Soft kickstarter??

[anothermammalwiththumbs]

Ok, so 1 day and a half mile ride after I get the ignition sorted out, the kickstarter stops working.
It feels like there's no compression, but it was running strong yesterday, and sat in a garage overnight.
After a few tries and a roll back and forth, it feels like there is compression in one cylinder but one is soft. Gave it juice from a car battery, too, just to see if it would fire. No luck there.
The compression thing is just a guess, as I am not nearly calm enough to actually take a look at it.

 

[XSLeo]

The kick start functions through the clutch. If improperly adjusted the clutch will slip and the kick start won't turn the engine.
I might start by checking the basics, key on, engine stop switch on, fuel petcock on, does it have spark? Fuel? If so it should run, if it did yesturday.
Leo

 

[anothermammalwiththumbs]

That makes sense... the clutch feels strange, too.
It's definitely not any of the usual suspects - fuel, battery, kill switch etc. - the kickstart feels terrible.
Now that you mention it, it does feel like the one or two times i've kicked it while in gear by accident...

 

[anothermammalwiththumbs]

Hey Leo, your bike looks a lot like mine - I'll have to post some pics when she's feelin a little friendlier.

 

[anothermammalwiththumbs]

Ok, the clutch cable just needed adjusting. It's amazing what can work one day and not work the next. I guess it got cold and something shrank just enough.

 

[Rogue21]

After adjusting the clutch cable, were you able to get it running? I think you would be able to tell if you were kicking it over in gear, the whole bike would jump forward.

 

[anothermammalwiththumbs]

Yeah, I adjusted and lubed the cable and all is good. Went for a long ride yesterday with no problems.