Vintage Dirt Bike Q & A

Hi everyone!
I am the recent new owner of a 1983 CR250 that i'm fixing up to ride/race. It needs a new clutch, and a few other small odds and ends and i'm ready to go. The question i have is how in the he!! do you start a bike with a left sided kickstarter? With the compression this thing has (fresh bore/piston&rings), i cant get my left foot to kick this thing without it slipping off... i feel clumsy. I end up getting off of the bike and kicking it with my right foot. Does anybody start these things with there left foot?

Bob

Well there are 2 ways push bike down the road and pop the clutch or you kick it with the right leg. that is the right way becouse the right leg is the stronger one normally. hope this helps

Bob,

I've had my 83 cr250 for a few years now and I have found that the right foot is the way to go. I'm only 5'8" so I usually take the bike off the bike stand and then hop up on the bike stand to kick it. It gives you a better angle for more force. If I stall the bike during a race, and I've been known to do that, I try to get the bike on a slope with the left side on the upper slope before I kick it so I can get that better angle for an easier kick.

Nathan

I always use my left leg for left side starters. Right leg for right side starters. Just like eating with silverware, it is a learned process.

Yeah, i was hoping to learn to do it with my left leg in case i stall it during a race. Maybe with some practice, my left leg will have some coordination, but as it is right now, i'm better off getting off the bike and kicking it with my right leg. Oh well, maybe in time....

There's a pretty simple way for us height challenged people...

Stand on the left side of the bike.
Grab the front brake and hold it on.
Lean the bike over at an angle towards you.
Then kick away.

Basically you are kicking at an angle out and away from your body a bit while leaning the bike over. This gets the bike in your height range, and since you are kicking outward just a bit, but still mostly downward, it works easy since you are using your body weight.

Cranking it while on a bank, log, stand or anything else is great, but if you're out on the track, those aren't too handy. Practice standing over to the left and leaning it over and you'll get it figured out quickly.

Good bike it responded really well to plain old Boyesen Dual Stage Reeds and the FMF pipe - thought that year Donny Emler no longer owned FMF (his wife got it in a divorce) so if you can find an original Donny Emler it will be a ROOST FACTORY pipe. They didn't have any stampings, and weren't painted. I painted mine black and nobody ever knew I had a pipe on my bike - those two items worked really well.
MP

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The Race Isn't Over Until YOU Cross The Finish Line!