A Winter's Tale

[emptysea]

Great so far. Do we know the author?

[Ulvetanna_imp]

Part II redacted

[physics-teacher_imp]

Interesting how this reminds me of Jack London and maybe a little of Steinbeck.

[Ulvetanna_imp]

Interesting how this reminds me of Jack London and maybe a little of Steinbeck.

That's why I liked it. I will dig up the rest and get it posted, it's sort of a long short story. I have to read every word as I found a few "non-family-friendly" words here and there.

[Ulvetanna_imp]

Part III redacted

[johnf514_imp]

My kingdom for some terrain. FL offers a scant whiff of vertical delta towards the state's rural middle section, but this story gets me Jonesin' for some Dragon Tail.

Help a thirty-something understand the uncertainty of a cold bike and a kick start. I've only known the electric push-button slide (and the occasional bump start when I've neglected the acid reservoir) and imagine some mornings kicked back.

[Ulvetanna_imp]

My kingdom for some terrain. FL offers a scant whiff of vertical delta towards the state's rural middle section, but this story gets me Jonesin' for some Dragon Tail.

Help a thirty-something understand the uncertainty of a cold bike and a kick start. I've only known the electric push-button slide (and the occasional bump start when I've neglected the acid reservoir) and imagine some mornings kicked back.

I don't think the brand is mentioned in the story but my guess is, British undoubtedly. Those things were very sketchy at times, easy to flood. So former or current kick-starters will recognize the drill. If you get the sparkplug(s) wet you often need to remove them and dry them out before trying again, or turn off the gas and kick and kick until it dries out a bit. They don't have a proper choke (hardly anyone knows what that is either I am sure), it's usually some kind of a "tickler" or enrichener circuit and it's hard to get it just right. Actually it is surprising the guy got it started in just a few kicks and I do question his smoking a cigar in a barn full of hay, but then again I grew up on a farm and the grownups I worked around did that kind of stuff all the time so it's not far-fetched in the least. This guy in the story is obviously pretty headstrong and determined and will do as he pleases.

Getting one of those started back in the day was something to be proud of and was always a fun spectacle to watch at the roadhouse. I have had a lot of kick start bikes, at least a half-dozen and rode them all over; I rode an XL600 from Ketchikan, Alaska to Los Angeles once through British Columbia, rained all the way to Portland. I would not own one now, though, too old for that stuff.

[the Ferret]

Wow, hard to believe there are motorcyclists that have never dealt with kick starters, carburators and primitive magneto or points and condesor ignition systems.

Until the Japanese brought in Keihen and Mikuni carbs, metering fuel for a motorcycle was a rather haphazard affair, and until the intoduction of electronic ignition rather than points and condensor, a strong reliable spark was a bit of a mystery at times too.

Then again the man in the story was butting up against winter and gas atomizes more slowly when it's cold, and the old leaded fuel had less volatility as well.

Combine all those things and starting a motorcycle with a few prods of a kick was often a bit of good luck, and an excercise in frustration.

Some bikes required a certain drill. I had a 59 Harley Sporster. IF you put the choke on, kick 3 times, turn the choke off, turn ignition on, it would generally start on first kick. Didn't follow that procedure and best of luck. you might kick for 15 or 20 minutes.

Can't tell you how many times in the early days you'd get dressed for a ride, roll the bike out, kick the starter once, twice... ten times, start taking off gear because you were starting to over heat, kick ten more times. Then give up and go inside for awhile until you cooled off and come back out and start the drill again lol.

Still I lamented when they started leaving kick starters off of bikes, but in the end it turned out to be pretty much a non issue.

We really are lucky these days.

[johnf514_imp]

Ulvetanna, thanks for the vivid description. Imagining pulling wet sparkplugs to dry out to get back on the road makes me appreciate how far motorcycle tech has come, and how the cost of this tech has come down far enough that it is included/expected even on entry model rides.

I've used pull start on lawn equipment, but never had to deal with overcoming the higher compression needed to fire up hundreds of CCs of cold engine. Would like to throw my leg over an older model to see if I have what it takes. I'd probably make quite a spectacle for the seasoned riders.

Ferret, your note about going from cold, to sweating, back to the cold again, all without a running bike has me shaking my head. I had a Ninja 500 with a choke, so I understand a bit of the pain of finding the right procedure on how to keep the bike running. Replace kick starting with holding a button down and hoping the battery had enough juice in it, and you've got my first winter with that bike. I flooded the carbs a couple of times, and the petcock on that thing was iffy on a good day.

Much appreciation for the ladies and gents before me ushering in the era of electric start and refining the technology so we all can have our ride and not sweat it, too. OK, back to story time.

[Ulvetanna_imp]

Later model bikes had either a manual or automatic compression release which helped quite a lot. But I have been kicked back several times and from a big single, 550-600cc, it hurts and leaves a real bruise. A bigger bike without compression release can break a guy's foot. The two-strokes were much easier to start and didn't kick back.