kick start on 1981 xs1100?

[blackchop2]

from what i have read up the 78 and 79 xs1100 had an" emergency" kick starter , my 1981 did not come withg this option but does have the cover there for one. . whats the trick to putting one on my 1981 midnight special xs1100?

[TopCatGr58]

A search for kick start will probably reveal several threads on this subject. It was thought that the cases needed to be split, but a fellow in Europe said that he was able to do it without splitting cases.

But also the question is that of WHY? Yamaha realized that if the battery gets so low that it's hard to turn the engine, then there's a good chance that the voltage may drop to below 10.5 during cranking, and that low voltage will NOT fire the TCI! So...choices are either jump starting it, or possibly being able to push start it, but again, problem if battery too low!?

A few folks posted that they were able to start theirs with the kick starter when there wasn't enough juice to run the electric starter, YMMV!
T.C.

[blackchop2]

umm kickstarts are cool lol

and yamaha was never famous for a good electric starter, although my starter has no problems ( unlike a viragos starter or an xs650 twin)

so its best to just let it be what it is , correct?

thats at least what i am understanding from your response.

[Ivan]

umm kickstarts are cool lol

Until you slip off and smoosh "the twins".

[blackchop2]

Until you slip off and smoosh "the twins".

in my 30 years of riding that has never ever happened.

[XSPastor]

then there's a good chance that the voltage may drop to below 10.5 during cranking,

I think that's exactly the point. If voltage drops during cranking, it's because most of the battery power is going to the starter. With the human providing the starter power, theoretically, the bike should start with a much weaker battery because all of the voltage is going to ignition and not being used to crank the engine. If the battery is dead or very weak then yeah, it makes no difference; it's not going to start.

[fredintoon]

I'm with Tim

eight flashlight cells in series will work the iggy for a mile or so but they ain't gonna crank the starter, right? Now that is an extreme example but if your bike has a battery that still has 12V available for a light load but drops the voltage way down when the starter is sucking on it, the '78 & '79 models' kickstarter could get you going. I swear that on a cold start the XS650 starter sucks so much juice from even a new fully charged battery that there is nothing left to run the iggy. You crank & crank & nothing until you take your thumb off the button then the motor fires right up. I fixed that on the XS650 and then on my XS11 by discarding the bike battery & substituting a car battery in the sidecar trunk. Where 14CCA won't work, 400CCA fires the bike right up.

[tarzan]

Wow FRED thats hilarious ,are you running a microwave and a TV on that thing?But I suppose you never have to worry about having enough power.

[randy]

Uh, no Fred, The iggy coils draw 4 amps. Another 1/2 - 1 amp for the TCI. The most you'll get out of the "D" size cells in series is 300 mA. The coils wouldn't even fire once.