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By MHSILVERW
#418
Hi,
After mounting the silencer on the clamp at the front and the mounting at the back I find the kick start lever touches the silencer on it's down swing, on the 350 iron/classic.
Anyone else experience this?
Moving the lever a little on the splines seem to help but its very close. I see there are replacement kick start levers to be had, some fixed head (like the original Redditch bikes maybe?) that have the angle at the bottom taher than higher up, and see there may even be a 'wider' throw one for rearsets. If anyone else has had an issue what was the cause and how was it solved?
Mark
By simon
#12259
Move the muffler, you don't want the kickstart splines stripping and the muffler shouldn't be in the way. I suggest that you set the whole thing up loose and tighten so that you start with the tailed in the right place and move forward.
By BobF
#12275
MHSILVERW - you don't say how old your 350 iron/classic is. I fitted a replacement standard kickstart lever assembly part no. 112024 to my 1991 500 last year and recall that the new item was quite a bit different from the old. I don't still have the old item but as far as I can recall there were two differences:- 1) the offset (to clear the silencer) on new item was greater than on the old; 2) the profile of the double kink which gives the offset was somewhat different. Overall, it appeared that the newer item gave a lot more clearance for the silencer. I used to have the original fat & long silencer & did not have a clearance problem with the old kickstart. I now have the short silencer and the clearance with the new kickstart is massive. For the record, I measured the new kickstart and the offset appears to be about 35mm. To gain more clearance you might try a clout on the silencer with a soft mallet - a flat piece of wood laid against the silencer will help prevent dents & preserve chrome.
By Les H
#12281
Hi Mark. Yes as per Simon to start with; fit the kickstart fully on and tighten the sytem for maximum clearance but if the kickstart still hits check the kickstart lever hasn't bent. Even though kickstart levers look very strong they can surprisly bend with heavy kick starting. The easiest way to bend the kick start to give more clearance is to remove it and place it on a concrete surface or strong plank on the floor and hold by the foot part with the bend arched upwards. Then with a sledge hammer (Not a club hammer) holding it about a foot away from the head (So you can swing it accurately) hit the centre of the upward curve of the kickstart quite smartly. The lever will bend quite easily, and even the chrome does not get marked very much. The difference to clearance this can make is worth having. If you try to bend a kickstart lever held in a vice it is near impossible but hitting it as described works like magic.

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