Hitchcocks Forum

May be old age and stupidity but this little tale may be of value to others similarly afflicted? RE Electra X based sidecar outfit failed to start after a brilliant 2013. (See other post) So after suspecting dirt in the carb and its complete strip down and clean and replacement with a spare carb, a knowledgeable forum member suggested a new plug. It worked. The spare carb leaked fuel and despite screwing down drain plug with no effect realised that the float valve was leaking. Decided to refit original carb which made things worse with very weak mixture banging and popping and generally rough. Thinking of replacing it with spare carb with repaired float valve when I noticed a large O ring on the bench - yes you have guessed it I missed it off when fitting carb - fitted properly to the manifold all working well now. BUT................

Don't worry Graham you are not alone. My new to me had a headlight problem, asked on here and got the fix straight away, the thing is I have had the problem on vehicles before an sorted it no problem. Then I went to use it for work and would it start, not a chance. Started checking to find out why no spark, after 40 minutes faffing about I noticed the sidestand was down. Now why cant it be like my other bikes where the starter doesnt turn with the standdown. Ah well we live and learn, at least till the next blonde monent

Davie, the side stand cut out works by looping a couple of contacts on the TCI, with the stand down the loop is applied and no spark. You can disconnect the cut out either by pulling the connector off the TCI or breaking the green wire at the connector in front of the battery. With the Hitchcock TCI and the upgraded green type there is no provision for this wire anyway. You of course run the risk of forgetting the stand is down and riding off and also running the engine leaned over, also not a good idea. However having wasted so much time the lesson has now been learned and probably won't be forgotten!

Well Frank, you are correct. I have now done 220 miles and it's the first thing I check when I turn the ignition on. Now Im just waiting for it to go onto reserve so I know how far it will go on a full tank.

Oh Heck,



You mean that, "Ride bike, park bike on centre stand, lower side stand to operate engine kill switch." is not the correct proceedure?