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Kill switch off stories. what you went through to figure it out.

ttmike

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May 15, 2010
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Location
frisco, tx
First Name
Mike
Last Name
Harmon
While reading about another guy's real electrical problems and how he figured it out, it brought to mind 2 times that my kill switch was off and what I went through to figure it out. I have had 2 memorable times.

The first time was when a friend's 5 year old son was out in the garage sitting on my 1975 Yamaha RD400 and flipping switches, evidently. The bike was a kick starter and I kicked until sweat was dripping. Then, I pulled spark plugs, etc. before finally figuring it out.

The second was in1982 after a 2 week trip from Texas to the west coast up the coast to Washington State, then down to Yellowstone and back. All on a 1982 Goldwing. I remember that I was totally amazed that I could go so far without a problem and I was expecting one at any time. So, I stopped in Colorado Springs to eat and when I came back out the bike wouldn't start. While my wife stood there, I piddled around doing I can't remember what. Realizing I was far from home (Lubbock, Tx), I called a honda dealer. Spoke to the service manager and he suggested it may be one of the coils or something. I don't remember what I did then, but, finally, I called the other dealer in the phone book and got the service manager. He said "sir, have you checked your kill switch?" I immediately knew that was it and hung up. I had sat my helmet on the handle bars over the kill switch.
 
well not the kill switch on the handle bars, but tossing lead (Jeff) has a few good stories about trying to start his tiger with the side stand down! :lol2:

why triumph decided to have it kill the ignition and not the starter is only known to them!

I discovered that while traveling at speed on a Suzuki SV1K that if you stretch your left leg and catch the side stand and move it 1/4 inch you will trigger the safety shut down that requires you to turn off and back on the ignition switch.
 
We've all done that, I expect. I certainly have, more than once. :doh:

When I was selling bikes, it wasn't uncommon for a new bike buyer to call the shop the next morning and say, "It won't start. It was running fine last night but now it won't start."

Most of the time it was the kill switch but, on fo-weelahs, it was often the tank vent that I'd carefully shown them and told them to shut it while transporting the quad. "It ran fine for a few minutes then just quit. I checked the kill switch and that's in Run. Who built this hunka junk!"

"Did you open the tank vent when you got home?" :doh:

You take your funnies where you find 'em. :rofl:
 
Ive gotten dozens of calls from customers "my bike was running fine then it sputtered and died". Most of the time asking them to turn the gas on or adding gas has solved it...

Sold a bike a couple months ago. Got a call later that day stating "the bike ran fine, i put gas in it, and now when i put it in gear it keeps dying." Asked them to put the sidestand up and "issue" fixed.
 
Didn't get my first "modern bike" until a few years ago and this whole side stand switch gave me more then one pause. I bought the XChallenge and it died as I was stopping at the gas station. It started fine, but then again the same thing happened later. Finally I realized it was the kickstand switch.

So thinking I have that sorted out, I buy an RT. Test ride goes great and then I sit in the parking lot of Lone Star and it won't start - can't even get the dash to light up. Finally I got up the nerve to go inside and ask directions. "Kick stand."



One of the XR650L guys and I were riding at Sam and he goes down in the sand. Bike will turn over but won't run, so we push it in the sand to the road, then down the road trying to bump start it. Once we start stripping the thing to do some diagnostics, he says "Um, this may be the problem."

Back in high school I used to street race a Mach III. After a couple of crashes it developed a habit of shutting down whenever the front brake was pulled. Let off the brake and it would start right up.
 
Just before a CMRA 6 hour endurance race at TWS on a Yamaha R6 we were running the final practice getting ready for a rain race and fighting some handling issues later traced to the rear rain tire when one rider experienced a tank slapper on the front straight. He got it under control but then the R6 died and he coasted off the track and pushed back to the pits. We had just a little over an hour to go and we used most of it going all over the bike trying to figure out what happened. We swapped out sensors and by passed others all to no avail. The somebody just happened to pull on the main wire assembly including kill switch signal going into the frame and it popped out, smoothly cut through the whole bundle. It seems that during the slapper it pinched the wires hard enough to cut completely through them but the end slipped back into position where we couldn't see it. Fortunately we had a spare and swapped it out while running it in a different location this time and were ready to go by race time.
 
I never use the kill switch. I think DFW_Warrior always uses it. After about 3 tire changes in his garage, and my not being able to start the bike afterward, I finally learned to check my kill switch before running back up to the house yelling "Bill, help!". :doh: I may not be smart, but I am at least trainable ------ over time. :oops:
 
Didn't get my first "modern bike" until a few years ago and this whole side stand switch gave me more then one pause. I bought the XChallenge and it died as I was stopping at the gas station. It started fine, but then again the same thing happened later. Finally I realized it was the kickstand switch.

So thinking I have that sorted out, I buy an RT. Test ride goes great and then I sit in the parking lot of Lone Star and it won't start - can't even get the dash to light up. Finally I got up the nerve to go inside and ask directions. "Kick stand."



One of the XR650L guys and I were riding at Sam and he goes down in the sand. Bike will turn over but won't run, so we push it in the sand to the road, then down the road trying to bump start it. Once we start stripping the thing to do some diagnostics, he says "Um, this may be the problem."

Back in high school I used to street race a Mach III. After a couple of crashes it developed a habit of shutting down whenever the front brake was pulled. Let off the brake and it would start right up.

You never told me about the incident at the store.

Robert
 
Petcocks used to be my nemesis.

Back in the 80's, pitting for a friend racing in the Arenacross series put on by Mike Boyd. Some last minute adjustment, we stand his 250R 4wheeler up, I automatically turn off the gas.

A few minutes later, he's in the first two or three at the first corner. The next thing I see, he's frantically trying to restart it. A lap later, he checks the petcock.:eek2:

We didn't talk much the rest of the night.:angryfire
 
Petcocks used to be my nemesis.

Had a friend/classmate in college who had a BSA 650 Lightning (one of the best looking bikes of all time, IMO) and a tendency to, on occasion, imbibe a bit too heartily. If I couldn't get his keys away from him, I'd shut off the petcocks and he'd sweat himself sober kicking that 'chine.

(Of course I'd also shut 'em off when he wasn't drinking and that'd work just about as well . . . . for a laugh.)
 
As a mechanic and a long time rider, I just don’t see the need for a kill switch anymore. Back in the day the key was located below the front of the tank on the frame or under the seat on the frame. Very difficult to get to while riding etc. The handle bar mounted kill switch has caused so many issues with customers over the years I cannot even count them anymore.

Two most memorable issue were
1) Wasp had gotten inside and the larvae gummed up the contacts
2) A spider had made a web/nest and the silk prevented good contact
 
The kickstand safety switch got me on a pie run before someone pointed it out to me.:oops:
 
As a mechanic and a long time rider, I just don’t see the need for a kill switch anymore. Back in the day the key was located below the front of the tank on the frame or under the seat on the frame. Very difficult to get to while riding etc. The handle bar mounted kill switch has caused so many issues with customers over the years I cannot even count them anymore.

Two most memorable issue were
1) Wasp had gotten inside and the larvae gummed up the contacts
2) A spider had made a web/nest and the silk prevented good contact

As a mechanic and Engineer and a rider for (probably) far longer than you've been (well over 50yrs), I'd not want a bike without a kill switch on the bars. I've hardly ever hit one accidentally and, if I did, it would be pretty obvious to me that that's what I'd done.

My KTM 625SMC has two, one on each side, and that doesn't bother me a bit. Having to reach for a key (many still located out of sight or, if in sight, hard to grab to shut down in a hurry) is, in my opinion, a bad plan.

Your contention reminds me of the guy in Flatistan who argued long and loud that everyone should remove throttle return springs because they made it difficult for him to set the throttle lock screw on his V-Rod and serve no useful purpose.

There are also lawyers lurking "out there" who just love cases in which they can claim their "clunt" was severely injured because the kill switch didn't operate properly, or that their dreamer-of-a-big-settlement wasn't taught how to use it. And that, Jack, is a fact!
 
I was racing TMGP , rookie year, they were blowing by me in a corner, he reaches out, touches me on the shoulder, then hits my kill switch! So it looks like this in my helmet
:eek2::angryfire:roll::D:argh::lol2::rofl::hail:
 
I've done the kill switch thing a couple times.

A new one was after washing my first K75. Tried to start it for 10-15 minutes, pulled the plugs, checked the fuses with me muttering something about German engineering, was about to call the dealer service department. Then, walking around the bike, saw where I'd hadn't removed the tape over the exhaust outlet to keep water from getting in. Pull the tape off, bike starts :oops: :lol2:
 
I've been sitting on the bike out front of a bar at 2am, not intoxicated at all (seriously) waiting on a tow truck... when I saw the kill switch was turned off. Now I use it religiously and follow the "KISS" protocol- "Kickstand, Ignition, Stop (switch), Starter" before starting. Keeps me out of trouble.
 
I've been sitting on the bike out front of a bar at 2am, not intoxicated at all (seriously) waiting on a tow truck... when I saw the kill switch was turned off. Now I use it religiously and follow the "KISS" protocol- "Kickstand, Ignition, Stop (switch), Starter" before starting. Keeps me out of trouble.
Only had two, right!
 
It's got me at least 20 times over the years. I usually figure it out before giving up or finding tools. Such a laugh at my own idiocy, every time.
 
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