Kill Switch got me today

Went to start the bike, nothing, no pop. Troubleshoot, found no spark. I had read about the switchgear gremlins here, but since I'd had no trouble with it for 12,000 miles, figured it was good to go. No weather exposure (except once in a while :evil: when I plan poorly) So, I pushed it and let it snap back a couple times, spark returned. Switchgear refresh coming, kill switch bypass and ignition relay coming this off season. Just figured I'd share.

Got rid of kill-switch awhile back . It's not like we have mandatory safety checks for a bike on the road here (yet). More griefage to deal with in the list of who needs it to eliminate (new thread topic ?). Ocasionally on a wet cold night feel like if I get it started why would I want to kill my luck ? Grounding out unwillingly to handlebar a party pooper. More sparks, not less.

We all live and ride by faith alone so at times get left on road alone in silence.
I have discovered the need for bar kill switch in several good and bad situations so recommend bypassing the failure prone Norton momentary kill switch for a real robust true on/off switch. if ya rig up similar to the P11's it can help for WOT no clutch snick shifts that catch rubber on first two snicks up from 1st, plus jerk snot out of drive line and neck. It should be big enough ya can't miss it in heat of the moments. Search up Detox electrical terminal conduction fluid solution.

O.K. ,I can take a hint ,tell me what to fit , not stock please plus affordable switch.

Got rid of my kill switch long time ago and always use my ignition key to kill the engine. After all those years and miles I can't think of any occurrence I missed that sucker :wink:

If you clean the points of the kill switch once in a while it works well. I'm still using the stock setup on my '72 with 55,000 mile on the odometer.

Torontonian said:

O.K. ,I can take a hint ,tell me what to fit , not stock please plus affordable switch.

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I might suggest a piece of hacksaw blade and a patch of leather with a landyard to the wrist.

I will go out on a limb here and say that the kill switch (aka "Cutout") was exclusive to the MKIII due to its inherent nature (es).
The rh Triumph switch gear with the big red button was used as a replacement and that, I believe, is where many misconstrue the need for the cutoff on earlier models.

I will not say it's a bad thing, particularly for Toyota's, but really, I can count on all my fingers and toes of how these kill switches messed people up and I cannot say I have read example here of where they saved anyone, not that they haven't.

That being said, If I road where Ludwig road, I would concider any and all safety option.

The kill switch on my company 650-SS saved my tail. I think I've posted this a while back, but I'll repeat.

I was going home from work through the middle of Wolverhampton, following the traditional point & squirt procedure to get through the almost stationary traffic. After one squirt, I was approaching the back of a doouble-decker bus, and when I backed off on the throttle, it didn't follow the command. I wsa at about 80% open in second gear and closing rapidly on the bus. Thumb on the kill button and I avoided the wreck. It could have been nasty, as the bus was the old style with the open rear platform, where several people had gathered to get off at the next stop.

I discovered that Amal carbs have their slides individually lapped to fit the bodies. We'd had the carbs apart for Plumstead to do a trial of a single carb installation. When I put the twin carbs back together, I'd got the slides swapped over and one stuck.The ride home was the first outing.

That bike was magneto ignition, so there was no ignition switch.

Yep Sir Frank only takes one event in a lifetime to appreciate the wisdom of functional kill button. Picture this situation, pull up to mail box on slope, there ya are holding brake and holding clutch in, so both hands occupied, to let go of either means rolling off or jerking off and putting in N only means clutch hand free and would still roll off in not held in gear, so I kill with my thumb then can let go of brake and clutch to put down stand or just reach in box to get mail held in place by engine compression. Don't bother to key off, so I leave by holding clutch in while the roll gets going fast enough can let out in 2nd and restart.

The worse case almost burnt me alive with deer struck bike on top of me on THE Gravel and broken peg end stabbed into boot seam pinning it under so no way to get out from under and no way to lift bike with fractured disjointed R hip L knee and laid open hand and strained shoulder while gas tricking out over points now just inches from my groin. Took a number of supreme effort events in shearing extra pains to finally be able to reach and hold and hold and hold the dam momentary kill til it actually did. i swear Amal work best to idle on their sides.

My habit to park is touch kill then reach the key, though tests my memory to do so at times. DomiRacer used to sell big ole chrome kills like P11 had so don't know where to shop now. Plenty of plastic yuk kinds out there. Ya can also make loud back fires easier with a kill button in case any missing on on that fun. Peel get jerk cord kill too for sure.

Frank, how did you end up with a kill switch on your 650-SS when Norton didn't introduce the kill switch until 1975? Factory prototype? Keep up the good work guys! I learn some incredible stuff here.

Russ

ludwig said:

I would not even start a bike without a functional kill switch .
If you can not kill the engine , then the engine can kill YOU .
But like Hobot says , better use a real swith .

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Gotta agree with that.
I changed out my Amals for a Mikuni VM and on testing hard acceleration when I went to drop the throttle at 5,000 rpm in third gear when I pulled the clutch
engine wound up because slide wouldn't drop. I hit the kill switch as my only way to save my ass. If I'd had to fumble for the ignition switch as I accelerated like a bat out of hell or pulled clutch and had engine blow I probably would have had a bad outcome either way.
Turned out Mikuni had a reputation for not having a strong enough spring to drop slide under this kind of use, so I added an Amal spring per advice from this site and no problem now.
Just one case where having a kill switch can be a real life saver.

Other advice is not to put any Japanese part on your Norton so you don't need a life saver

JRD said:

Other advice is not to put any Japanese part on your Norton so you don't need a life saver

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ludwig said:

JRD said:

Other advice is not to put any Japanese part on your Norton so you don't need a life saver

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A quick search for " sticking Amal " returned 65 matches ..

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JRD,

I'm glad to see that you put a "smiley face" on the end your post.........My 36 mm Mikuni works very well. :mrgreen:

Ok. You convinced me. My push button kill on my bike broke in two pieces a while ago and I have not gotten it fixed. I never really thought the push button type was as effective as a toggle would be since, I believe, that if you push the button it kills but if you release it the bike runs again if in gear. Is that correct?

I will be picking up a kill toggle switch tonight.

Oh My Yes - Norton switch is momentary and is perfectly fine as long as you and bike and conditions of use are perfectly fine... but as Norton have pretty heavy fly wheel you must hold and hold the momentary switch to really shut off engine so it would be better to install two kills one momentary and another easy distinct on and OFF with one action while ya have chance to save it. If only one > i vote for a distinct non momentary on OFF. I hope no more riders find out why a kill might be vital. I'd go down list of world wide vendors and ask if they have clamp on British styled buttons or switches, which means chromed metal not Asian plastic.

rvich said:

Frank, how did you end up with a kill switch on your 650-SS when Norton didn't introduce the kill switch until 1975? Factory prototype? Keep up the good work guys! I learn some incredible stuff here.

Russ

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?? My 71 roadster has one, same switchgear as my 71 Triumph used. Did they go to a dedicated kill switch in later years?
One downside I did find to using kill switch, before I eliminated it trying to find iognition circut fault, was that I had a bad habit of shutting the bike off with it and leaving the key switch on.

Safer still... All snowmobiles/PWC's have 'em http://m.motorcycle-superstore.com/4/22 ... 4AodODkAvQ

MikeG said:

rvich said:

Frank, how did you end up with a kill switch on your 650-SS when Norton didn't introduce the kill switch until 1975? Factory prototype? Keep up the good work guys! I learn some incredible stuff here.

Russ

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?? My 71 roadster has one, same switchgear as my 71 Triumph used. Did they go to a dedicated kill switch in later years?
One downside I did find to using kill switch, before I eliminated it trying to find iognition circut fault, was that I had a bad habit of shutting the bike off with it and leaving the key switch on.

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I'm not the one who said that. Truthfully, I was being a smart-ass (or a dumb one depending upon how you look at it).

pete.v said:

I will go out on a limb here and say that the kill switch (aka "Cutout") was exclusive to the MKIII due to its inherent nature (es).
The rh Triumph switch gear with the big red button was used as a replacement and that, I believe, is where many misconstrue the need for the cutoff on earlier models.

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A kill switch was pretty standard equipment on all of my early Hondas, Suzukis and Yamahas too. Maybe Pete knows something I don't! (or lots of things I suspect)

Problem with using a lanyard is you have to take your hand off the bars to yank the cord, while the bike is accelerating full throttle with the throttle stuck. They're designed to shut the ATV down after the rider has fallen off. A switch that you can flick with your thumb seems much safer to me.

A friend of mine crashed and got hurt a few years ago when his Mikuni iced up on a winter ride and stuck wide open. He didn't have a kill switch, just a toggle switch mounted on the bottom of the battery tray. He lost control, crashed and broke his shoulder while desperately trying to reach the switch. To add insult to injury, the police responded and issued him a citation for "failure to maintain control of vehicle". Don't let it happen to you!

My tm40 is push pull. :mrgreen: