Kick Starting A Motorcycle
| Field | Vehicles |
| Went Obsolete | Mostly during the 1970s |
| Made Obsolete By | electric starters |
| Knowledge Assumed | How to throw your weight onto one leg |
| When useful | When owning a vintage motorcycle |
With the engine off, ensure the bike is in neutral. In most cases, the clutch must be let out, or the kickstarter will not spin the engine. Sometimes, it can be helpful to give the kickstart lever a couple of kicks with the clutch engaged to ensure it's not jammed and to free sticky clutch plates. Turn on the fuel petcock. On some bikes you may need to close a choke and/or tickle (prime) the carburetor(s). On machines with manual timing, you should retard the ignition or you will risk an unpleasant and potentially harmful kickback. Don't rest the bike on the sidestand while starting - sidestands aren't meant to take the punishment. If you don't feel comfortable both balancing and kicking, and your bike is equipped with a center stand, you can place it on that as centerstands are centrally placed and can take the abuse. (Just don't roll it off the stand while starting.) If your bike has a compression release, follow the maker's instructions for turning the motor with the release pulled in until you reach the proper point for beginning the kick. And, if your bike has an ignition switch, turn it on. Place your foot on the kickstarter. Use body weight rather than leg muscles to deliver a smart, rapid kick. If the lever is placed too high, you may want to engage the clutch and lower it a little before releasing and kicking. Generally speaking, a cold motorcycle should take no more than three kicks to start, a warm bike should take no more than two. More than that, it likely needs some sort of adjustment.
On large single cylinder machines feel for compression and set your starting point to just after the compression part of the cycle (using the decompressor if fitted) and make sure you follow the kick all the way through. This will disengage the kickstart pawl before the next ignition part of the cycle and let the flywheel's momentum carry through compression. If it doesn't, it will kick back, and if the pawl has not yet disengaged, break those little bones in your foot.