I can't believe I did this. I changed my oil tonight and then started my Baby up and checked for any leaks. All was fine so I decided to take a quick spin. When starting off I heard 4 loud bangs and my heart almost stopped. I quickly realized that the bang was my Kickstand banging my driveway. Pretty Retarded, huh? Anyway, My bike shouldn't have even stayed running with the Kickstand still down, Right?

 

No it should have killed the motor right away. Did you buy the bike new? your clutch bypass sw could be bad. But I don't know.

 

Thanks Deej. I did buy it new and haven't done a single mod yet. I guess I'll have to diagnose the Bypass switch. Is it possible the switch for the kickstand could be screwed?

 

Funny you should mention this, a couple of weeks ago, just the opposite happened to me. 3 times I tried to leave my driveway, and 3 times the motor cut out instantly. I kept looking down to see if the kickstand was down, but it wasn't. Then as quickly as it happened, it went away and off I went. I never did find out what happened.[&:]

 

It would be easy to check...jack her up and start it with the kickstand in the down position and put it in gear and let the clutch out..if it doesn't stall then I'd say your switch is bad. I believe the kickstand and clutch switch serve 2 different purposes..

1. Clutch switch prevents the motor from turning over when the bike is in gear unless the clutch lever is pulled in.
2. The kickstand switch kills the motor when the clutch is let out if the kickstand is down.

good luck...

or if u have an ohmmeter, you can test the switch by unplugging it under the seat and testing for 0 ohms when the kickstand is up and open when the stand is down.

 

Thanks Jason, I'll also keep that in mind if it happens again.

 

deej, I think maybe the plunger was stuck in, in your case. This would make the bike think the stand was still down as the switch would still be open, but once the plunger came unstuck and sprung back out you were okay to go. I hate to say it, but there is probably dirt inside the switch where the plunger slides in and out causing it to malfunction. I wouldn't be surprised if Gerry's switch acted up for the same reason. It is down low on the bike and prone to a lot of road grime.

 

This would make sense because I have been riding in some serious mud lately. I can easily check the plunger and I'll post my results. Just glad it's nothing major.

 

Let me know what u find out...I personally would have liked to have a kickstand down switch on my previous bike. The only accident I ever had was because i left my stand down when I got off work late one night and when i took a left hand turn at an intersection, the stand dug in and took the bike out from under me. I didn't get hurt, in fact I landed on my feet andwas chasing my bike down the road as it slid on its side showering sparks everywhere...grrr I was pi$$ed![:@]

 

My plunger seems to be fine. It moves in & out. If I push it in by hand it goes in just a bit further than the stand pushes it. It may be just an adjustment. I believe when I leaned the bike up straight that I may have rolled forward just a tiny bit allowing the plunger to pop out just enough to "trick" the system. I'll test more tomorrow & post results.