Electric start

[Gunz1159]

Hey guys i'm thinking of creating an electric starter for my bike. The best way i feel is connecting a powerful DC motor to the stem of the kicker. Any personal ideas? I'd like to here. Looking forward for kind replies. I'd be thankful if answered.

 

[Diver300]

You would need a lot of torque. You should try to arrange it that the motor can turn as far as it needs, and not be limited like the kick-start is.

You will need a big battery and a good charging circuit.

 

[Gunz1159]

what motor and battery i should use?

 

[tcmtech]

To start an engine you need to be able to access the crankshaft and spin that other wise to use the kick start mechanism you would need a truck starter and battery to produce enough torque to be equivalent to what you produce by stepping down on the kick start lever.

If you can get access to the crankshaft directly and add a gear reduction system of some sort you could probably get by with a common riding lawn mower starter and small motorcycle battery.

 

[BrownOut]

What kind of bike? Do you intend to remove the kick lever? Leaving it on will limit the angle your motor can turn. There are lots of motorcycle starter motors on the market. The one on my Goldwing is about the size of a beer can. But I wouldn't know how to affix it to a kick starter stem. At a minimum, you'll have to get a coupling machined to match both the starter and the kick stem, and fabricate the mounting bracket. Sounds like an ambitious project.

If this is an off-road bike, I would't bother. Imagine you're on the trail with a dead battery, and no kick start. You're up a creek without a paddle.

 

[crutschow]

It's not practical to try to add a mechanism to use the kicker as a starter. It would require a large device to handle the high torque required and to apply that torque rapidly. Think about the large force needed to operate the kicker. It's your weight times the length of the kick arm, probably more than 200 ft-lbs of torque.

If you can access the crankshaft it might be possible by using a starter from another motorcycle or lawn mower starter. The starter also has to have an over-run clutch to disengage the starter when the motor starts.

 

[BrownOut]

It's not practical to try to add a mechanism to use the kicker as a starter. It would require a large device to handle the high torque required and to apply that torque rapidly. Think about the large force needed to operate the kicker. It's your weight times the length of the kick arm, probably more than 200 ft-lbs of torque.

If you can access the crankshaft it might be possible by using a starter from another motorcycle or lawn mower starter. The starter also has to have an over-run clutch to disengage the starter when the motor starts.

That's a good point. I wasn't thinking about how the kick start mechanism would be greared to spin the motor rapidly with the small angle used. I agree there is no practical way to do this.

 

[shokjok]

A kick-start from a motorbike may be overkill, considering that there are electric bikes currently on the market. A slow-start mechanism would be better, like that used for 48VDC machinery ( an electric sweeper I use lacks this function). You will also need a gearbox, a brake and some form of speed control so it doesn't jackrabbit-go on you. The extra weight defeats any convenience.