Bike needs a lot of effort to kick over.
Posted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 9:55 am
Hi all,
Just a bit of history on the bike.
It's an AJ Model 18 that my grandfather raced back in the fifties here in Australia. He restored it back in about 2001 and it running like a dream.
I rode it just once just after he'd restored it and I didn't notice anything unusual in kicking it over. Having said that, my normal ride back then was a kickstart Harley Shovelhead so I'm wondering if it just seemed 'normal' to me.
My grandfather passed away not long after and the bike got caught up in contested will hassles for the past 15 years or so. I know a couple members of this bike club have tinkered with it in that time but I've got no idea what's been done to it.
Fast forward to now and I've finally got full possession of the bike. I've taken to my local British bike gurus to give it the once over and they can't work out why it's so physically hard to kick over. They even had a friend of there's with a G80 come over to compare it to and my bike needs so much more leg effort to kick over. We've pulled the plug and kicked it over and it doesn't feel overly sticky or restricted.
It starts, it runs (just), but it's a pain in the neck to ride because it's like kicking starting a Sherman Tank.
Before I pull the head and start checking compression etc, I thought I'd pop a post here and see if any of you have experienced this? Are we missing something simple?
Any clues would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Scotty
Just a bit of history on the bike.
It's an AJ Model 18 that my grandfather raced back in the fifties here in Australia. He restored it back in about 2001 and it running like a dream.
I rode it just once just after he'd restored it and I didn't notice anything unusual in kicking it over. Having said that, my normal ride back then was a kickstart Harley Shovelhead so I'm wondering if it just seemed 'normal' to me.
My grandfather passed away not long after and the bike got caught up in contested will hassles for the past 15 years or so. I know a couple members of this bike club have tinkered with it in that time but I've got no idea what's been done to it.
Fast forward to now and I've finally got full possession of the bike. I've taken to my local British bike gurus to give it the once over and they can't work out why it's so physically hard to kick over. They even had a friend of there's with a G80 come over to compare it to and my bike needs so much more leg effort to kick over. We've pulled the plug and kicked it over and it doesn't feel overly sticky or restricted.
It starts, it runs (just), but it's a pain in the neck to ride because it's like kicking starting a Sherman Tank.
Before I pull the head and start checking compression etc, I thought I'd pop a post here and see if any of you have experienced this? Are we missing something simple?
Any clues would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Scotty