Speaking of electric starters

Hi,
My kick only MKIIa starts really well when warm, but after sitting for several weeks and some wet-sumping, not to mention my Parkinson's medication wearing off, it can be sort of reluctant to start. I recently happened to see an electric roller starting device http://www.startingblockmotorcycle.com/index2.html . After a little searching I also saw ones that were driven off the rear wheel of a car or truck. Anyway I got to thinking that may be just the ticket for those initial start ups of the day. I know there are a few of you guys on the forum that are into racing and I'd like to know if any of you have ever used this type of starter, and what has been your experience with them.

GB

geo46er said:

Hi,
My kick only MKIIa starts really well when warm, but after sitting for several weeks and some wet-sumping, not to mention my Parkinson's medication wearing off, it can be sort of reluctant to start. I recently happened to see an electric roller starting device http://www.startingblockmotorcycle.com/index2.html . After a little searching I also saw ones that were driven off the rear wheel of a car or truck. Anyway I got to thinking that may be just the ticket for those initial start ups of the day. I know there are a few of you guys on the forum that are into racing and I'd like to know if any of you have ever used this type of starter, and what has been your experience with them.

GB

Click to expand...

Who's going to drive the car? Make sure it ain't got a posi. :mrgreen:

If you get a house up a hill , with a driveway slopeing down going out , itll have the advantage of
not geting the water running in , and you wont add any weight to the motorcycle ' Rolling Starts .

A Coffman starter , or R.A.T.O. and clutch start would be interesting .

The starting rollers I used were driven by Ford starter motors, not easy to use alone since the rear wheel is sitting about 3 inches higher than normal and you must put weight on the rear wheel or the rollers will just spin on the tire.

Jean

got curious and found a video of one in action starting an old bike

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwJFNqcyLz8[/video]

The car driven rollers are not safe, I have used them and also seen them spit across the parking lot from under the wheels of a car. Plus you need two people, one to drive the car. My old starter was a custom built 5HP gas engine driving rollers; worked good but you needed a second person to throw the switch on the motor. A lot of guys in the pits use the Doc Z starter seen here- http://www.solodynasystems.biz/solo_dyn ... tions.html
Or, a home made equivalent. It has a foot switch you press that activates it and is a battery driving car starters to the rear wheel basically.
I have graduated now to the next level; Mr. Becker made me a hand driven car starter that plugs into a large nut on the end of the crank- seen here at the start of this race video of me from August at Mosport. This is easier on the transmission and rear wheel spokes.
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lkv69uRQkdA[/video]

bluto said:

got curious and found a video of one in action starting an old bike

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwJFNqcyLz8[/video]

Click to expand...

That is cool, not very moveable but that is what the OP is looking for. The DocZ starter I used lacked the bars to limit side to side motion and the easy access to a start switch (it was a foot pedal) so using it alone was precarious but still doable.

Jean

I have a roller starter which I use with my 2-stroke racebikes. Mine is a Dr. Something brand which they send you unassembled. There are quite a few models out there. For a Norton you would need a dual motor model. They use automobile starter motors. You can google "roller starter" and find a number of brands. They need to be attached to the battery with regular battery connectors, not battery clamps which have too much resistance. The kind that go under a car wheel are a bit dangerous and you need two people. With the "self propelled" starter roller you have a footswitch which can be depressed by yourself and you can start the bike by yourself.

Yes, Mine is a Doc Z.

I have a Doc Z roller starter with two Ford starter motors that I used to use to start race bikes at the track. Now I use it to start them at my shop. It's a good package, and will start pretty much anything. It does take some practice to get the right technique to start, but will easily start a stock British twin. I ran it off of one deep cycle 12 volt battery, but you can run it with 12 v and 6 v batteries in series for 18v, and get higher roller speeds. You can also run it with two 12v batteries in series for 24 volts, but they recommend mods to the starter motors if you do so. I've not tried that.

Ken

I was just thinking of the home made starting roller rig they show Burt Munro using in the "The World's Fastest Indian." I couldn't find it on YouTube but I seem to recall that the positive cable was hanging from his pant leg.