Beastly just grew a kick starter

[11Rider]

Now that the airbox is gone I have no clearance issues with the XS850 kick lever. Adds to the old school look. That's right, it's just for bling so sue me

[ManagerMike]

I run with the uni's as well, with stacks

[Shacknasty]

What, no photo? Yer killin' me dude! I've got some plans to pick up a swiveling kicker arm and weld it into the XS11 arm so I can have a kicker that won't hit my airbox. I like kicking it over and it kinda bums me out that the factory one isn't a little cooler and functional.

[natemoen]

What, no photo? Yer killin' me dude! I've got some plans to pick up a swiveling kicker arm and weld it into the XS11 arm so I can have a kicker that won't hit my airbox. I like kicking it over and it kinda bums me out that the factory one isn't a little cooler and functional.

No welding or cutting required. Just use an XS850 lever, it already swivels.

[11Rider]

OK, OK, I'll get my son to upload a pic. Give me a few minutes Also, I did have to to a mod to the lever, actually the bolt. Where the bolt goes through the clamp on the lever, it does't coincide with the flat area on the shaft coming out of the bike. I therefore had to grind a little of the threads off the middle of the bolt, install the bolt in the clamp, put the clamp on the shaft and then tighten it down.

[11Rider]

Here you go, along with a gratuitous pic of my little buddy, Hash. He keeps me and Beastly company in Mantopia.

[Shacknasty]

Good pics of a well-turned out machine. And that dog looks pretty "beastly" as well. Is he attack trained? Sweet, cuddly dogs make the best attack dogs because nobody ever expects the vicious charge.

Nate, the reason I want to make one is to avoid it rubbing against the airbox. I'm funny that way...

So Rider, do ya ever kick it just for fun? I have always liked the way a bike sounds when it is kicked to life, no starter motor and gear whine...it just gives out a sweet boom and sits there purring. When ya got it in tune, that is. Sometimes I use the kicker on the XS just for fun. (I know about the lack of kicker support so I only do it occasionally.) My old Shovelhead has an electric boot , but I almost never use the button. I'm a kickstart guy.

Hell, I think cars should still have hand crank starters. You would weed out a lot of wussy drivers and pointless car driving if there was a good chance of busting yer thumb or fracturing yer arm-bone every time you started yer car.
But what do I know? I'm just an SFV Luddite living in an I-pod world...

Here's a photo of a guy trying to kickstart his airplane.

[natemoen]

Someone did a simple little shim or something similar to move it that little bit out to solve the problem.

[Mendizale]

Here's a photo of a guy trying to kickstart his airplane.

That is fantastic. It doesn't seem like his first time, either.

[Shacknasty]

Thanks for the tip, Nate. I saw that when I put on the kicker arm from my XS750, but it bothered me that the splines weren't mated together fully. I am always looking for excuses to weld things anyway. This seems like a good enough excuse. So, when the right parts show up in my garage, I'll make the part that the old 1100 needs.

The poor guy in the photo shoulda checked his oil before takeoff.

Here's one more pic for this thread. Makes ya want set of handlebars, doesn't it?

[b.walker5]

Here you go, along with a gratuitous pic of my little buddy, Hash. He keeps me and Beastly company in Mantopia.

Are you kidding.... an ankle biter with a pink jacket

I like dogs, but just today I launched one of those off my boot after it tried to make my foot lunch. Feisty little bugger it was, but it didnt have no pink jacket

Nice bike BTW.

Nice bars (and headlights) Shacknasty although its the first time ive seen the headlights behind the bars without being broken

[11Rider]

Hi guys, to answer a few quesions. First about Hash. Hash is actually my daughters little pooch and she insists on putting pink on him. If I take it off or put camo on, the next day it's back to pink. Whattayagonnado?

Regarding the kick lever, no I never kicked it to life. As I mentioned, it's pure old school bling for me especially since I'm now missing my T-5 vertebrae. I didn't add it before because it did rub on the airbox, but even now it has to be about a quarter inch off the shaft to clear the brake lever. It's stll plenty strong and I've actually turned it over by hand, but just haven't started it that way.

[clcorbin]

The funny thing is these XS11's actually kickstart pretty easy. I'm one of the lucky one's that actually have the stock stow away kickstarter and one of the unlucky one's that have had to use it a time or two when the battery was too low to turn over the engine but still had enough juice to fire the plugs IF I had enough lead in my tail to turn the bike over!

Without the load from the starter, the battery voltage stays high enough that the bike starts easier from kickstarting than it does from using the electric starter. Of course, I STILL use the that little button unless I can't...

As for the guy in the airplane, well, that is OLD SCHOOL CRAZY! Better make sure your foot doesn't slip when you spin over that little four banger!

[Shacknasty]

I still miss my old bored and stroked XLCH. Many guys called her a "girl's bike" and were then invited to kickstart my "girl's bike." Most limped away groaning and a few got themselves launched over the bars. Some actually got her started, but most gave it a kick or two and looked at me like I was some type of masochist.

There is something satisfying to watch a dude in excess of two hundred lbs give up and then I, weighing not even a buck and a half soaking wet with my pockets fulla change, give her a proper brutal kick and she roars to life.

Besides all that, it's fun to see the look on a person's face when you inform them that ya gotta go kick the old bitch awake. Lots of times they don't realize I'm tawkin' about my scoot.

Ride free.

[11Rider]

I still miss my old bored and stroked XLCH. Many guys called her a "girl's bike" and were then invited to kickstart my "girl's bike." Most limped away groaning and a few got themselves launched over the bars. Some actually got her started, but most gave it a kick or two and looked at me like I was some type of masochist.

There is something satisfying to watch a dude in excess of two hundred lbs give up and then I, weighing not even a buck and a half soaking wet with my pockets fulla change, give her a proper brutal kick and she roars to life.

Besides all that, it's fun to see the look on a person's face when you inform them that ya gotta go kick the old bitch awake. Lots of times they don't realize I'm tawkin' about my scoot.

Ride free.

I remember back in the day, my two uncles had Electra Glides with some kind of spark advance/retard control that worked with the left grip and kick starters. I learned a lot of bad words when they tried to start those things