Kick start lever shaft wear - repair options?

[tsa]

Yes it is. The reason can be a few.

1. Owner usually doesn't use it correctly. The rider jumps on it and it should
only take a gentle shove through compression to start up. When I would
demonstrate the correct procedure, the rider would be amazed at how easy it is.
2. The bike is in horrible tune and takes several, or more kicks to get started. Fix
the bike and then go to #1.
3. Someone wore down the sector gear on the kick start system and it now gives
the engine rotation less travel.
4. By this time the groove on the shaft is probably badly worn down and the tapered
pin no longer fits tightly. It should be possible to buy a good used one. I would almost
bet that your trans needs a refresh too, as bits of metal come off of the kick starter
segment gear and usually damage bearings.

We found these when the bikes were only 10 years old. By now any combination, or another factor could be involved.

Many thanks for those comments, Duane.

Any or all of those four alternatives are due to use during the 42 years of previous ownership. I'm interested in fixing the problem, and will plan for stripping of the gearbox, and thus also dealing with faults in the internal mechanism as well. Soon I'll have a rebuilt 5-speed box which I hope I can swap for the /5 4-speed one for a while while attending to its interior.

Just out of curiosity; are 4-speed gearbox internal parts easily available in North America?

[tsa]

Go forth and write up all ye wants to Duane! Please avoid multiple colours and blocks of text "highlit" in yellow.[/color]

Hey, don't forget that Duane already has written lots of useful tech info for the web, without multiple colours etc, but with links to very descriptive pictures.

Many thanks for those pages Duane, they showed me how to set up the wheel bearing pre-load properly after I had ridden my 75/5 home.

[tsa]

What 've heard is avoid to use the kick start as it is bad engineered. Stick with the electric start. For that reason i changed to a gearbox without the kick when my gearbox broke down. I think the kikc is a cool thing though...

I've heard that at well, Hal. No bearing support where the kickstart shaft sits in the gearbox end cover, which thereby just wears out. Hopefully the /5 4-speed gearbox kickstart mechanisms were not as prone to breaking down as those in the later 5-speed 'boxes . . . . ?

PS - nice to see that my thread was revived by a fellow countryman: til helgen drar jeg "hjem" til Norge, via Oslo, for en kort sommerferie. Se opp for en blå R80/7 med hvit RT-kåpe påmontert!

[SteveD]

Go forth and write up all ye wants to Duane! Please avoid multiple colours and blocks of text "highlit" in yellow.[/color]

Hey, don't forget that Duane already has written lots of useful tech info for the web, without multiple colours etc, but with links to very descriptive pictures.

Many thanks for those pages Duane, they showed me how to set up the wheel bearing pre-load properly after I had ridden my 75/5 home.

Yes, they're excellent pages and Duane has done a great job at building them. Duane doesn't let us forget they're there either ...but I'm concerned where they'll go in the future, 'cause he keeps reminding us his time is limited.
Snowbum's pages are also fantastic, despite the tongue in cheek disparagement.

[Duane Ausherman]

I too am concerned what will happen to my website. I can only trust my very good friends to support it.

I only plan to add a few things and reorganize some of it. My site is not being used as it should be, to fix problem areas before they fail, not after. Today we have so much information that it is hard to digest. As I talk with BMW folks, I have learned that they love my site, but use it incorrectly, or at least in the best way to avoid troubles.

[Ken in Oklahoma]

. . . I only plan to add a few things and reorganize some of it. My site is not being used as it should be, to fix problem areas before they fail, not after. Today we have so much information that it is hard to digest. As I talk with BMW folks, I have learned that they love my site, but use it incorrectly, or at least in the best way to avoid troubles.

Duane, I'm one of those people who 'misuse' your site. What you (apparently) want would seem to be contrary to human nature. How many people do you know (not counting yourself) who are eager to go to their yearly, or semi yearly checkup so that they can head off any medical problems that might be arising? I would wager that you, and one other guy, are the only ones you know who might do such a thing. In the medical world a miscue or delayed indication of an incipient problem can have grave consequences. And yet we members of the unwashed masses persist in our behavior.

What percentage of the population do you reckon actually do the right thing--about anything? I would reckon that the percentage would be vanishingly small, so small that doing the right thing could be considered to be going against human nature.

Ken, illogical in Oklahoma (and unrepentant to boot)

[richard t]

Thanks hal for the kind words. I often wonder if my verbosity in writing has any benefit to those poor readers who have to read a volume to get a tidbit.

I now take this as permission to write up more about nothing when I am otherwise bored. Blame hal.

Blather on, Duane! We're hanging on every word, uh, except when we disagree. But even then, a bit of 'studying up' first would be desirable to avoid looking foolish.

Now then, politics is an entirely different thing!

Ken

. . . I only plan to add a few things and reorganize some of it. My site is not being used as it should be, to fix problem areas before they fail, not after. Today we have so much information that it is hard to digest. As I talk with BMW folks, I have learned that they love my site, but use it incorrectly, or at least in the best way to avoid troubles.

Duane, I'm one of those people who 'misuse' your site. What you (apparently) want would seem to be contrary to human nature. How many people do you know (not counting yourself) who are eager to go to their yearly, or semi yearly checkup so that they can head off any medical problems that might be arising? I would wager that you, and one other guy, are the only ones you know who might do such a thing. In the medical world a miscue or delayed indication of an incipient problem can have grave consequences. And yet we members of the unwashed masses persist in our behavior.

What percentage of the population do you reckon actually do the right thing--about anything? I would reckon that the percentage would be vanishingly small, so small that doing the right thing could be considered to be going against human nature.

Ken, illogical in Oklahoma (and unrepentant to boot)

I confess to misusing you site once in a while. It has helped me several times

[Airbear]

Me too. I have happily misused Duane's site frequently and have misdirected others there. Thanks Duane.