Forum

[MartinB]

My 2009 500 Bullet Electra DL with the UCE is very temperamental. Often it will start first time on the kick start but sometimes i can't seem to get it going at all but that's not usually a problem as it nearly always starts first time on the button-unless i forget i've got the side stand down when the cut out comes into play.

[PeteF]

Scaly, interesting point about the cold start - I'll try that as my 350 requires a tad of throttle to start but give it too much and it won't play nice.
Interestingly, mine starts best ON compression. Yes, I know, that should be quite wrong but the 350 doesn't have a deal of compression to start with. I've tried it the "proper" way but it's definitely a more reliable start beginning on compression.
They're all different!

[Thack]

About the exact point to position the engine before kicking it - I think a lot depends on how big you are. For instance, I know a couple of guys who are so heavy a measly 500cc of compressed air is totally overwhelmed by their mass and muscles, and frankly they can spin the engine so damn fast from any starting position it makes no difference at all.



The important thing is to make the intake and compression strokes happen as fast as possible. That normally means giving yourself the maximum amount of travel to build up crank momentum, but NOT running out of travel before the engine goes over compression.



I think Riggers is quite correct to point out that giving yourself too much "run up" is a bad thing if, in fact, you run out of travel and rely on the crankshaft momentum to take it over compression.



Clearly a lot depends on the gearing between the kickstart and crankshaft. The higher the gearing the further you can spin the crank for one kick, but the harder that kick will be. I don't kickstart my UCE so I'm not familiar with exactly how far it can turn the engine per stroke, but I do accepts Riggers' point that somewhat past TDC might be a better starting point than right on TDC. Bearing in mind we all have different weight and musculature, some experimentation would seem to be in order.