
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Offline Coop

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Re: Kickstarters: Left or Right?
« Reply #3 on: April 30, 2010, 07:20:55 PM »
I've had a couple left kick KTM's and many right kick Japanese. I prefer right kick, but the fact that I have permanent nerve damage in my left leg from two back surgeries might have something to do with me not liking left kick bikes.
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Offline MMS

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Re: Kickstarters: Left or Right?
« Reply #4 on: May 04, 2010, 01:40:45 PM »
When I first saw the results at the top of the page I was going to insist immediately that whoever voted "electric start" should be thrown off the forum immediately for being a wuss!

However having read the third post maybe that's not such a good idea!  :-[

Oh and as for the vote, I'm equally at ease with either.
« Last Edit: May 04, 2010, 01:42:26 PM by MMS »
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Offline JohnN

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Re: Kickstarters: Left or Right?
« Reply #5 on: May 04, 2010, 03:35:21 PM »
Quote from: MMS on May 04, 2010, 01:40:45 PM
When I first saw the results at the top of the page I was going to insist immediately that whoever voted "electric start" should be thrown off the forum immediately for being a wuss!

However having read the third post maybe that's not such a good idea!  :-[

Oh and as for the vote, I'm equally at ease with either.

Yes but mine has to be mind controlled!! LMAO  :P :P :P  :o :-* :-*
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Offline SachsGS

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Re: Kickstarters: Left or Right?
« Reply #6 on: May 05, 2010, 08:55:08 AM »
I've got steel in both my legs so I'll go with electric start (and use the battery for DFI).
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Offline TMKIWI

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Re: Kickstarters: Left or Right?
« Reply #7 on: May 05, 2010, 01:20:52 PM »
Did you know that brp's DI is a battery less system ?
But of cause you need one for electric start.
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Offline ford832

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Re: Kickstarters: Left or Right?
« Reply #8 on: May 05, 2010, 02:24:35 PM »
BRP's snowmobile DI is estart,and reverse which simply puts the engine 180' out and runs backwards 8)
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Offline SachsGS

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Re: Kickstarters: Left or Right?
« Reply #9 on: May 05, 2010, 06:38:51 PM »
As a kid I had a Sachs powered trials bike ( a Saracen - the orange "thing" on "On Any Sunday") that , if it stalled near the top of a steep climb,would sometimes suddenly fire up backwards back down the hill with me hanging on for dear life!
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Offline JETZcorp

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Re: Kickstarters: Left or Right?
« Reply #10 on: May 05, 2010, 09:48:46 PM »
My dad has a story about that.  He was talking with a friend who had a Yamaha 250MX (this is before the YZ was created) and they were about to take off on a ride.  He kicks the Yammie a few times, then it goes "kerBANG!" and then starts running normally.  Weird.  Well, it wasn't that loud of a bike so they exchange a few words about where they're going.  The guy pulls in the clutch, leans his chin over the front fender, revs the bike up and dumps the clutch for a big impressive roost.  The bike shoots backward with a big impressive roost, throwing him over the bars instantly and leaving the bike to flop over onto the ground.  Total time from clutch-popped to everything being still was about half a second.  Apparently, the bike kicked back with enough force to start the motor backward.  Being a two-stroke, which doesn't know or care if it's running forward or back, everything seemed normal after the first kerBANG.
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Is this Maico a 440 or only a 400?  Well in all the confusion, I forgot myself.
But considering this is a 1978 Magnum, the best-handling bike in the world, you have to ask yourself one question.
Do you feel lucky, punk?

Offline riffraff

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Re: Kickstarters: Left or Right?
« Reply #11 on: May 05, 2010, 10:56:10 PM »
I had a '76 Husky 360wr and being a little on the short side it was easier to stand beside it to kick it over than it is straddling the seat of my '89 YZ490, but on a shorter bike it is convenient to just flip out the kick lever and go
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Offline JETZcorp

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Re: Kickstarters: Left or Right?
« Reply #12 on: May 06, 2010, 08:39:48 PM »
I agree, on a very low bike right-side kick is nice to have.  I have no complaints with the position of the starter on my Kawasaki.  But I would hate to deal with having to start AND straddle a bike 40" high at the seat.  It would be like playing soccer whilst giving birth to a walrus, compared to the stand-next-to-it approach.
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Is this Maico a 440 or only a 400?  Well in all the confusion, I forgot myself.
But considering this is a 1978 Magnum, the best-handling bike in the world, you have to ask yourself one question.
Do you feel lucky, punk?

Offline JohnN

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Re: Kickstarters: Left or Right?
« Reply #13 on: May 07, 2010, 06:01:19 AM »
I stand about 6' 4" tall, so no worries about on or off the bike for me.... :P :P
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Offline riffraff

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Re: Kickstarters: Left or Right?
« Reply #14 on: May 09, 2010, 11:04:54 AM »
So I guess it's pretty well decided right side kicks preferred, so now how many of you have had a right hand shifter and what do you think about that?
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