Look what I started. The ol' safety switch debate. I might even rate this #3, behind only oil and tire threads.

As the OP, I guess I should clarify the situation. I bypassed the side stand switch as a way to diagnose the problem, and figure out a way to get my bike running so I could get out yesterday. And I smiled for the first three hours of KLX bliss I've had since the studded tires came off. I didn't make any reference to leaving it disabled.

In fact, a few years ago when my gf decided she had to have a Harley, I even considered putting a side stand safety switch on that brand new dinosaur. Luckily she decided quickly that she hated that bike, and bought a Triumph. I think they're a great idea.

Right now, I'm trying to decide if I should replace the OEM switch, or if I can come up with something more reliable.

Maybe I should have deleted everything I put in that first post as soon as I got the bike running.

 

Leave it disabled. Less to go wrong over time... I took mine off the first week I had the bike, and have not left the stand down once!

 

Same here.

 

Rooster, I owe you a beer, maybe a case, since I already R&R'd my KLX250s carb, learned a lot about jets, and how to really use my cheapo electronic microscope to document what a jet looks like. (Wow that pilot jet is only three times the width of the little blue lines on loose-leaf paper.) When the carb lesson didn't work, I went back to Google and re-read more stories looking for other suspects.

First was "did you clean out your carb vent tubes?" That sounds so believable, clogging with muck from trail puddles... works at idle, but can't handle volume. I disconnected the two clear lines. Didn't help.

Then I found your self-help kickstarter interlock. No, that's too simple, right? And besides (pay attention, others) I was actually ABLE to get into gear and ride uphill ten or twenty feet, revving the engine hard, while the bike tried to cut out. Because of the partial power, I could ONLY attribute this to a carb problem, not an on-off cutoff switch type of thing. But I searched out "bypassing sidestand," and found a post on another forum that said, just bypass the clutch switch first (since it includes the kickstand bypass). I did that and the bike ran like new. Then I reenable the clutch bypass and I tested (bypassed) just the sidestand. And that was the problem all along. OMG. And, like all complex diagnosis, after you know the answer, the logic is idiotically simple. One look at the actuation pin on the kickstand interlock told the story. I pushed it in and out, and a bright silver portion was revealed... it had been stuck in. I'm not one who has a knee-jerk reaction to recommend disabling safety systems (my first ride was 1970-ish), but they are sometimes worse than the disease. It just needs to be on a good trouble-shooting chart.

Now, all I'm waiting for is for someone to tell me how I can ride even ten feet when an on-off interlock says to kill the system? Is it a soft kill managed by a microprocessor?

 

The kickstand switch is there for a reason, the reason is U.

 

@durielk The issue with sensors is not as simple as protecting users from their carelessness. How many times did we hear of space launches where sensors themselves were the failed part? On recent vintages of cars, it takes a lot of digging to learn that most "Check Engine" warnings are from emissions protections... followed by low tire pressure, where the sensors themselves degrade from the harsh environment. I'm in favor of these protections. But instead of a vague warning that just forces you buy a tester, then to go to a shop or dealer, who in turn is forced to purchase the more expensive tester, the vehicles themselves probably could have reported the exact fault that reported the error, whether the loose gas cap, or O2 sensor, or tire valve... for about $50 more of a console. Next is the dirtbike with two AND-ed sensors, one that I drag through mud every weekend. Does my dashboard report "Kickstand"? No. Of course it would be another $50 on the bike cost, that I'm not certain is justified. But a quick check of the google questions and extreme number of guesses (with everything from carb to tubes to draining the float bowl) tells us there's something more than just ignoring warning systems.

 

I don't park the bike in gear, I park in neutral. Most often I have developed the habit - due to the switch when it was active - of putting up the stand then moving my foot to the peg in one motion and then putting the bike in gear. My other habit, because I am a bit short, is to put my foot down in front of the stand if in gear, then when I start out the back of my ankle hits the stand and then I swing it the rest of the way up.

I made it this far without the side stand taking me out when bikes didn't have them. The best safety device was Honda's rubber tab. No electrics, totally mechanical. when a rider started out with the stand down, the rubber tab would catch first, usually putting the stand up with a bit of a bang, but it went up. I did have one friend put his Z1 down due to the stand being down.

 

I can tell you I have tried to take off with the stand down, it is just going to happen. My bike is stock & sometimes that switch didn't work and I was real surprised when the stand banged up. Those safeties are there for a reason.
If you wanted all that electronic display of the status of switches and what not, you should get a KTM, they have that.
edit: Taking off while the KS was down probably was on another bike I had without the switch, some things are not so clear these days. I've had a lot of bikes.

 

So if the switch might fail when you least expect it, just how safe is it?

I guess we just decide what we prefer.